{"id":52342,"date":"2018-05-30T04:18:49","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T10:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=52342"},"modified":"2025-06-15T13:34:40","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T18:34:40","slug":"fledgling-short-eared-owl-perched-on-a-tumbleweed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/05\/30\/fledgling-short-eared-owl-perched-on-a-tumbleweed\/","title":{"rendered":"Fledgling Short-eared Owl Perched On A Tumbleweed – Two Years Ago Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CloseClose up of a curious Short-eared Owl fledgling – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/800, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Two years ago today I had a fantastic time photographing Short-eared Owl fledglings on tumbleweeds that were in front a fence in northern Utah.\u00a0 It was a great year for seeing adult, chicks and fledgling Short-eared Owls and I took full advantage of every opportunity I had with theses owls each and every time I was able to find them. It only makes sense with nomadic species to take as many photos as I can because the next year there may not be as many of them around.<\/p>\n

\"FledglingFledgling Short-eared Owl on a tumbleweed – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, I don’t have many opportunities to take photos of birds perched on tumbleweeds. I see plenty of tumbleweeds out here in the west but not many that have birds on them. Tumbleweeds don’t look all that sturdy to my eye but then Short-eared Owls don’t weigh that much either, only about 12 ounces full grown and this fledgling was smaller than an adult. Unlike other birds of prey who are as large as the adults when they fledge Short-eared Owls leave their ground based nests at about 12 to 18 days old which is before they can fly.<\/p>\n

\"FledglingFledgling Short-eared Owl perched on tumbleweed in early morning light – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Today I wonder how the chicks I photographed are doing and if they are now raising their own young.<\/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":"

Two years ago today I had a fantastic time photographing Short-eared Owl fledglings on tumbleweeds that were in front a fence in northern Utah. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":148673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[1148,130,26],"tags":[4114,2663,4224,4141,4067,4071,4204,3967,294,4353,3971,5196,4193],"class_list":["post-52342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-short-eared-owls","category-utah","tag-asio-flammeus","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-early-morning","tag-fledgling","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-light","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-utah","tag-short-eared-owl","tag-tumbleweed","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-fledgling-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-7157.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dCe","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40017,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/06\/14\/short-eared-owl-fledgling-parallaxing\/","url_meta":{"origin":52342,"position":0},"title":"Short-eared Owl Fledgling Parallaxing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This Short-eared Owl fledgling spent a lot of time looking at the vehicle on the far side of the road parallaxing with its head tilted or bobbing up and down.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Parallaxing Short-eared Owl fledgling, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/short-eared-owl-fledgling-parallaxing-mia-mcpherson-6692.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/short-eared-owl-fledgling-parallaxing-mia-mcpherson-6692.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/short-eared-owl-fledgling-parallaxing-mia-mcpherson-6692.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/short-eared-owl-fledgling-parallaxing-mia-mcpherson-6692.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51074,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/25\/photographing-short-eared-owl-fledglings-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":52342,"position":1},"title":"Photographing Short-eared Owl Fledglings in Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Both of the fledgling Short-eared Owls I took photos of that morning appeared very relaxed while I photographed them, they looked around, preened, yawned, stretched and even rested with their eyes closed.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-eared Owl fledgling with a fly on its belly, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-fledgling-fly-mia-mcpherson-6902.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-fledgling-fly-mia-mcpherson-6902.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-fledgling-fly-mia-mcpherson-6902.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-fledgling-fly-mia-mcpherson-6902.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39745,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/05\/27\/fledgling-short-eared-owl-in-tumbleweeds\/","url_meta":{"origin":52342,"position":2},"title":"Fledgling Short-eared Owl in Tumbleweeds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"How could I resist taking images of a fledgling Short-eared Owl in tumbleweeds? I just couldn't.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fledgling Short-eared Owl with Tumbleweeds, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-fledgling-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-4390.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-fledgling-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-4390.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-fledgling-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-4390.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-fledgling-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-4390.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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