Night owl
An owl on a silent flight at night — perception that operates in the hour everyone else is asleep.
A night owl in a dream is the dream's image of perception that operates in the hour everyone else is asleep. The owl is silent in flight and sees what the day-eyed creatures cannot. The dream brings the night owl when something in your life — a long thought, a private reading of a situation, a watchful concern — is doing its real work after the household has gone quiet. An owl heard but not seen is the dream telling you the night attention is present and working. An owl that has stopped calling, with the nights blank, is the dream noting that the perceptive after-hours self has gone silent, and the day-mind alone is now reading the situation.