Owls Of Bulgaria: Our Companions In The Night

Owls are among the most fascinating representatives of the world of birds. Mysterious and enigmatic, exciting and fascinating, accepted or rejected, today - in the beginning of the third millennium - these strange birds still draw powerfully the man's attention. In the age of computers and satellites in space, of the unbelievable progress the science and technology have made and continue to make, the owls keep on hiding most of their secrets.

Their odd appearance and quiet flight, the startling cries at night, and their private life not yet studied in full still pose a challenge. Apart from professional ornithologists and nature-lovers, the ordinary people know owls only from accidental encounters during outings in the countryside or from foreign natural history films on the TV, or from stories, legends and fables told by grandmothers and to grandchildren through generations. Most of these stories have no bearing to the real life, they are - as the saying has it - an Irish bull, and create a mistaken and distorted notion about these wonderful birds.

The owls' secret way of life on the one hand and human ignorance and fear on the other hand have provoked imagination and given birth to a lot of absurdities about them. A few know that the owls are useful birds, symbol of wisdom and our helpers and friends.