Punctuation 

Commas

• after an introductory phrase or word 
  • After a long day of rest, the owl flew into the night.
• to offset parenthetical phrase or an appositive 
  • Owls, in my opinion, are the best bird.
• to separate two identical clauses in a compound sentence 
  • The owl hurried after the mouse, but he failed to catch it.
• to introduce a quote 
  • Wilson the owl exclaimed, “the Write Place is so helpful!”.
• to separate a list of three or more 
  • Owls are better than blue jays, chickens, and doves.

For more helpful tips with commas check out Purdue Owl 

 Semicolons

•  join two complete sentences
  • Owls fly fast; blue jays fly slowly.
• join lists of items that previously included commas
  • Owls live in the freezing Arctic deserts; or thick forests.

For more helpful tips with semicolons check out Grammar Bytes 

Colons

• to include a list 
  • Owls eat many invertebrates: insects, spiders, and earthworms.
• join complete sentences when the second expands on the first 
  • Owls love writing: in fact, they wrote the first ever book.
• create emphasis 
  • Owls sleep so long: all day long.

For more help with colons check out Grammar Book