Why do owls stare?
An owl and a pigeon were friends. One day, the owl began boastfully, “I think there are more owls than pigeons.”
The pigeon laughed, “You must be joking! We pigeons can easily outnumber you.”
The owl frowned haughtily and said, “I challenge you to a count!”
“Done!” cooed the pigeon.
“But, first, let’s decide where the count will be held. After all, we’ll need plenty of perching space.”
The owl thought for a while and said, “How about the Big Woods? It has lots of trees.”
“Fine,” agreed the pigeon. “Go and inform all the owls and I’ll gather my flock. You have a week’s time. On the seventh day, an hour after sunrise, all owls and pigeons have to be there. Latecomers will not be counted.”
“Agreed,” hooted the owl and flew off to spread the news of the challenge.
A week passed and on the seventh day, the owls arrived at sunrise. They swooped down on Big Woods and occupied several trees.
“Toowit, toowit! Looks like the pigeons forgot to wake up,” they hooted joyfully.
Suddenly, the sky darkened as huge clouds rumbled over the woods from all four directions. The owls stared in shock as they realised that the clouds were actually pigeons. Thousands of pigeons swooped down, blocking the sunlight. They perched on the trees, pushing the owls together. Branches snapped, unable to take the weight of so many pigeons at once. The owls forgot to blink and started moving their heads from side to side in surprise. Their eyes grew wider and wider as the pigeons just kept coming in hordes.
Nervous about being squashed by the pigeons, the owls finally flew up into the sky.
Since then, owls travel only at night when pigeons are fast asleep. And they stare at everything around them, watching out for pigeons.
