Page 24 - Boca Club News - November '23

Page 24, Boca Club News

The Arts

Book Review…“What an Owl Knows:

The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds”

By Nils A. Shapiro
From the moment I discovered
this book on The New York Times
bestseller list, I knew it was a sure
thing for my own must-have list, for
two reasons: first, because as regular
followers of my column know,
my personal reading tastes favor
nonfiction that feeds my insatiable
thirst for knowledge about nature in general, and especially Linda meets face to beak with
about the intelligence, feelings and lives of the remarkable a real Snowy Owl
creatures with whom we share this world; and, second,
because my wife, Linda, is an “owlaholic” who—having wide to let in more sound and
turned the sun room of our home into a growing exhibit of bounce it toward the ears.”
about 100 owl art objects in all shapes and sizes—would Note: Actually, the use of
never forgive me if I passed on the opportunity to bring this the term “ears,” in owls—
book into our home. even in such species names as
But to earn a review in this Long-Eared Owls or Short-
column the book had to pass Eared Owls—is confusing.
another test: to be deserving The actual ears used by owls
of your attention. And this for listening are vertical slits A partial view of our sun room offers a hint of Linda’s collection of owl art objects.
it has done with (pardon the on the sides of their heads.
pun) flying colors. Owls are nocturnal, hunting at night for prey that includes spot, hover over it, head facing down toward the sound, then
As it turns out, author most commonly—depending on the owl species and size— just before impact thrust its legs forward and punch through
Jennifer Ackerman could rodents, insects, mice, rabbits, squirrels, possums, lemmings snow more than a foot and a half deep to seize its prey.”
just as well have re-titled in the case of Snowy Owls, and other small mammals and But Ms. Ackerman has equal respect for those—professional
her book “What We Know birds. Because of their incredible hearing, and the fact that the scientists, students and volunteers—who often dedicate years
About Owls,” packed as it unique design of their wings enables them to swoop down on of their lives under the most incredibly difficult physical and
is with many hundreds of prey in complete silence, they are among the natural world’s stressful conditions worldwide, studying every imaginable
fascinating facts about the most efficient hunters. They do not even have to be able to aspect of owls’ lives in order to build the base of knowledge
260 owl species to be found see their prey in order to be successful! that will help protect the survival of as many of these species
throughout almost every “A Great Gray Owl is listening, always listening. Its as possible at a time when many are at risk of extinction due
continent, from the tiny Elf Owl, the size of a pine cone only head rotates to glean the source of a sound. Its ears are so to climate change, deforestation, insecticides and other human
a few inches high, to the massive Eurasian Eagle Owl that can acutely tuned, it can discern the faint footfall of a shrew in influences. And their stories are every bit as interesting.
take down a deer—or Blakiston’s Fish Owl, the world’s biggest the forest, the wingbeat of a Canada Jay, the muffled rustle
owl, the size of a fire hydrant with a six-foot wingspan! of a vole tunneling deep beneath the snow. It will fly to the Book Review on page 25
The recipient of numerous awards and fellowships and
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Ackerman’s own awe and appreciation for the skills and
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