Who who is that Owl joins a family at Hari Raya gathering in Malaysia

An unexpected guest showed up to claim its green packet on Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Who, who?

A 17-second clip on TikTok posted by @jazli.ai shows an owl perched on a curtain rod, overlooking guests at what seems to be a festive gathering at a house in Kuala Lumpur.

The owl seems to share the same facial characteristics of a spotted wood owl, with its coin-sized pure-black eyes, round orange face and lack of ear tufts.

First posted on April 1, the video has since garnered more than 3.5 million views, with netizens finding humour in the incident. Several users also made references to the popular series Harry Potter, where the main protagonist, a wizard, is invited to attend a school of magic by an owl.

“Someone got invited to Hogwarts,” one comment read, while another said: “The owl intended to deliver its mail to you from Hogwarts, but forgot it’s a PH (public holiday).”

Others also noted how guests at the gathering were minding their own business and paying no attention to the owl, referring to it as a burung hantu, who was seen looking around. Burung hantu loosely translates to ghost bird in Malay.

A few users also poked fun at the owl’s inconspicuousness, saying it was akin to a CCTV.

Spotted wood owls are native to Malaysian woodlands, and, although nocturnal, they enjoy sunning themselves during the day, according to a bird-facts blog called Burung Kingdom.

It is also listed as “least concern” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, which is an inventory of the global extinction risk of different species of animals, plants and fungi.

Join