{"id":51259,"date":"2018-03-16T06:46:34","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T12:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=51259"},"modified":"2024-12-23T04:39:10","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T10:39:10","slug":"looking-for-burrowing-and-short-eared-owls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/03\/16\/looking-for-burrowing-and-short-eared-owls\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking For Burrowing And Short-eared Owls"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAn adult Burrowing Owl on a May morning – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/800, ISO 250, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m getting ansty for spring migration and for the birds that it will bring including Burrowing and Short-eared Owls which I always look forward to photographing here in northern Utah. Some of the Burrowing and Short-eared Owls do stick around for the winter here but this winter I have not seen them myself so I can’t wait to see them again.<\/p>\n

I haven’t been out to photograph in a few days because of the weather and I am starting to feel like climbing my living room walls, I want to check out my favorite spots for seeing both of these owl species.<\/p>\n

I can nearly always count on finding Burrowing Owls on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 during their breeding season but I haven’t photographed them there much the past few years because I feel like they already have enough pressure because they are so well known on the island and I don’t want to “Love them to death<\/span><\/a>” so I try to find these small owls elsewhere. Some times I get lucky, some times I don’t.<\/p>\n

\"FluffedFluffed up adult male Short-eared Owl in northern Utah – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

With the nomadic Short-eared Owls you never know where you might find them, one year they might be completely absent and the next they are everywhere you look in the habitats they prefer. Two years ago it was great for Short-eared Owls, I just don’t know if this year will be boom or bust for this enigmatic species of owl.<\/p>\n

I do know that I hope to find both Burrowing and Short-eared Owls this breeding season because they are beautiful birds and such fun to observe and photograph. Much to my delight each year I learn more & more about these owls and that suits me just fine.<\/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 with facts and information about this species. Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Burrowing Owl photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m getting ansty for spring migration and for the birds that it will bring including Burrowing and Short-eared Owls which I always look forward to photographing here in northern Utah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138122,"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":[511,27,1148,52,1022,9,130,26],"tags":[4004,4114,55,2663,4214,6408,898,6409,3967,294,4104,4921,3971],"class_list":["post-51259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-burrowing-owls","category-davis-county-utah","category-owls","category-short-eared-owls","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-asio-flammeus","tag-athene-cunicularia","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-burrowing-owl","tag-enigmatic","tag-fence-post","tag-loved-to-death","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-perched","tag-rock","tag-short-eared-owl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/burrowing-owl-adult-mia-mcpherson-2869.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dkL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":51497,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/04\/03\/photos-of-owls-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":51259,"position":0},"title":"Photos Of Owls In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I spend a lot of time in the field looking for, observing and photographing owls and obtaining photos of them in flight can often be frustrating when I have the opportunity but very fulfilling when I accomplish my goal.","rel":"","context":"In "American Barn Owls"","block_context":{"text":"American Barn Owls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/owls\/barn-owls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Focused flight of a juvenile Burrowing Owl, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-0758.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-0758.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-0758.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-0758.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39498,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/05\/15\/burrowing-and-short-eared-owls-in-may\/","url_meta":{"origin":51259,"position":1},"title":"Burrowing and Short-eared Owls in May – Satisfying my Owl Obsession","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I am thoroughly enjoying photographing Burrowing and Short-eared Owls in May and satisfying my owl obsession.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunrise adult Burrowing Owl male, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/burrowing-owl-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-9138.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/burrowing-owl-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-9138.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/burrowing-owl-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-9138.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/burrowing-owl-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-9138.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":79015,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/02\/07\/its-superb-owl-sunday\/","url_meta":{"origin":51259,"position":2},"title":"It’s Superb Owl Sunday!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"It is Superb Owl Sunday so I wanted to share four of the owls that I see most frequently. Barn, Burrowing, Great Horned and Short-eared Owls are the owls that I photograph most often here in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "American Barn Owls"","block_context":{"text":"American Barn Owls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/owls\/barn-owls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Short-eared Owl resting in front of sage, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-juvenile-sage-mia-mcpherson-2874.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-juvenile-sage-mia-mcpherson-2874.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-juvenile-sage-mia-mcpherson-2874.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-juvenile-sage-mia-mcpherson-2874.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15443,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/24\/posts-from-the-past-owls\/","url_meta":{"origin":51259,"position":3},"title":"Posts from the Past – Owls","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I am focusing on older posts that have owls in them starting with Great Horned Owls.","rel":"","context":"In "American Barn Owls"","block_context":{"text":"American Barn Owls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/owls\/barn-owls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pair of Great Horned Owls with their eyes on the Montana sky, Glacier County\u00a0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owls-mia-mcpherson-montana-1949.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owls-mia-mcpherson-montana-1949.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owls-mia-mcpherson-montana-1949.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52851,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/07\/01\/sleepy-yawning-juvenile-burrowing-owl\/","url_meta":{"origin":51259,"position":4},"title":"Sleepy, Yawning Juvenile Burrowing Owl","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm a little like this sleepy juvenile Burrowing Owl this morning, I overslept, my coffee still hasn't kicked in, I'm yawning frequently and I am still sleepy.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sleepy juvenile Burrowing Owl, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-yawning-mia-mcpherson-0567.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-yawning-mia-mcpherson-0567.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-yawning-mia-mcpherson-0567.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-yawning-mia-mcpherson-0567.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37907,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/05\/more-owls-turkey-vultures-plus-a-third-year-bald-eagle\/","url_meta":{"origin":51259,"position":5},"title":"More Owls, Turkey Vultures Plus A Third Year Bald Eagle","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I mentioned in my post about Short-eared Owls yesterday that I saw Burrowing Owls, Turkey Vultures and a third year Bald Eagle juvenile in northern Utah so I thought I would share a few more images form the northern Utah excursion.","rel":"","context":"In "Bald Eagles"","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Third year Bald Eagle in Box Elder County, Utah. 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