Owl Fun Facts

 

For centuries, people around the world believed hooting owls to be bad luck. 

 

 Hunters stopped hunting if an owl on their left side hooted three times.  

 

Parents thought their babies would have trouble if an owl hooted when the baby was born.

 

Some people believed hooting caused sickness, such as tonsillitis.

  

Others thought hoots meant someone would die, and they tried to prevent the death by throwing salt into fire.

 

A Great Horned Owl weighs about 3 ½ - 4 pounds. Its two eyes together weigh about 25.7 grams (almost an ounce). That's more than the eyes of a 200-pound human!

 

The tiniest owl is the Elf Owl, which is 5 - 6 inches tall and weighs about 1 ½ ounces. (A quarter-pound hamburger, without buns, pickle or ketchup, is heavier than two of them!)


Most owls don't make their own nest. They usually nest in a tree cavity or in an old crow, raven, or hawk nest. The Elf Owl usually nests in woodpecker holes dug into large cactus plants.