Owls are super eerie, mysterious, and majestic, a little spooky, and a whole lot beautiful. They have long fascinated the bird lovers with their ghostly charm. They fly without a sound, rotate their heads almost 360 degrees like a scene straight out of The Exorcist, and spend the night hooting away like some depressed teenager or an insomniac poet. No wonder we call late-night scrollers and midnight thinkers “night owls.”

But these birds aren’t just nocturnal wonders; they’re also endangered.

Owl Awareness Day, observed every year on 4 August, reminds us to look beyond the folklore and memes and pay attention to the real lives of these feathered night-dwellers.

According to Banglapedia, Bangladesh is home to 15 species of owls — one from the family Tytonidae and 14 from the family Strigidae. Out of these, three species are endangered, one is vulnerable, and seven are still waiting for proper evaluation due to lack of data.

So this Owl Awareness Day, take a moment to appreciate these silent hunters of the night. Maybe read up on them, support conservation efforts, or simply whisper a respectful “whooo” into the darkness. They deserve it.