Good Books to Learn More on Owls

The RSPB Pocket Book of Owls is a charming gift book with line illustrations, to celebrate some of the world’s most mysterious and admired birds – owls. With their wide-eyed and endearing faces, owls have secretive lives, haunting voices and astonishing super-senses!

Read our post on how to help wild owls (people, farmers and planners).

In this book, a wildlife writer and illustrator weaves together biology, mythology and cultural history to explore how owls live, and why they intrigue us so deeply.

Marianne Taylor is a wildlife-watcher who lives by the sea in Kent, and works as a freelance writer, photographer and illustrator (she is particularly fond of sea birds). A wild swimmer, she has impressive tolerance to cold!

The Book of the Barn Owl is a beautiful book packed with tips on how to help our heart-shaped faced-friends. Written by Yorkshire wildlife and nature writer Sally Coulthard.

Discover the interesting life of this enigmatic bird. From first pip of the shell, to leaving the nest. The book is endorsed by Barn Owl Trust.

Owls: Our Most Enchanting Bird is a beautifully illustrated book for adults or children, by ornithologist and artist Matt Sewell. The 50 hand-painted owls include owls from over the border like tiny elf owls.

The Owl: A Biography is by a man who teaches nature writing at Bath University. Meet all native species of owls, along with a couple of ‘northern owls’ (the snowy and eagle owls). Learn how an owlet hatches, then grows to hunt prey and raise the next generation.

What An Owl Knows is a charming read, giving an intimate glimpse into the lives of these magnificent birds. From evolutionary quirks behind their silent flight and rotating heads, to their romantic relationships and parenting styles, this brings the rich natural history of owls to life.

The Company of Owls is a ‘nocturnal love song’ to tawny owls, who live in the garden of the author’s Cumbrian home (in the same town where poet Wordsworth hails from).

Each night, the owls come down to her cottage at dusk, calling out as night falls. In particular, a trio of owlets she watches grow from fledglings, to young adults.

I am sure she knows that I am not a threat, and that is why she ignores me. I am sure she recognises me and Will, that it shows in the shake of her head. A slow blink that says ‘you again?’ Before she turns and gets on with whatever she was doing.