{"id":50440,"date":"2018-01-01T06:14:10","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T13:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=50440"},"modified":"2025-03-12T04:55:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T09:55:20","slug":"young-short-eared-owl-a-stroke-of-serendipity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/01\/young-short-eared-owl-a-stroke-of-serendipity\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Short-eared Owl – A Stroke of Serendipity"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m keeping my first post of 2018 short, sweet and simple. Sweet because who can resist a Short-eared Owl chick with those big yellow eyes? I know I can’t.<\/p>\n

\"YoungYoung Short-eared Owl – Nikon D810, f10, 1\/800, ISO 320, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I could have missed seeing and photographing this Short-eared Owl chick and two of its siblings except for a stroke of serendipity. I was meeting a friend in northern Utah who had come from out of state to photograph birds so I drove up to Box Elder County<\/span><\/a> and did a little bit of exploring on my own before I planned on heading to our meeting place.<\/p>\n

When I saw a pickup in front of me slowly heading south on the road I wanted to be on I decided at that moment to turn around and head a different direction. I wasn’t sure I would find any birds but I was okay with that.<\/p>\n

If I hadn’t turned my Jeep around when I did in the direction I chose I would never have found three adorable Short-eared Owl chicks not far from the shoulder of the road in beautiful morning light.<\/p>\n

I didn’t stay with the chicks long because I didn’t want to stress the young birds or prevent the adults owls from feeding them so I quickly took some photos and left them them alone.<\/p>\n

I can tell you that finding and photographing the young Short-eared Owls was one of the brightest highlights of that day for me and that I was enchanted by the beautiful owlets. I also learned that sometimes by not taking the path I planned to take and heading a different direction can bring unexpected joy.<\/p>\n

I’m looking forward to 2018 and I wish you all the best. Happy New Year!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

If I hadn’t turned my Jeep around when I did in the direction I chose I would never have found three adorable Short-eared Owl chicks not far from the shoulder of the road in beautiful morning light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141545,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1148,130,26],"tags":[4114,2663,4134,4142,4098,4067,4071,3967,294,4046,11852,4057,6310,3971,165,4193],"class_list":["post-50440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-short-eared-owls","category-utah","tag-asio-flammeus","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-chick","tag-close-up","tag-desert","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-portrait","tag-ranchlands","tag-sagebrush","tag-serendipity","tag-short-eared-owl","tag-spring","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/short-eared-owl-chick-mia-mcpherson-2898.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-d7y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70015,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/05\/15\/sharing-sunrise-with-short-eared-owl-chicks\/","url_meta":{"origin":50440,"position":0},"title":"Sharing Sunrise With Short-eared Owl Chicks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent a few minutes photographing some of the cutest Short-eared Owl chicks that were just the width of a ditch away from the road that May morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunrise and a Short-eared Owl chick, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/short-eared-owl-chick-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-2682.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/short-eared-owl-chick-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-2682.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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McPherson","date":"February 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Short-eared Owls are nomadic because they follow their main prey which is voles and if the vole population is low the Short-eared Owl density will also be low.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-eared Owl chick in early morning light, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/short-eared-owl-juvenile-road-side-mia-mcpherson-2797.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/short-eared-owl-juvenile-road-side-mia-mcpherson-2797.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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