I absolutely love owls. They are beautiful, amazing birds of prey. I've been lucky to have a few close encounters with them. On one instance, I was out for a walk at night and just happened to look up as one glided no more than ten feet above my head, not even a whisper of sound as it flew over, so eerie and awesome at the same time. Another time I was outside on the front porch as one swooped down right past me, and then glided back up and into a tree... again not a whisper of sound, until it went into that tree and about fifty very startled sparrows erupted out of the leaves as one of their fellows suddenly became dinner. That was an awesome sight. I've seen owls a number of other times, but those two sightings are the most memorable and special to me. They are the ninja assassins of the bird world. Silent death. But there's a level of majesty about them that few other animals seem to possess. And it almost seems like they know it.