Pueo are endemic to Hawai‘i, which means the islands are their very first home. They aren’t found anywhere else on the planet. These short-eared owls were living here even before the first Hawaiians. Some people get them mixed up with the big barn owls, but those birds were brought here to kill rats in the 1950s. Pueo are much smaller and are diurnal instead of nocturnal, which means they are awake when the sun is up. Nocturnal barn owls party all night long.

You’d fall in love if you met a Pueo. They have really thin, flirty eyelashes, three eyelids, and tufty feathers that grow all the way to their feet.  These soft feathers make the Pueo a swift and silent hunter. The barn owl has a heart-shaped face, but the Pueo has a circular one with piercing yellow eyes. They are most excellent hunters and usually sweep open, grassy fields at dawn and dusk for rodents and insects. Unlike the barn owl, who builds a nest way up in a tree, the Pueo nests in the grass, so their eggs are vulnerable to snackers, like rodents and mongoose. That’s one of the reasons why they are endangered. Their babies are called owlets, which reminds me of the word piglets.

Pueo are considered sacred by many Hawaiians and are believed to be 'aumakua (ah-mah-koo-ah, ancestral guardians). Pueo are absolutely awesome.