The Hidden Lives of Owls, and my little cameo

beautiful cover design

I recently purchased the Kindle version of a book about owls. I read a few reviews, but more than that—I loved the cover!

In the book The Hidden Lives of Owls: The Science and Spirit of Nature's Most Elusive Birds, author Leigh Calvez writes about owl habitat, owl calls and their social behavior. She also explores the human-connection—in particular, owl obsession and mythology.

As I read the introduction, the opening ideas seemed similar to my owl book. She addressed something I find fascinating—the relationship between the owl and the shaman. Then I saw this line:

In many Native American tribes, the powerful owl is for the tribe’s shaman only. Some people even believe there’s a connection between owls and extraterrestrials. Writer and artist Mike Clelland, who writes about owls and mythology, believes that there is a synchronistic link between owls and UFO sightings. What is it about owls that makes them so mysterious and fascinating to us?

I had a cameo in someone else’s owl book! It wasn’t much, but I was struck how straight she wrote about my somewhat peculiar owl obsession. I realize I'm an easy target for ridicule, but I sense no smirking on the part of the author (whew!).

My brief mention was sandwiched in between two ideas at the core of my own research. The line before was about the owl and shaman, and the line after my was essentially the same question I have asked over and over: Why owls?

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