{"id":65180,"date":"2020-02-23T05:17:47","date_gmt":"2020-02-23T12:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=65180"},"modified":"2025-05-22T14:49:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T19:49:47","slug":"thinking-of-spring-and-short-eared-owls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/02\/23\/thinking-of-spring-and-short-eared-owls\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking Of Spring And Short-eared Owls"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been busy the past few days and haven’t been able to get out into the field but that hasn’t stopped me from thinking of spring, green fields, warm sunlight on my skin, and Short-eared Owls.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Short-eared Owl and spring greenery \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

It has been a few years now since I felt like my Short-eared Owl obsession has been appeased.<\/p>\n

Short-eared Owls are nomadic and they follow their prey which means from year to year their populations vary, some locations that might have had large populations a few years ago have been coming up dry for me with very few sightings of these owls. This spring I may have to check out new locations if I don’t find any where I have found them before.<\/p>\n

\"Short-earedShort-eared Owl male looking over a green field \u2013 Nikon D810, f9, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Photographing Short-eared Owls is very satisfying. In May of 2016 I had driven way up north in search of owls and came across this handsome male. I watched as he had two unsuccessful hunts and then perched on an old wooden post. It was quiet, peaceful and relaxing to sit alone with this owl while taking photo after photo of him. I wasn’t in any rush and the owl didn’t seem to be either.<\/p>\n

I knew from his bloody talons he had already captured some prey that morning, it may have been for him to eat or perhaps it was to feed his young. I’ll never know.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Short-eared Owl on a spring morning \u2013 Nikon D810, f9, 1\/640, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

His bright yellow eyes scanned the green fields and the blue sky overhead. After a bit I turned my Jeep south and said goodbye and thank you to the owl.<\/p>\n

Seeing photos of this male Short-eared Owl reminds me that I need to start looking for these owls perched, hunting, and on the wing.<\/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 and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been busy the past few days and haven’t been able to get out into the field but that hasn’t stopped me from thinking of spring, green fields, warm sunlight on my skin, and Short-eared Owls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146059,"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":[27,1148,130,26],"tags":[4004,4114,2663,4098,5843,4062,3967,294,4353,4104,4394,11852,3971,165,8917],"class_list":["post-65180","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-asio-flammeus","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-desert","tag-green-field","tag-male","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-utah","tag-perched","tag-post","tag-ranchlands","tag-short-eared-owl","tag-spring","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/short-eared-owl-male-green-field-mia-mcpherson-9324.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-gXi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56749,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/03\/21\/im-eager-to-see-and-photograph-short-eared-owls\/","url_meta":{"origin":65180,"position":0},"title":"I’m Eager To See And Photograph Short-eared Owls","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I love photographing the Short-eared Owls while there is still some spring growth around because the warm toned plumage of these owls stands out so nicely from the varying shades of green.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stretching female Short-eared Owl in front of a green field, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-female-stretching-mmia-mcpherson-3918.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-female-stretching-mmia-mcpherson-3918.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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