BIG PICTURE: Snoozin’ into the new year

A barn owl is lit by sunlight through the branches of a tree Dec. 31 in Lewiston. Barn owls are unique in the owl world: They are classified in a different group than all other North American owls. Most north American owls are classified in a family called Strigidae, meaning “typical owls,” while barn owls belong to the family Tytonidae, meaning “night owl,” according to the Owl Research Institute. A combination of barn owls’ eerie screaming call, white color and tendency to roost in church belfries also have given rise to dark superstitions about the bird. The barn owl was considered by poets Robert Blaire and William Wordsworth to be a “bird of doom” in English folklore, according to Eastside Audubon.

Photo by

AUGUST FRANK

Lewiston Tribune