Short-eared Owl

The Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) is one of the world's most widely distributed birds of prey, occurring across nearly every continent except Antarctica and Australia. Unlike most of its strictly nocturnal relatives, the Short-eared Owl is famously crepuscular and frequently diurnal, making it a regular and welcome sight for daytime birdwatchers. Operating over vast, uncluttered landscapes, its flight is uniquely buoyant and floppy, resembling the erratic flutter of a giant moth. It is highly nomadic, traveling great distances to find areas with booming rodent populations.

A medium-sized, slender-bodied owl, the Short-eared Owl is characterized by its buffy-brown, heavily streaked plumage, pale belly, and relatively small head.

• Facial Disc: It features a pale, round facial disc with prominent black patches surrounding its bright yellow eyes, giving the bird a striking, masked appearance.
• Ear Tufts: Despite its name, its "ear" tufts are so small and centrally located on the forehead that they are usually completely flat and invisible unless the owl is alarmed or highly alert.
• In Flight: Look for long, broad wings with conspicuous black wrist (carpal) patches on both the upper and under surfaces of the wings. A solid, warm-buff crescent is visible near the wingtips on the upperwing.
• Similar Species: The closely related Long-eared Owl (Asio otus) is darker and more heavily barred, possesses tall, prominent ear tufts, has orange eyes, and is strictly nocturnal, preferring dense woodlands to open fields.

Short-eared Owls are birds of wide-open spaces, requiring large expanses of low vegetation to hunt and breed.

• Primary Habitats: They favor native prairies, coastal marshes, savanna, wet meadows, peat bogs, agricultural fields, and arctic tundra.
• Range & Migration: They breed across northern North America, Europe, and Asia, migrating south in winter to temperate zones. Non-migratory populations exist in South America, details of the Galápagos, and the Hawaiian Islands (where the subspecies is known as the Pueo).
• Nomadic Behavior: Their breeding locations can fluctuate wildly year-to-year as they wander in search of localized prey outbreaks (specifically vole plagues), often nesting in areas they skipped the year prior.

The behavior of the Short-eared Owl is heavily shaped by its open-country habitat and diet.

• Feeding: They hunt by quartering—flying low and slow over grasslands, tilting and weaving while listening for the rustling of small mammals below. Once prey is detected, they stall in the air and drop feet-first.
• Nesting: They are one of the few owl species to build their own nests. The female scrapes a shallow bowl directly on the ground, lining it with stalks of grass and feathers, typically hidden within patch of tall grass or under a small shrub.
• Vocalizations & Display: Mostly silent outside the breeding season. During courtship, males perform dramatic sky dances, flying high before diving steeply while rapidly clapping their wings together beneath their body, producing a sound like a cracking whip. Their voice is a raspy, barking "keaw-keaw".