Have you ever seen an owl in a car? If not, today’s your lucky day. A bizarre recent clip on Reddit is going viral showing a lady sitting in a car alongside a magnificent owl called Michael. Confused? Same here.
In the clip, the man filming from his own car winds down the window to reveal a beautiful brown owl sitting in a car with a woman. The man humorously opens the conversation with the woman by joking, “What kind of dog is that?” The lady sees the funny side, before revealing that the bird-of-prey is a Eurasian Eagle Owl called Michael. A quick search suggests that Eagle Owls are some of the largest species of owl, characterised by distinctive ear tufts. They also tend to hail from mountainous and rocky habitats, apparently, which sorts of begs the question what it’s doing in a car in a leafy American suburb!
What we love about the clip is all the questions it raises. First, and most obviously, what on earth is a large owl doing in this car with the woman? Is Michael kidnapping the lady, perhaps, forcing her to drive to a forest for a good hunt? The car is stationary in the clip, but do they drive around like that, some sort of unique buddy duo?
Whatever’s going on, Reddit was quick to anthropomorphize Michael. “Michael is not amused,” one commenter quipped, referring to how the owl stares sharply at the man when he calls out the bird’s name. As one Redditor amusingly put it, “Michael heard dinner calling out to him for a change.” We’d like to think Michael knows his name is reacting to it but, in all likelihood, he’s probably just responding to the man’s voice.
Whatever’s going on, there’s no denying that Michael is a magnificent bird. Judging by the way the woman strokes the owl, she’s obviously quite fond of him too. Or, perhaps, she’s trying to mollify Michael to stop him swooping through the window and feasting on the clueless man in the car opposite. I guess we’ll never know.
