Short-eared Owl

For Throwback Thursday, here's a Short-eared Owl I met back in January of 2019. As you can tell from the photos, these birds are all-in when it comes to social distancing - at least with regards to nosy bird watchers. They would sometimes get fairly close to one another and the Northern Harriers that were hunting in the same fields. And if all goes well for the owls, they get really close to the voles, shrews, and mice in the field; those are their main sources of food.

These owls are a classic crepuscular bird, doing most of their hunting a little before and after sunset. They're very maneuverable birds, and may remind you of fighter jets as they hunt over fields.

This picture was from a part of Duke Farms that is usually closed to the public; I was there on a special program they were doing.




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