What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds and The Bird Way, a brilliant scientific investigation into owls—the most elusive of birds—and why they exert such a hold on human imagination

For millennia, people have been obsessed with and enchanted by owls. But only lately have scientists begun to understand in deep detail the complex nature of these extraordinary birds. Some 260 species of owls exist today, and they reside on every continent except Antarctica, but they are far more difficult to find and study than other birds because they’re cryptic, camouflaged, and mostly active in the dark of night. Now, with the help ofnew tools and technology, researchers are revealing the secrets of these enigmatic birds—how they talk to one another, how they “see” sound, and howthey fly quiet as moths; how they court their mates in wild and outlandish ways, fiercely protect their nests, migrate huge distances, and survive the radically changing conditions of our planet. This book tells the extraordinary story of how we’ve come to understand owls, their biology, brains, and behavior, and explores their many surprises: some owls live in underground burrows; some roost in large groups; some adopt orphan young; some dine on black widows and scorpions; some listen for the faint rustle of a vole deep beneath more than a foot and a half of snow.

Jennifer Ackerman brings this research alive with her own personal field observations about owls and dives deep into why these birds beguile us. What an Owl Knows is a spellbinding exploration of owls across the globe and through human history and a brilliant account of thrilling new insights into the science of their hunting skills, communication, sensory prowess, and other astonishing adaptations for survival.

About the Author

Jennifer Ackerman has been writing about science and nature for more than three decades. Her previous book, The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think, was a finalist for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. Her New York Times bestselling book, The Genius of Birds, has been translated into twenty-five languages and was named one of the best nonfiction books of 2016 by The Wall Street Journal, a Best Science Book by NPR’s Science Friday, and a Nature Book of the Year by The Sunday Times. Her other books include Birds by the Shore: Observing the Natural Life of the Atlantic Coast, Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body, and Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity. Ackerman’s articles and essays have appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, Scientific American, and many other publications. She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Nonfiction, a Bunting Fellowship, and a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Author Residence: Virginia