Impressive owl arm tattoo!

Owl bird tattoos

A synonym for knowledge, owl is one of the unique birds to feature in a tattoo. 

Owls have both positive and negative connotations. In ancient Greece owls were a symbol for Goddess Athena and the city-state of Athens. They considered owls to be wise hunters because of their sharp eyesight and hearing, and they are adaptable to evolution.

However, the Romans didn't think highly of  owls. In fact, they thought that owls were funeral or melancholy birds and they'd howl because they could foretell death.

The owl is a nocturnal bird of prey that has played an important role in art and spirituality for many centuries. Every culture around the world is aware of the owl’s fierce nature and either fears or reveres this bird. As a modern symbol, the owl is appearing in bird tattoos as a symbol of wisdom, darkness, death and knowledge.

The Meaning of Owl Tattoos

Most owls hunt at night, although some species of the bird prefer to hunt at dusk and dawn. Because of the dull color of their feathers, owls can camouflage themselves incredibly well and wait quietly for prey, blending into the shapes and shadows of trees and houses. Because of this long wait for prey, owls have become associated with patience; one of the core values of wisdom. Tattoos of owls are often a sign that the tattoo owner is willing to wait for what they want.

Owl tattoos sometimes show the owl perched on a branch or rooftop. The silhouette of a sitting owl is almost always an oval with two peaks on the head for ears. The shapes created by the folded wings and the feathers around the bird’s eyes have inspired many tattoo designers to get creative with the design. In owl tattoos, the eye feathers are often portrayed in a creative, abstract fashion, drawing attention to the large, bold eyes of the bird.