Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

Chouette, in French, is a common name for owl of the Strigidae family, which regroups about 200 species of these generally nocturnal birds of prey.  A large head and eyes, facial discs and moth-like, noiseless flight are features which distinguish owls.  Some species of owl have conspicuous feather tufts or 'horns', while others, such as the chouette are round headed, devoid of these 'ears'.  Actually this is what differentiates a chouette from an hibou, (which is the common word for owl in English).  Tufted or not, the hearing of all owls is extremely keen, making them stealthy and deadly hunters.  Owl ears are asymmetrical.  With the right ear being higher than the left, Mother Nature has provided the owl an effective tool for detecting minute differences in sound wave, thus locating prey, even if it cannot be seen.  An owl's diet consists of mice, birds, snakes, sometimes fish, and small insects.  In his Field Guide to the Birds, Roger Tory Peterson catalogues eight types of chouette.  In Potton, we have Chemin de la Chouette, Chemin du Grand-Duc, which is the Great Gray Owl, and of course, Owl's Head Ski and Golf.  It would seem Potton likes its owls!

The snowy owl or harfang des neiges is an example of a large chouette and is, incidentally, the national bird of Quebec.  The snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) was chosen as Quebec's official bird in 1987. It symbolizes the white of our winters, our roots in a semi-Nordic climate and throughout Quebec, as well as environmental protection and nature conservation.^[1]