Have you ever met a scops owl or a night owl? Have you ever heard their unique cry that spreads in the dark of night? I observe pine owls that come from far-southern countries every May in a small forest near my house. Among the 200 species of owls in the world, the biggest one is the eagle owl. My wish was to meet this friend, and a bird researcher who didn’t quite have the same intentions made it come true for me. The researcher led me to the front of a rock wall a little away from the city center of Paju, Gyeonggi-do. I thought I’d go at night. Instead, I went in broad daylight. The researcher put together a scope and focused it. “Wow, it was an eagle owl! Oh, what feathers!” I’ve been to the zoo many times, but this was the frst time I saw a wild eagle owl. The researcher explained, “This is a male, and we’re keeping a lookout to protect the female that’s nursing the eggs close by.” I still remember saying, “Oh, I didn’t know that their feathers were like this.” (I’ll tell you in detail in Chapter 5).You probably have an image that owls live in deep forests, right? Surprisingly, these friends are in grasslands, agricultural land, around houses, and golf courses near the city center. We live close together with owls. If you really want to meet an eagle owl like me, you can meet him whenever you want. This year, a pine owl visited a small forest near the researcher’s house. But I wish it can fnd it’s own home.’ I’m very worried.
Many owls need tree holes or cracks in rocks to lay eggs and raise their young. The reality is that their “homes” keep decreasing. Whenever I go to Paju, I worry about the cracks in the rock of the eagle owl’s home that I met that day. Humans have lived with owls for a long time, and we considered them once “lions of the goddess,” and “lions of the witch.” That’s they’re considered a ‘symbol of wisdom’. This book is a book that examines the cultural history and ecology about living together with owls. Let’s go meet a friend!