{"id":75109,"date":"2020-11-05T05:34:52","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T12:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=75109"},"modified":"2025-06-15T09:09:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T14:09:23","slug":"male-short-eared-owl-perched-at-the-edge-of-a-sagebrush-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/05\/male-short-eared-owl-perched-at-the-edge-of-a-sagebrush-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Short-eared Owl Perched At The Edge Of A Sagebrush Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult male Short-eared Owl perched at the edge of a sagebrush sea \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/400, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I am always looking for Short-eared Owls in northern Utah because they are year round residents here but they are nomadic which means I don’t always see them. Short-eared Owls will move to new locations if prey becomes scarce.<\/p>\n

In the eleven years that I have lived in Utah I believe I have seen this owl species every month of the year. I usually have the best opportunities photographing Short-eared Owls during their breeding season. This year due to the Covid-19 pandemic I didn’t travel to many locations where I thought these owls might be found. I did have a great morning with three of them in June<\/span><\/a> in Box Elder County<\/span><\/a> and that is when I took this image.<\/p>\n

I processed this photo in June but mistakenly saved it to my desktop instead of the folder I normally place processed images into when I plan on sharing them here. I came across this photo again a few weeks ago and decided to share it today.<\/p>\n

The male Short-eared Owl was perched on a fence post near a road and at the edge of a sea of sagebrush. The light wasn’t great that morning, in fact at times it positively stank. I like that the owl was looking directly at me which is why I decided to center him in the frame.<\/p>\n

I hope that by the time the New Year arrives that we’ll be able to get this pandemic under control with vaccines plus a science based plan of attack so that I’ll be able to wander safely around the state looking for Short-eared Owls.<\/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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am always looking for Short-eared Owls in northern Utah because they are year round residents here but they are nomadic which means I don’t always see them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":148575,"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":[4004,4114,4430,2663,4098,898,4062,3967,294,4353,4104,153,2817,4057,5186,3971,8917],"class_list":["post-75109","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-barbed-wire","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-desert","tag-fence-post","tag-male","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-utah","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-sage","tag-sagebrush","tag-sagebrush-sea","tag-short-eared-owl","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-male-wooden-fence-post-centered-mia-mcpherson-4078.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jxr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70891,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/06\/14\/photographing-three-short-eared-owls-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":75109,"position":0},"title":"Photographing Three Short-eared Owls In Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't know for sure if I will see another Short-eared Owl to photograph this year but I do know I had fun photographing these three.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Short-eared Owl in flight over a sagebrush sea, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/short-eared-owl-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-4449.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/short-eared-owl-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-4449.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/short-eared-owl-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-4449.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/short-eared-owl-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-4449.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52607,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/06\/15\/sagebrush-country-short-eared-owls\/","url_meta":{"origin":75109,"position":1},"title":"Sagebrush Country & Short-eared Owls","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I see and photograph Short-eared Owls in Sagebrush Country quite often. I spend a lot of time in areas where there is sagebrush dotting the desert, steppes and hillsides here in Utah and I find these amazing owls there.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-eared Owl in Sagebrush Country, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-1150.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-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-1150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-1150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Sign","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw and photographed numerous Short-eared Owls yesterday in northern Utah but this photo of a male perched on a \"Ranch Access Only\" sign was my favorite of the day.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-eared Owl on a Ranch Access Only sign, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-eared-owl-ranch-sign-mia-mcpherson-4794.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-ranch-sign-mia-mcpherson-4794.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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