Owl on a Branch Coloring Page

About this coloring page

An owl perches on a branch at night with a crescent moon behind it and a few stars scattered across the sky. The owl's chest is divided into rows of rounded feather shapes, which is the part children spend longest on and the part that rewards them: alternating two colors down the rows turns a plain bird into something that looks deliberately patterned, and it requires no skill beyond remembering which color comes next. The eyes are large circles, so a child can leave them white, ring them, or fill them entirely. Coloring the sky dark is worth suggesting here for the same reason it works on our starry unicorn page: the moon and stars stop being outlines and start to glow. If you plan to color the sky dark with a marker, print the owl coloring sheet on 120gsm or heavier, since a large dark area is the single most likely thing to bleed through ordinary paper.

Color suggestions

• Brown owl, cream chest feathers
• Two alternating colors down the feather rows
• Deep navy or purple sky
• Pale yellow moon and stars

Did you know?

• An owl cannot move its eyes. They are fixed tubes rather than balls, which is why it turns its whole head instead, up to about 270 degrees.
• The leading edge of an owl's wing feathers is fringed like a comb. It breaks up the air instead of letting it rush, which is what makes their flight almost silent.