Owl on Hand
A Japanese artist, who uses the name Satsuma professionally, works with the aid of a wise assistant. One of his pets, a Northern White Faced Owl, perches on his hand as he draws on his tablet. There's nothing like wide-eyed appreciation of one's craft!
Northern White Faced Owls have an interesting characteristic: they change their posture as a defense mechanism when confronted by other animals in the wild. If their enounter is with a smaller animal, the owls puff their feathers in order to appear larger. When they come upon a larger animal, they pull in their feathers, elongate their body to appear thinner and narrow their eyes to slits.
Via Colossal