Owls are associated with intelligence, which isn't surprising, because these birds have incredible smarts and even distinct personalities, as ecologist Carl Safina learned firsthand. After he and his wife Patricia rescued a baby screech owl that couldn't be returned to the wild, they learned a lot about what owls are really like, as it grew up and raised its own baby owls.
In one example, Alfie, the name they settled on for the bird, sat on her eggs for a week longer than she needed to. They were never going to hatch; indeed, they hadn't even been fertilized. No one can know for sure what was going on in Alfie's mind, but there is a plausible clue: Her lifelong mate had disappeared, and she had been screeching persistently ever since.
