The unknowable magic of owls
by Mark Cocker from on (#12KSD)
Claxton, Norfolk They seem to watch us as much as we look at them. It is the piercing glare of equals
What is it about owls that's so captivating? I'm sure one part of the allure is that array of night noises which passes for owl communication. Frequently we have barn owls land on our bedroom roof, where they delight in waking us with a coarse, breathy hiss that sounds like something concocted for a zombie out the crypt in an old Hammer Horror film. Earhhhhhhh!
Even better is tawny owl song, which has begun this week and is the earliest marker of winter's breakdown. It reminds me in one specific sense of its diurnal twin, the cockerel's dawn clarion. They both arc across the sky and fall towards you out of some indeterminate space.
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