What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This isn't only a book for owl lovers. It gives us some of the history of the scientists, the frankly amazing discoveries about owl's abilities and native intelligence, and their place in ecosystems.

It's not JUST about why we ought to love owls. It's about educating us and showing us just how social, creative, and loving... even with fosterlings, adoption. Some of the things I've learned in this book just solidified my assumption that they're some of the most intelligent species on the planet, and they're quite adaptable.

They're also amazingly stealthy, with really amazing hearing and specialized sight.

But by the end of this nonfiction, I'm frankly anxious that their populations falling. I know it's a common problem these days, but here we are. We're slowly being reduced to trying to make desperate cases for certain classes of animals, trying to make it a popularity contest to rake in conservation support, when the core problems are making it all the worse for EVERY species. But that's my issue, I guess.

This book still makes a very compelling, if heartbreaking, case for the superiority of owls.

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