March 19th and spring is definitely in the air; so TC and I went on a sort of owl pilgrimage. The association of the owl as the sacred is a common theme in human mythology and spirituality. We have the little owl (Athene noctua) that accompanies Athena in Greek and her counterpart Minerva in Roman culture. This owl is the symbol of knowledge and wisdom. – “the wise old owl” Many cultures believe that people become owls after death. Among Australian Aborigines, owls are the spirits of women and as a result are sacred. Similarly, to the Kwakiutl people of Vancouver and Discovery Islands in the Pacific Northwest, owls were the souls of the departed and if people and if the owl was killed, that person would also die.

So each spring TC and I go in search of Great Horned (Bubo virginianus) owls at Habitat in Belmont, Massachusetts. Figure 1 shows the male surveying and protecting his kingdom. This old pair has been breeding for at least thirteen years and have successfully produced owlets again. They are never easy to photograph, always positioned very high in a pine tree or in a well camouflaged nest. We saw the nest but neither the female or her owlets. They are such magnificent birds.

Canon T2i with EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM lens at 320 mm, 1/400 th sec at f/7.1, ISO 800, Aperture Priority AE mode.