Great horned owl 29 Oct 2024

The Halloween season is upon us, so let"s meet one of the holiday"s icons: the great horned owl. With its keen vision, eerie vocalisations and silent flight, this owl has historically been revered and feared. In folklore and mythology, owls were considered symbols of wisdom and omens of death. On Samhain, the Celtic precursor to Halloween, the owl was believed to be the kin of roaming spirits.

© Mark Newman/Getty Images

palette

Today in History

The sun sets on British Summer Time
29 Oct 2025Ancient til trees in Fanal Forest, Madeira, Portugal

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Owl be seeing you
18 Sep 2023Milky Way over Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park
30 Dec 2024Mount Field National Park, Tasmania, Australia
High achievers
Who uses this grassy bridge?
24 Feb 2025Giant cuttlefish, Whyalla, South Australia, Australia
28 Apr 2024El Capitan, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas, USA
Why is this cliffside ablaze?
A temple to treasure
11 Nov 2025Externsteine in the Teutoburg Forest, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
7 Dec 2024Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England
9 Dec 2024Guanacos, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile
22 Jun 2025World Rainforest Day
13 Aug 2025Corona Arch near Moab, Utah, United States
A vibrant, sun-drenched island
We’re all smiles for World Hippo Day
Passing with flying colours
6 Sep 2025Rufous hummingbird, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California, United States
21 Dec 2025Winter solstice
21 Nov 2023Grey seal pup
15 Sep 2024Stockholm Public Library, Sweden
22 Oct 2025Belogradchik Rocks, Bulgaria
10 Feb 2026Es Vedrà and Es Vedranell, Ibiza, Spain
28 Feb 2025Tibetan New Year
30 Apr 2024Cheetah in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania
4 Jun 2025Cala Luna beach, Sardinia, Italy
29 Jan 2025Porto, Portugal
19 Mar 2024Cave Dale and Peveril Castle, Derbyshire
Pick your paradise
Its puffling season!