Kamba people hate owls and the birds are greatly feared in Ukambani. Traditionally and even to date, in Ukambani, when an owl is heard hooting around the village it is/was chased away immediately.
According to Mzee Daniel Mutuku Kavati, a 67-years-old from Tala ward, Kangundo sub-county, Kamba people associate the bird with witchcraft craft, bad luck and misfortunes.
“It’s very rare to see a owl at daytime. We don’t take this issue of owls hooting at night as a joke. We believe that if an owl hoots near one’s compound or near a certain village, someone might die or other misfortunes befall the area,” he said.
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Mutuku said that if people don’t chase the bird, then, they should wait for evil things to happen in the village/family. “This bird is not a good one at all. It predicts bad things but if we chase it, there is no alarm.,” he said He said that he is old enough and he has seen such things like death, sickness, accidents among other misfortunes happen when the bird is not chased away.
“I remember when I was young my parents used to wake us up anytime of the night to chase owls. I have even seen people come across bad things when they let the owls hoot around,” he said .Owls have good vision at night, therefore, the reason why they come out at night to hunt for insects. The bird is in different species. However, not all species hoot.