As some of you know, I write the Animal Fact column for The HSB Backyard. Here's one I wrote a while ago, on owls! Don't forget, you can read lots more Animal Facts -- and other great articles, such as crafts, book reviews, featured blogger, recipes, history articles, caption contests, and more -- at the Backyard! Be sure to check it out!

Owls are such pretty birds! We don't see them often around here where I live, but I would love to see more of them. There are many different kinds of owls -- over 200 different species! They vary greatly. The smallest owl, the Elf Owl, is barely more than an ounce, and the Eurasian Eagle Owl and the Blakiston's Fish Owl are the largest -- they can weigh nearly ten pounds. Most species are solitary and nocturnal, but there are some exceptions, like the Burrowing Owl.

You can tell what time an owl hunts by looking at his eyes. Dark brown or black eyes mean the owl hunts at night, orange eyes mean it hunts at dawn or dust, and yellow eyes mean it hunts in the day time. Again, there are some exceptions, so don't trust this completely.

Owls have their eyes fixed in their sockets -- they have to turn their heads to look around. And they are far-sighted. They can turn their heads 135 degrees in either direction, so they can look over their shoulders. The owl's feather colors can make him almost invisible, and the edges of his wings are designed to help him fly silently.

Ancient Egyptians used the owl as their hieroglyph for the sound m. But they would often draw the owl with his legs broken to keep it from coming to life, since the owl is widely recognized as a symbol of death and destruction by superstitious folk.

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Comments

Posted by Hannah

Owls are very interesting! :P
I have been reading some more of your posts, and when I said we had a lot in common, I didn't realize just how much! :P I wear glasses too, and have blond hair, though it is supposed to be curly instead of straight.
I love to write, and play my instruments too.
Well, that is enough for now.
Hope you are having a GREAT week!
God Bless!
Hannah

strivingtoencourage.blogspot.com

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Posted by fiddler4him

Agh! I just commented twice on your last post on accedent... :-) oops...

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Posted by croctoria

Awesome!! I had no clue that you were an animal lover....too sweet!! ^_^

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Posted by BookwormMN

Hi,

That's really interesting - specially about the eyes! I think I'd be even more interested in them if having them near our barn didn't mean problems for our hens (or at least the small ones).

Thank you for the comment! Ah! You like my other blog template alittle better than my new one!! lol That's fine! Yeah, that Elsie picture isn't showing - but I thought hasn't been showing since a bit I thought. Oh well, I don't know! Sometime I'll try to get around to fixing that! So, if you had your own room, what would it be like - what's your style? :o)

Thanks for talking less than an hour ago!!

~Amber

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Posted by ChristineDaae

Well, as far as the car accident goes, I was in one when I was a baby, but I don't remember that, and then once a couple of years ago, we were in a fender bender. But that wasn't too bad.

Yes, I am sad to be quitting violin, but I am glad that I will have that extra time to put towards other things that I honestly enjoy more. My sister and I will continue playing on Wednesday evening at our church. On the piano I play some classcial as well as hymns and praise songs. I'm sorry, I forget for a mintute, do you play the piano? If so, what do you like to play?

In Christ,
Christine

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Posted by ChristineDaae

Thanks for YOUR comments ;-)

That is nice that you are able to play in church. My sister and I used to play in our church in NC every now and then, but we can't play at the church where we moved to, partially because it is a military chapel (they have pretty strict rules) and also because there is an organ instead of a piano! On Wednesday nights, however, we attend a different smaller church so we are able to play our violins there and occasionally the piano.

Well, I hope this very long comment made some sense to you! It's a little confusing to me ;-)!

In Christ,
Christine

Edited by ChristineDaae on Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 7:21 AM

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Posted by Narniagirl

You're doing a wonderful job on your article, and I'm glad we write for the same blog.

Thanks for your comment... yeah, those cookie bars make me hungry too! That was actually my least favorite picture out of all three, though. I had no idea it would be such a hit!

In Him,
~Kylie

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