Owl by yourself? Read about the owls of Harry Potter!
Learn about the owls that bridge the magical and muggle worlds - carrying messages, packages of sweets, and even Nimbus 2000s with ease!
It’s almost New Year’s Eve! If you have a special someone to kiss, then yay! If you don’t - that’s okay too. You can read all about the wonderful birds of the Harry Pottery world instead!
(Also, I don’t think Harry Pottery himself had a NYE kiss right? He kissed Cho Chang under the Nargle-infested mistletoe but that wasn’t during NYE right?)
The many owls in the Harry Potter universe
Whoooo’s there? Owls!
A few of the owl breeds shown within the Harry Potter books include Draco Malfoy’s Eagle-owl (large, tufted and fierce-looking, very much sexy and in-charge, just like Mr Malfoy himself); the Weasley family’s Little Owl, Pigwidgeon (tiny, cute, tries her best, but perhaps not the most impressive) and Harry Potter’s intelligent and Snowy Owl, Hedwig.
Let’s learn about them today!
The Eagle-owl
The platinum blonde prince of Malfoy Manor is said to have owned an Eagle-owl:
"On the other side of the Hall Draco Malfoy’s eagle owl had landed on his shoulder, carrying what looked like his usual supply of sweets and cakes from home." - Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
The Eurasian Eagle-owl is one of the largest species of owls in the world, and females (the larger of the two genders) can grow to a total length of 75 cm, with a wingspan of 188 cm - over 6 ft 2 inches! Phew! Only the biggest and the best for a Malfoy!
Most male owls are slightly smaller than their female counterparts, and the Eurasian Eagle-owl is no exception. This is because female birds-of-prey, like hawks, eagles and owls, have to ‘stock up’ more calories for when they lay eggs and raise chicks. So, female birds-of-prey are generally up to 25% larger than the males.
The Little Owl
I wonder if J.K Rowling purposely meant to give Malfoy one of the biggest owls in the world, and the Weasley’s, one of the smallest! Hmm…
Anyway, like their name suggests, the Little Owl is little.
These tiny guys have a flat-topped head, a plump, compact body and a short tail. Their facial disc is flattened above the eyes, giving the bird a sort-of frowning expression. :(
The Little Owl grows to about 22 cm length with a wingspan of 56 cm for both sexes, and weighs only around 180g - a little heavier than a standard billiard ball.
And since the Little Owl is so small, the types of animals they feed on are also really tiny. The Little owl mostly feeds on insects, earthworms, beetles, crickets, and small rodents.
On the other hand, you can find the large-and-in-charge Eurasian Eagle-owl feasting on much larger animals such as voles, rabbits, and even other birds such as woodpeckers and herons.
The Snowy Owl - whose depiction was honestly inaccurate, but it’s okay because she’s so loveable anyway!
J.K Rowling herself has admitted to making several mistakes in her depiction of the snow-white Hedwig:
Hedwig was shown to be most active at night. But actually, Snowy Owls are diurnal and not nocturnal birds - that means they are most active in the day time (just like us humans)!
Secondly, Snowy Owls are virtually mute, so Hedwig’s frequent hoots and chirrups of approval and comfort are not necessarily representative of all Snowy Owls. But, I mean, Hedwig is shown to be super smart and magical, so maybe her hoots are just signed of her magically enhanced abilities!
Thirdly, and most importantly….. owls do not eat bacon!! (Hedwig is shown to enjoy a bit of bacon rind when she delivers post at breakfast.)
But all that is negligible because what J.K Rowling got 100% right is how loveable and wonderful these birds are!! Snowy Owls are definitely one of the most mysterious and magical-looking birds I’ve ever seen.
And did you know? The Snowy Owl is a nomadic bird - meaning they rarely live and breed at the same place, or with the same mates, or even at the same time as the previous years.
This is probably because they live in such extreme, harsh conditions - the Snowy Owl has to be incredibly perceptive of their surroundings, and if the conditions aren’t right, they won’t bother breeding at all. In fact, Snowy Owls will often not breed at all if prey is unavailable that year.
But when they DO mate and lay eggs, the Snowy Owl will lay a very large clutch of eggs, often from about 5 to 11, with the laying and hatching of eggs considerably staggered. This means that their 5-to-11 chicks have a higher chance of all making it to adulthood, because the parent Snowy Owl has more time for each chick.
In comparison, most other owl species only lay about 3-5 eggs at one go, but they tend to lay eggs more regularly.
That’s honestly pretty smart, in my opinion. It also follows the HUMAN trend of now having babies when times are rough/during wars but then having lots of babies during the post-war/booming period!
I wonder if there are many Boomer Snowy Owls that roam the Arctic and make jokes about how everything used to be better ‘in my day’!
That’s all for today’s article! I hope you enjoyed learning about these owl species. May the New Year bless you with health, wealth, and happiness (but defined in your own terms - maybe wealth doesn’t need to be monetary, but could be a wealth of knowledge!)
And I hope you won’t be owl by yourself in the coming days!
If you want to talk to be about birds or nature, I’m owl ears! Just comment below :D
Love this piece. Happy New Year!