About
Wet Owl refers to several images of wet owls, in particular, one image of a wet Barred Eagle owl with a tired look on its face. The image, as well as several additional images of water-logged owls, became the increased subject of memes and reactions throughout 2021 and the first quarter of 2022.
Origin
The most popular wet owl photo used in memes, showing a wet owl with a tired or grumpy look on its face, was taken by photographer and YouTuber David Hoffman. On March 29th, 2022 he made a community post on his YouTube channel sharing the photo with its backstory, writing:
“Dear Subscribers, Members & Patrons: Yesterday after more than three months of no rain here in Northern California, it rained. And my wife and I decided to go out and walk in it. Everyone knows how miserable it can feel and how wonderful it can feel. We went to the Elkhorn Slough and there was no one there. Silence. Except for the rain. We had our rain gear on. But I took off my hat and just got wet like this poor owl. And then, too soon say the weathermen and the water resource folks, it stopped and there were these puffy white clouds that were just so beautiful. The birds started to sing. And then out of nowhere on what we thought was an unused railroad track, an Amtrak train came by going very slowly filled with people. The birds yelled at it. Loud. And the train was gone and it was silent again except for a few droplets of rain and the birds singing.
One of the earliest memes using the image was uploaded to the Russian website 2pricolisty in a Demotivational Poster compilation on October 17th, 2016 (shown below).
Spread
On May 24th, 2021, TikToker @chantelleef posted a video where she expresses a fear of wet owls, showing two images of wet owls, gaining over 2 million views in 10 months (shown below). On June 16th, Tumblr user killue posted the image of the tired-looking wet owl, gaining over 11,000 notes in nine months.
On August 13th, 2021, iFunny userrandomshit20 posted a meme using a screenshot of the owl after being posted to /r/whatisthisanimal comparing it to a divorced man, gaining over 12,400 smiles in seven months (shown below).
On February 20th, 2022, Redditor CrispyMcNuggNuggz posted the image to /r/oddlyterrifying, gaining over 6,600 upvotes in a month. On March 18th, 2022, a Redditor posted the image to /r/funny, gaining over 1,400 upvotes in 10 days. It was also posted to /r/interestingasfuck that day, gaining over 4,800 upvotes in 10 days. On March 19th, Redditor walkie_stalkie posted the image to /r/photoshopbattles, gaining over 23,000 upvotes in nine days and inspiring over 250 comments including numerous photoshops (examples shown below, see “Various Examples” for more).
On March 19th, TikToker @cirruslyyesterday posted a video where she reacts in shock after learning what a wet owl looks like, showing the tired wet owl, gaining over 2.7 million views in nine days (shown below, left). TikToker @the.josh.wright posted a similar video on the 23rd, gaining over 1.2 million views in six days (shown below, right).
Template
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
Source
