The Owl Handbook: Investigating the Lives, Habits, and Importance of These Enigmatic Birds

Charismatic, intriguing, and misunderstood: The Owl Handbook provides a beautifully photographed, thoughtfully researched, and accessible guide to these complex, captivating creatures.

Spot an owl that’s long been watching your every move and darker aspects of its reputation may spring to mind: harbinger of doom, guides through the spirit world, merciless bird of prey. Mythology and superstitions have projected our fear of the unknown onto these mostly night-dwelling creatures. But these wondrous birds are so much more than shadows or silent glides through the night. In The Owl Handbook, lifelong birding enthusiast John Shewey leads us through an exploration of owls’ cultural impact as seen in folklore and mythology, provides in-depth investigations of 19 owls of North America and a survey of 200 owls across the globe, and gives advice on how to respectfully observe and protect these enigmatic birds, brought to life by hundreds of full-color photographs.

Lifelong birding enthusiast John Shewey is a veteran writer, editor, and professional outdoor photographer, with credits in Birdwatching, Portland Monthly, Northwest Travel & Life, and dozens of other magazines, and co-author of Birds of the Pacific Northwest, a Timber Press Field Guide. John has photographed birds from the mountains of Alaska to the jungles of Central America to the islands of the Caribbean, and his website chronicles many of these travels in rich photographic detail. Visit him at birdingoregon.com.