{"id":71242,"date":"2020-06-26T05:38:23","date_gmt":"2020-06-26T11:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=71242"},"modified":"2025-06-15T13:47:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T18:47:18","slug":"curious-short-eared-owl-fledgling-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/06\/26\/curious-short-eared-owl-fledgling-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"Curious Short-eared Owl Fledgling At Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CuriousCurious fledgling Short-eared Owl – Nikon D500, F7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Years ago I saw my first Short-eared Owl on a wooden post next to what was then a dirt road that went to the auto tour route at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a>. I wasn’t able to take photos of the owl that morning because I spotted it too late and the bird took off and flew away. I have vivid flashes of it in my memory though as it perched on that post in golden light and as it flew away.<\/p>\n

Three days ago I spotted an adult Short-eared Owl male in the same location but it also took off and flew away then I saw another owl take off from a mound of vegetation that followed the male. I didn’t get a great look at the second owl but it appeared to be a female.<\/p>\n

Then I spotted two bright yellow eyes peering towards me from a mound of sunlit grasses and soon after that another pair behind a blooming clump of white wildflowers. The adult Short-eared Owls had been watching over their young that were nearly hidden from view.<\/p>\n

I took quite a few photos of the fledgling Short-eared Owl that I had a clear view of and even though the lighting wasn’t the best I was enchanted by the views I had of it.<\/p>\n

I can’t recall if I saw my first Short-eared Owl in this spot before or soon after I moved to Utah but it seemed fitting for me to see a family of owls there again.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Stay safe.<\/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

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I took quite a few photos of the fledgling Short-eared Owl that I had a clear view of and even though the lighting wasn’t the best I was enchanted by the views I had of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146040,"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":[124,27,1148,130,26],"tags":[4114,4134,6010,4141,3747,4109,4067,4099,3967,294,57,11852,3971,4342,2315,5065,4193],"class_list":["post-71242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-short-eared-owls","category-utah","tag-asio-flammeus","tag-chick","tag-curious","tag-fledgling","tag-grass","tag-grasses","tag-immature","tag-morning-light","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-parallaxing","tag-ranchlands","tag-short-eared-owl","tag-side-lit","tag-summer-3","tag-white-wildflowers","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/short-eared-owl-chick-grasses-mia-mcpherson-4000.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ix4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68485,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/16\/fledgling-short-eared-owl-parallaxing-from-an-old-wooden-post\/","url_meta":{"origin":71242,"position":0},"title":"Fledgling 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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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