What An Owl Knows
Just finished reading "What An Owl Knows" by Jennifer Ackerman, published by Penguin Press.
One of the quickest ways a writer can derail an otherwise engaging and informative non-fiction books is to report on how a volunteer who helps care for injured and recovering owls hates former President Trump that wasn't relevant to anything that Ackerman covered about research into various species of owls. Okay, a volunteer working on rehabilitating owls hates President Trump.
Why this is important to research into owls and why is this one person's glaring hatred of a former American President even mentioned? Ackerman shines when she describes an education program designed to teach people about the importance of owls for farmers in South Africa.
Owls are the least studied of the raptors, but much is known. One major problem in studying owls is how well they can camouflage abetted by roosting in difficult to spot locations. Also, many do not come back to the same spots to nest each year, rather looking for density of prey. Modern technologies are currently being used in detecting them, but one effective approach was to train a dog to sniff out the pellets owls ejected in defecation in roosting and nesting spots.
Dealing with the broad spectrum of species, the natural approach is to devote each chapter to a topic like migration, which is what Ackerman does later in the book. Incidentally, owl migration is often sex specific. The females fly south to fatten up for the demanding act of reproduction, while males may stay close to nesting grounds to be early in staking out territories for the next year, hoping to survive till until spring. Within at least one specie, there is assortment by size: smaller females actually seek out smaller mates. The likely explanation is that this helps the species survive, as being small helps in years in which food is scarce.
Ackerman gives a comprehensive and compelling look into how the numerous species of owls interact with the natural world.
Unfortunately, I can't give Ackerman a 5-Star review because she needlessly went political when there was absolutely NO reason to.
Strongly Recommended.
Four Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/What-Owl-Knows...
One of the quickest ways a writer can derail an otherwise engaging and informative non-fiction books is to report on how a volunteer who helps care for injured and recovering owls hates former President Trump that wasn't relevant to anything that Ackerman covered about research into various species of owls. Okay, a volunteer working on rehabilitating owls hates President Trump.
Why this is important to research into owls and why is this one person's glaring hatred of a former American President even mentioned? Ackerman shines when she describes an education program designed to teach people about the importance of owls for farmers in South Africa.
Owls are the least studied of the raptors, but much is known. One major problem in studying owls is how well they can camouflage abetted by roosting in difficult to spot locations. Also, many do not come back to the same spots to nest each year, rather looking for density of prey. Modern technologies are currently being used in detecting them, but one effective approach was to train a dog to sniff out the pellets owls ejected in defecation in roosting and nesting spots.
Dealing with the broad spectrum of species, the natural approach is to devote each chapter to a topic like migration, which is what Ackerman does later in the book. Incidentally, owl migration is often sex specific. The females fly south to fatten up for the demanding act of reproduction, while males may stay close to nesting grounds to be early in staking out territories for the next year, hoping to survive till until spring. Within at least one specie, there is assortment by size: smaller females actually seek out smaller mates. The likely explanation is that this helps the species survive, as being small helps in years in which food is scarce.
Ackerman gives a comprehensive and compelling look into how the numerous species of owls interact with the natural world.
Unfortunately, I can't give Ackerman a 5-Star review because she needlessly went political when there was absolutely NO reason to.
Strongly Recommended.
Four Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/What-Owl-Knows...
No comments have been added yet.
