“OLLIE….now try to stay awake son it’s only early evening!”
“(yawn)…Gee Mom…I wanna take a nap…..(yawn)”
“We’re HOOT owls son and we sleep during the day and hunt and eat and, well, do most everything at night.”
But Ollie was already asleep. His Mom nudged him back awake…”If you didn’t stay up all day chatting with those crows and hawks and all those “other” birds, you’d be able to do your chores and learn how to be a proper Hoot owl. Do I have to get your Father to fly back here and speak to you?”
“Ah….No Mom….I’ll…..be…..fine….ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ….” And Ollie was back fast asleep.
Ollie’s Mom just rolled her huge owl eyes and flew out of the tree to look for food as she did every evening.
Mom and Dad Hoot owl were out almost until sunrise while Ollie slept peacefully in the hollow tree dreaming about his beautiful green valley where he lived. He didn’t understand what all the fuss was about…almost every other animal in the valley slept at night and besides, at night you couldn’t even tell that the valley WAS green!
When Ollie told his Mom and Dad that all of his friends slept at night they said “But they aren’t Owls like us! Get some owl friends Ollie maybe you’ll be able to straighten out your horrid sleeping habits!”

Ollie did have to admit that the sun hurt his eyes quite a bit on really sunny days. He much preferred cloudy days and he also had to confess that he COULD see even tiny objects far away on totally moonless nights. He was sure he really WAS a Hoot owl even though some of his bird friends suggested that he might not be.
Ollie wanted to please his parents and he was proud to be a genuine Hoot owl but did wish that he could sleep at night at least on weekends. The next day Ollie tossed and turned in the nest trying to sleep but the chirping and daytime sounds of the valley were keeping him awake. His Mom put earplugs in Ollie’s ears and also fashioned a blindfold out of some mulberry leaves and that DID help some but Ollie still wanted to be out in the daylight having fun with his non owl friends.

It took weeks of trying before Ollie could sleep through the afternoon but he would still be the first one up each day and make lots of noises trying to wake his parents to keep himself from feeling lonely.
Eventually Ollie adjusted to the standard owl sleeping routine just as he became old enough to leave the home tree and strike out on his own.

And also one night he met Olivia, a very pretty Hoot owl from the far end of the green valley who was also striking out on her own. They would stay up all night talking and Ollie would tell Olivia about how the valley looked during the day and about all of his old friends that were awake all day long. But they both agreed that it was better and very natural to live a proper owl life…and so they did!

But occasionally, especially on weekends Ollie and Olivia WOULD stay up all day long!