Hello friends. Welcome. Oh my goodness. Today's episode I love it so much. I love it so much.

I'm chatting with Jennifer Ackerman who has written a book called What an Owl Knows.

And if you've been following me for any period of time, you know that I love birds.

I specifically love raptors and corvids and owls are among the most fascinating birds.

This is a conversation that you can enjoy, that your kids can enjoy. I hope you will learn

something new about owls. So let's dive in. I'm Sharon McMahon and here's where it gets interesting.

I am very, very excited to be chatting with Jennifer Ackerman today. When I saw What an Owl Knows

on a list of like upcoming releases, I was like at a cart. I will be reading that book.

So thank you for being here today. It's such a delight. Thank you for having me.

Well, owls are, I mean, they're some of the most fascinating animals on earth.

And your book lays out a great case for why that is. I found them wildly interesting before I even

read the book, but the more I read, the more fascinated I became, and the more I realized how

little I actually knew, I am wondering how did you become fascinated by owls?

So, you know, I love birds, all birds. I started bird watching when I was a kid with my dad.

And so I've written several books on birds, but this time I wanted to focus in on a family of birds

or a group of birds and really take a kind of deep dive into their biology and behavior.

And I thought, well, owls, you know, they're just so unique in the bird world. They're these

weirdly skilled knight hunters. They have this kind of eerie quiet flight and these

quite amazing senses. And humans have been obsessed with owls for literally tens of thousands

of years. And they, you know, they show up in myths and stories and symbols and cultures all around

the world. So when I started to think about writing a book about owls, they really just made my

head kind of sizzle with questions. I wanted to know what makes an owl an owl. And, you know, how did

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