{"id":52056,"date":"2018-05-10T05:48:19","date_gmt":"2018-05-10T11:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=52056"},"modified":"2025-02-13T04:39:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T10:39:18","slug":"male-short-eared-owl-showing-his-ear-tufts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/05\/10\/male-short-eared-owl-showing-his-ear-tufts\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Short-eared Owl Showing His Ear Tufts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Short-eared Owls are among my favorite birds to photograph because they are charismatic, I adore their bright yellow, forward facing eyes and their faces can be very expressive at times. Nearly every time you see a Long-eared Owl you will see their long “ears” which are really long tufts of feathers but with Short-eared Owls their short ear tufts aren’t visible all that frequently.<\/p>\n

\"AlertAlert male Short-eared Owl showing his ear tufts – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Most often I see the ear tufts of Short-eared Owls when they are on alert, when there is a wind blowing the tufts from behind the owl or when they appear curious about something they can see or hear.<\/p>\n

Looking through my Short-eared Owl photo gallery I can probably count the number of photos I have of them with their ear tufts showing on two hands so I am always happy when I add another one or two to my portfolio and I did two days ago in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

I think this male Short-eared Owl was curious about the vehicle parked on the other side of the road from it. I took a long series of this owl until another vehicle flew by and the owl took off.<\/p>\n

By the way, the actual ears of this owl aren’t even located where the ear tufts are, their ears are below the tufts.<\/p>\n

This hasn’t been a great year for finding Short-eared Owls but I will take photos of them every chance I get.<\/p>\n

The swelling of my lower eye lid seems a little bit better this morning, I did go to my doctor’s office about it and I am applying cold compresses and topical steroids and that is helping.<\/p>\n

And some of you may have noticed issues getting to my site yesterday and I wanted to explain that my server has been undergoing DDoS attacks and that is what caused the outages. A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack occurs when multiple systems flood the bandwidth or resources of a targeted system, usually one or more web servers.<\/p>\n

Translation: Someone with computer skills has too much time on their hands and is up to no good.<\/em> I do want to mention that your device isn’t at risk when my server is under a DDoS attack, you will just find it hard to get to my site when an attack is going on. I’m doing all I can to mitigate the attacks.<\/p>\n

Next, until the end of this month I may not post daily and when I do post the posts might be short and sweet. It isn’t anything bad, it is actually great because someone I love and who is near and dear to me and have known my entire life is coming on Saturday for a visit and I am looking forward to spending time with her.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Even with a swollen eye. Even with server issues.<\/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":"

Most often I see the ear tufts of Short-eared Owls when they are on alert, when there is a wind blowing the tufts from behind the owl or when they appear curious about something they can see or hear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139829,"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":[4004,4540,4114,2663,4098,2192,6490,4062,4099,3967,294,4353,11852,3971,165],"class_list":["post-52056","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-adult","tag-alert","tag-asio-flammeus","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-desert","tag-ear-tufts","tag-ears","tag-male","tag-morning-light","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-utah","tag-ranchlands","tag-short-eared-owl","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-male-alert-mia-mcpherson-9379.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dxC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12361,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/29\/a-short-eared-owl-in-glacier-county-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":52056,"position":0},"title":"Short-eared Owl in Glacier County, Montana","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Two years ago I photographed this male Short-eared Owl in Glacier County, Montana on a fence post on the perimeter of some CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) land on an August evening.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-eared Owl in Glacier County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-montana-mia-mcpherson-3647.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-montana-mia-mcpherson-3647.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-montana-mia-mcpherson-3647.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6693,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/02\/short-eared-owl-at-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":52056,"position":1},"title":"Short-eared Owl at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Due to a crash in the vole population at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge last summer there weren't many Short-eared Owls around the refuge but the few that were there were real beauties.","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":"Perched Short-eared Owl, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-perched-mia-mcpherson-8041.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-perched-mia-mcpherson-8041.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-perched-mia-mcpherson-8041.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8306,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/05\/06\/owl-see-you-at-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":52056,"position":2},"title":"Owl See You at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've said before that owls fascinate me; probably more times than I can count, and Short-eared Owls are always a delight.","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 with prey for his young, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/short-eared-owl-mia-mcpherson-8724.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/short-eared-owl-mia-mcpherson-8724.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/short-eared-owl-mia-mcpherson-8724.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/short-eared-owl-mia-mcpherson-8724.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5374,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/07\/20\/short-eared-owl-in-evening-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":52056,"position":3},"title":"Short-eared Owl in Evening Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This male Short-eared Owl in evening light was photographed last year in Glacier County, Montana not too long before the sun set.","rel":"","context":"In "Glacier County"","block_context":{"text":"Glacier County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/glacier-county\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-eared Owl in evening light, Glacier County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-perched-mia-mcpherson-4127.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-perched-mia-mcpherson-4127.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-perched-mia-mcpherson-4127.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-perched-mia-mcpherson-4127.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5936,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/15\/short-eared-owl-bathed-in-evening-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":52056,"position":4},"title":"Short-eared Owl bathed in evening light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This Short-eared Owl image was taken just a little over a year ago in Glacier County, Montana. I still remember how cooperative this male was, the gorgeous golden light of the setting sun and the great location.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-eared Owl bathed in evening light, Glacier County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-mia-mcpherson-4007.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-mia-mcpherson-4007.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-mia-mcpherson-4007.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2559,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/06\/24\/friday-photos-short-eared-owl\/","url_meta":{"origin":52056,"position":5},"title":"Friday Photos – Short-eared Owl","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The grasses are beginning to turn golden with the summer heat, the Moth Mulleins are starting to bloom and the Great Salt Lake level is still rising from spring run off.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-eared Owl flying over a field on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-flying-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-8200.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-flying-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-8200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-flying-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-8200.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-flying-flight-utah-mia-mcpherson-8200.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}