{"id":40569,"date":"2016-07-19T06:03:19","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T12:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=40569"},"modified":"2025-02-15T04:28:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T10:28:17","slug":"hidden-short-eared-owl-fledgling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/07\/19\/hidden-short-eared-owl-fledgling\/","title":{"rendered":"Hidden Short-eared Owl Fledgling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I posted a Short-eared Owl in flight over a wet meadow<\/a><\/span> and said that it was one of my favorite images taken that day in the Centennial Valley of Montana so I thought this morning I would post another on my favorites from that day.<\/p>\n

\"FledglingFledgling Short-eared Owl hiding in grasses – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The breeding season for Short-eared Owls is a bit later for the Centennial Valley of Montana than it is for northern Utah so I was able to photograph some Short-eared Owl fledglings while I was up north.<\/p>\n

I know that this hidden Short-eared Owl fledgling image isn’t one of my best because of the grasses in front of its face and the shadow of a stem falling on its left eye but I love it.<\/p>\n

The fledgling was so close to the edge of the road that I knew I could only take a portrait of it and even then it was going to be tricky trying to focus through the grasses so I focused on the eyes and took a short series of the young owl before moving on. This image is full frame using FX mode on my D810.<\/p>\n

I suppose this image could have been better without those grasses in front of the fledgling owl’s face but for me this is how I often see these wild and wonderful fledglings nearly hidden in their world and safe from the eyes of predators.<\/p>\n

A lot of people might not have even noticed this young owl driving down the road but I sure did. This isn’t a million dollar image but I’d print it and hang it on my wall just because it speaks to me and I love it every bit as much as the Short-eared Owl in flight that I posted yesterday.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Short-eared Owl photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know that this hidden Short-eared Owl fledgling image isn’t one of my best because of the grasses in front of its face and the shadow of a stem falling on its left eye but I love it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513,27,223,12,130],"tags":[4114,2663,4142,4141,1131,4109,388,3967,294,2415,4046,3971],"class_list":["post-40569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-montana","category-short-eared-owls","tag-asio-flammeus","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-close-up","tag-fledgling","tag-full-frame","tag-grasses","tag-hidden","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-montana","tag-portrait","tag-short-eared-owl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-fledgling-in-grasses-mia-mcpherson-5218.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ayl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42843,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/26\/photographing-short-eared-owls\/","url_meta":{"origin":40569,"position":0},"title":"Photographing 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Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Short-eared Owls are nomadic so the places where I saw and photographed these male Short-eared Owls last year may or may not have owls this breeding season.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Short-eared Owl rousing in Utah, Box Elder County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-male-rousing-mia-mcpherson-3166.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-male-rousing-mia-mcpherson-3166.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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