PDN Photo of the Day

May 30, 2017

What Is It about Owls?

The Common Barn Owl is perhaps the best known and the most unmistakable of Europe’s owls. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © David Tipling/Courtesy of Yale University Press
An Elf Owl peers from its nest hole in a saguaro cactus, a plant to which its fortunes are closely tied. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Rick & Nora Bowers/Alamy Stock Photo/Courtesy of Yale University Press
The Spotted Owl, one of North America’s rarest species, breeds in old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © All Canada Photos/Alamy Stock Photo/Courtesy of Yale University Press
A Barking Owl swoops in silently to seize a moth. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Fotoflair Animals/Alamy Stock Photo/Courtesy of Yale University Press
Owls, including this Western Screech Owl, have proportionally the largest eyes of any birds. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Jon Bower/Getty Images/Courtesy of Yale University Press
A Eurasian Pygmy Owl watches for prey in the snowy forests of northern Finland. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Jari Peltomaki/Courtesy of Yale University Press
The Eurasian Pygmy Owl may plunge right through the snow in pursuit of rodent prey beneath the crust. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Jari Peltomaki/Courtesy of Yale University Press
An adult Great Horned Owl shows the long wings typical of Bubo owls. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Rick & Nora Bowers/Alamy Stock Photo/Courtesy of Yale University Press
The heavy, dark barring on this Snowy Owl, plus its greater size, identify it as a female. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Jari Peltomaki/Photo courtesy of Yale University Press
The Snowy Owl approaches prey in a low glide, often hidden by the contours of the ground until the last, fatal moment. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Jari Peltomaki/Courtesy of Yale University Press
The Common Barn Owl is perhaps the best known and the most unmistakable of Europe’s owls. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © David Tipling/Courtesy of Yale University Press
An Elf Owl peers from its nest hole in a saguaro cactus, a plant to which its fortunes are closely tied. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Rick & Nora Bowers/Alamy Stock Photo/Courtesy of Yale University Press
The Spotted Owl, one of North America’s rarest species, breeds in old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © All Canada Photos/Alamy Stock Photo/Courtesy of Yale University Press
A Barking Owl swoops in silently to seize a moth. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Fotoflair Animals/Alamy Stock Photo/Courtesy of Yale University Press
Owls, including this Western Screech Owl, have proportionally the largest eyes of any birds. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Jon Bower/Getty Images/Courtesy of Yale University Press
A Eurasian Pygmy Owl watches for prey in the snowy forests of northern Finland. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Jari Peltomaki/Courtesy of Yale University Press
The Eurasian Pygmy Owl may plunge right through the snow in pursuit of rodent prey beneath the crust. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Jari Peltomaki/Courtesy of Yale University Press
An adult Great Horned Owl shows the long wings typical of Bubo owls. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Rick & Nora Bowers/Alamy Stock Photo/Courtesy of Yale University Press
The heavy, dark barring on this Snowy Owl, plus its greater size, identify it as a female. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Jari Peltomaki/Photo courtesy of Yale University Press
The Snowy Owl approaches prey in a low glide, often hidden by the contours of the ground until the last, fatal moment. From "The Enigma of the Owl" by Mike Unwin and David Tipling. © Jari Peltomaki/Courtesy of Yale University Press

Maybe it’s that piercing gaze that makes owls so compelling. The owl is the only bird with eyes in the front, not the side, of its head. In many of the photos collected in The Enigma of the Owl (published by Yale University Press), owls appear to stare straight at the viewer, perhaps with curiosity, maybe fixing their eyes on their next pray. With text by nature writer Mike Unwin, The Enigma of the Owl features 200 color photos taken or selected by noted wildlife photographer David Tipling. Tipling, who is based in Norfolk, England, has photographed bird species around the world. The images in this new book show how owls have adapted to a variety of ecosystems, including forests, deserts, steppes, arctic regions and prairies. Organized geographically, the book is a worldwide guide to how owls live, hunt, feed and breed.

The owls featured range widely in size, adaptive coloring and habitat. We see tiny dwarf owl perched on a branch and the Eurasian eagle owl, which is big enough to hunt foxes, some northern spotted owls, whose habit of nesting in conifers has made them vulnerable to habitat loss due to logging, and an owl peeping from a hole in a cactus. Some of the most dramatic photos in the book show owls in mid-flight. One night shot of an owl with its talons out, about to snag a moth, demonstrates another part of the bird’s mystery: its crepuscular hunting habits. Unwin and Tipling are not sentimental. While the book references the spooky myths and legends about their subject, they celebrate the species’ predatory skills, scrappy toughness and beauty. The book is, you might say, a hoot.

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