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THE SHALLOWS — Owls are some of the most amazing birds around. Every so often, a neighborhood owl lands on our roof in the middle of the night and wakes us all up with its hooting. And, we're not even annoyed … we just feel honored it chose our house.

Consider these incredible owl facts:

Owls can rotate their necks 270 degrees.
The Blakiston's fish owl has a wingspan of 6.5 feet.
The elf owl is the world's smallest at just 5 inches tall.
Barn owls can eat a thousand mice each year.
Special feathers help owls fly almost silently.
Owls swallow prey whole and then regurgitate whatever can't be digested.

Owls are also remarkably resilient. I once found a great horned owl that crashed into a barbed wire fence at full speed and was painfully snarled in the wires. After the wires were snipped, the owl took a moment to gather its wits, then flew away as if nothing had happened.

I actually thought about that majestic owl when I saw the tough owlet in this video.

"Found an owl floating in my pool this morning," explains the caption. "I thought the little guy was done for, but to my surprise he was still fighting for life! I scooped him out of the pool and saw the exhaustion in his beautiful eyes. He flew off after about 30 minutes and rejoined his family in my front yard tree."

Wow! That owlet honestly looked so exhausted, I have no idea how it lasted as long as it did. Then, for it to fly away after only half-an-hour of recovery? Owls really are amazing.