Warmest greetings folks,

I am an existing member, and appreciate the leadership, persistence, and pursuasiveness of Robert! 

 

I am leading the Global Owl Project (GLOW).  GLOW has some 250 members working in 53 countries on the foundational science of owls, their habitat, and conservation. 

 

One of our efforts in GLOW is focused on examining "Owls in Lore and Culture".  Owls are very powerful entities in most cultures.  For some societies, owls represent messengers of sickness and death; in other societies they are "Helping Spirits", or even the "Creator Being."  In most western societies, owls are seen as "wise" ... but there is often more (or less) to the story when you dig more deeply.   

As we examine the science and conservation of owls, it is important to also integrate the societal values of owls in our thinking and strategies.  So what, currently, are the beliefs surrounding owls?  Are the beliefs described about owls still true? .... or are they what our grandmothers used to tell us (and not really believed anymore)?  What role do these beliefs have in the conservation of (real) owls?

 

So, for the past number of years, myself and some colleagues have been assembling museum records, books, photographs, personal interviews, archeological evidence, and other authentic accounts of owls as engaged in human societies.  We are taking an academic approach to this work .... we are not simply recounting the past mythologies about owls.  We have developed a "Owls in Lore and Culture Survey Form" that researchers in various countries are utilizing to assess the current cultural perspectives and attitudes towards owls. 

 

Within the next 2 years, I will be leading an effort to develop a formal traveling museum exhibition on "Owls in Lore, Culture, and Conservation".  It is likely that our first stop will be the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C.  A companion book detailing our accumlated work on this topic will accompany the exhibition. 

 

If you would like to participate in this project, please contact me.  Thank you for your interest and energies in this project, and the larger Ethnoornithology group.   The world needs you. 

Strigologically yours,

David