In an effort to reduce reliance upon email, eradicate spam, and eliminate hackers, the UCSB Department of Geography apparently has begun a quantum leap forward by enlisting owls for communication. Rumors are circulating that the fifth and a half floor of Ellison Hall has been renamed “Hogwarts House of Geography,” and that graduate students Meri Marsh, Brent Hecht, and Kate Deutsch, long suspected of being more than mere Muggles, have initiated the change. Yep, they have pet owls, named “Hoot E.” and “The Blowfish,” who seem to have chosen them for their own.

OK, apologies to those of you who aren’t interested in fantasy fiction and who don’t get the above “Harry Potter” in-joke. But the Ellison owls are very real. Did you know there are 37 species of owls in North America? And that a pair of the largest of them is hanging out outside of Ellison Hall? Kate took the picture at the right while taking a break from work.

They are Great Horned Owls, Bubo virginianus, commonly named because of their size and the feathered tufts on their heads, and scientifically labeled because of the fact that they were first seen in the Virginia colonies - the species name was created from the Latinized form of the name of that territory (originally named for Queen Elizabeth I, the “Virgin Queen”). The first published description was made in 1788 by Johann Gmelin. Great Horned Owls also are known as Hoot Owls, Cat Owls, or Winged Tigers, due to their vocalization, their barred chest feathers, and their prowess at hunting.

Great Horned Owls weigh up to nearly 4 pounds and can take prey 2 to 3 times heavier than themselves. Their diet consists of everything from rodents and raccoons to domestic dogs and cats, as well as birds (including other owls, red-tailed hawks, great blue herons, etc.). Regurgitated pellets are very large, about 3- 4" long and 1.5" thick, containing skulls as large as 1.2” (btw, you can buy an owl pellet at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum if you can’t find one in the Ellison Courtyard).

Of course, all of this leads to speculation about animal navigation and wayfinding, as well as owlocentric vs egocentric learning. But, apart from the obvious correlation to Geography, owls have a special place in our culture, ranging from the owl that is associated with Minerva in Roman mythology as a symbol of wisdom to the whimsical and charming verses of Edward Lear (1871):

“The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat. They took some honey, and plenty of money, Wrapped up in a five-pound note... They dined on mince and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon…”

• For more about Great Horned Owls, see http://www.owling.com/GHO_nh.htm;

• for more about animal wayfinding, see Wiltschko, R., & Wiltschko, W. (1999). Compass orientation as a basic element in avian orientation and navigation. In R. G. Golledge (Ed.), Wayfinding Behavior: Cognitive Mapping and Other Spatial Processes (pp. 259-293). Baltimore & London : The Johns Hopkins University Press;

• for the complete text of Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussy-cat,” see http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Poetry/Owl&PussyCat.htm;

• and for more on this nonsense, contact billn@geog.ucsb.edu or, better yet, go dance by the light of the moon! (BTW: Special thanks to the grads mentioned above for most of the raptor puns!)

Article by Bill Norrington