In recent years, the internet tends to get flooded with owl photos ahead of a Super Bowl. While the nocturnal birds have little to do with football, curious fans often misspell Super Bowl while searching for content related to the NFL summit clash, leading to a surge in ‘Super Owl’ searches. This has become a tradition
of late, and conservationists have jumped on the trend to spread awareness, said Matt Williams, director of
conservation with the Indiana Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

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“I
say anything that helps get the message out about the importance of
conservation is a good thing,” he said.

Owls
are quite interesting birds. Some people think they are innocent balls of
fluff, but Williams said they are predators.

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“Owls
are voracious predators that hunt mostly at night using a very keen sense of
hearing to help locate their prey,” he told CNN.

Their
disc-shaped face direct sound to their ears, which allows them to hear the
quietest noises, Williams explained. Their feathers are designed to make them
almost completely silent when they fly, a useful trick for sneaking up on their
prey, he added.

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Most
owls hunt small mammals like mice and shrews, said Seth Magle, director of the
Urban Wildlife Institute at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Some
larger owls like the great horned owl can snatch up rabbits, skunks or even
other owls, Williams said.

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Super
Bowl mascots

The
Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals have their own mascots, owls would make for a nice addition as well. Williams said the owl could represent
the Bengals because the birds share a similar stripe pattern to the team’s
helmets.

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“For
the Rams, I’d have to say the snowy owl of Harry Potter fame because their
quarterback Matthew Stafford has been a wizard during their playoff run so
far,” he explained.

Magle
assigned the Eastern screech owl to the Bengals because it’s found in Ohio and
shares a similar colour to the team.

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California
spotted owl would fit quite nicely with the Rams, he added.

“It
has a four-note call sometimes described as ‘hup, hoo-hoo, hooo,’ which seems
like it could be an audible called at the line of scrimmage,” Magle said.