The owl, a nocturnal bird of prey, was regarded by all North American Native peoples as an animal which possessed special powers, due to its ability to see in the dark. Various species exist, among which the biggest is the “horned owl” (Bubo virginianus), which is called in this way because of its characteristic tufts of feathers on its head. The owl was often regarded as a protector and benefactor for those who asked its help, to whom it could give its qualities of hunter and its knowledge of occult and hidden things. The Menomini of the Eastern Woodlands, and other Plains peoples as well, celebrated a dance, during which the participants imitated the movements of the owl, a powerful being which could bestow the gift of medicine or cleverness and  invisibility to the warrior.

Furthermore, particularly among the peoples of the North-West Coast, the owl was associated with the darkness and the night and thus with death, and it was believed that it could call the names of the individuals who were about to die, as it is illustrated in the film I Heard the Owl Call My Name (1973), directed by Daryl Duke, and set among the Native communities of British Columbia.
The owl was regarded by the Ojibwa of the Great Lakes as an animal which mediates between life and death, thus able to lead those who were venturing along the path of the dead, giving them its own capacity to see in the darkness. The role which was attributed to this bird in the shamanistic ceremonies of the Midewiwin reveals its nature of mediator between the living and the dead, between visible and invisible (Pomedli 2014).

For the Lakota of the Great Plains, the entrance to the Milky Way was guarded by an old woman, called “Owl Maker” or “Owl Imitator” (Hihankaga). The Milky Way was the path followed by the spirits of the dead to reach the land of the dead. If the old woman saw something wrong in the approaching spirit, she pushed it out of the path, thus transforming it in a rambling ghost. It seems that this old woman was a manifestation of the Double Woman, a dangerous and terrible female being, who could turn herself into an owl and take off the children. One of the names with which the Lakota designated Harney Peak, the highest summit in the Black Hills, was Hihan Kaga Pa, the Owl Imitator Hill (Sundstrom 1997).                     Ojibwa Owl feather necklace (Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, Massachusetts)