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"Owls are magical creatures most often used for delivering post and parcels in the wizarding world. They are known for their speed and discretion and can find recipients without an address."
— Description[src]

An owl was a magical bird of prey.[1]

Normally, most British owls were nocturnal, and owls generally keep to themselves, but in the wizarding world they served many needed functions and had many sorts of personalities. Owls also appeared to understand magical people speaking English and could communicate with wizards and witches.[3][1]

Postal workers[]

HPPS 2014 Bk Cvr

Owl post

Owls were enlisted to aid communication between wizards.[7] Letters,[7] parcels,[8] and Howlers[9] were all delivered by owls. Soft, hair-like edges on an owl's flight feathers reduced the noise of flight, coupled with their natural camouflage, making them ideal for delivering letters.[10][11][12]

Owls had to be trained to carry letters. Owls had a natural affinity to magic (unlike pigs, which were thoroughly non-magical), and thus could find the recipient of a letter without an address. Because owls could find any witch or wizard whom a letter was addressed to, those who did not wish to be contacted must cast Repelling, Disguising, or Masking spells, of which a wide variety existed.[1]

OWL carrying a message

An owl carrying a message

Owls were used for commercial purposes, such as those used for the Owl Post Office in Hogsmeade, and for delivering newspapers and magazines such as the Daily Prophet and The Quibbler. The Ministry of Magic formerly used owls for interdepartmental memos, but switched to enchanted paper aeroplanes because owls made too much mess with their droppings and shed feathers.[13]

Postal owls all had different jobs, but scops owls were enlisted for local deliveries only, as they were small and weak fliers.[14]

It was not merely wizards who could use owls to send and receive post - some goblins, such as Lodgok, also made use of these mail carriers.[15]

Several types of owls were possible Patronus forms, such as the little owl, eagle owl and snowy owl.[16]

Known species[]

Known owls[]

McGonagall's owl PSG

An own used by Minerva McGonagall

Behind the scenes[]

  • During the production of the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, an attempt was made to train bats to carry letters, but this was abandoned because bats urinate during flight.
  • It took trainers three months to train owls to carry letters for the films.
  • In April 2009, a falconer whose owls starred in the Harry Potter films admitted a string of animal cruelty offences.[29]
  • It is unknown if, like humans, some owls are born with magical abilities, or if there is any other special requirement for an owl to be trained as a delivery owl. It is a popular fan theory, however, that the delivery owls are magical owls, which would explain their apparent greater intelligence (such as their understanding of addresses spoken in English and their occasional character quirks,) though they admittedly do little to demonstrate sentience in the series proper.
  • In many legends, owls represent death, but in other legends, like those of Ancient Greece, owls are a symbol of wisdom. In India, owls are birds of ill omen.
  • In reality, the brown owl and the tawny owl are the same species (Strix aluco), but the Harry Potter books treat them as different types of owl.
  • In an issue of The Quibbler seen in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, an advertisement offering Owl-training can be seen, suggesting this is a business in the wizarding world.
  • At some point following the publication of the Harry Potter books, there was a series of media reports regarding an upswing in the popularity of owls as pets, allegedly as a result of people having read about them in the books. Author J. K. Rowling stated on her official website "If it is true that anybody has been influenced by my books to think that an owl would be happiest shut in a small cage and kept in a house, I would like to take this opportunity to say as forcefully as I can: please don't."[30]
  • In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, there are many owls trying to bring Harry Hogwarts letters. In the book, Harry first learns that owls carry letters when Rubeus Hagrid uses one in the Hut on the rock.
  • In real life, owls are no smarter than any other bird; with some considering them to be of low intelligence, as a large portion of the head is taken up by the eyes. However, intelligence is not solely determined by brain size, and owls are arguably indeed clever in their own right.

Appearances[]

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Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Owls" at Wizarding World
  2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 4 (The Seven Potters)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 1 (Owl Post)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 22 (Owl Post Again)
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 5 (Diagon Alley)
  6. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 3 (The Letters from No One)
  8. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 10 (Hallowe'en)
  9. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 6 (Gilderoy Lockhart)
  10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 8 (The Potions Master)
  11. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 2 (Dobby's Warning)
  12. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 2 (A Peck of Owls)
  13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 7 (The Ministry of Magic)
  14. 14.0 14.1 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 14 (Snape's Grudge)
  15. Hogwarts Legacy
  16. 16.0 16.1 Pottermore Patronus quiz
  17. 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 9 (The Midnight Duel)
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
  19. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 26 (The Second Task)
  20. Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 3 (The Burrow)
  22. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 1 (The Boy Who Lived)
  23. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 6, Chapter 8 (Owl Prowl)
  24. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 20 (Xenophilius Lovegood)
  25. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
  26. The Queen's Handbag
  27. Harry Potter Limited Edition - A Guide to the Graphic Arts Department: Posters, Prints, and Publications from the Harry Potter Films (see this image)
  28. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 6, Chapter 33 (Imitation Game) - History of Magic Lesson "Owl Airforce"
  29. Harry Potter falconer admits animal cruelty offences
  30. J. K. Rowling's official site - Owls, available via Internet Archive

See also[]

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