Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl, by Stacey O’Brien

“Wesley’s eyes were a deep, inscrutable black. Even when they first opened, they harbored a great mystery and held my gaze. Looking into his eyes was like looking into infinity, into something far away and cosmic. It was a profoundly spiritual experience….”

This is not your average birding book. Stacey O’Brien adopted a baby barn owl when he was only days old, naming him Wesley. Nerve damage in his wing meant he’d never live successfully as a wild owl. Her commitment to live with and care for Wesley would span almost 19 years, until his death.

Barn owls can’t be kept in a cage, so Wesley and Stacey truly lived together with mutual love and respect. She adapted to “The Way of the Owl,” and he, having imprinted on a human, developed some very un-owl-like traits. For example, barn owls don’t typically like to get wet, but Wesley delighted in taking baths!

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