Short Eared Owl Watch

Did you know that owls with yellow eyes hunt during the day? My column in the Gazette & Herald this week is all about the day I watched five short eared owls hunting. 

Note their yellow eyes. This signifies that they hunt during the day. They make such a spectacle the way they quarter the grassland.

I'm looking forward to using these photographs for a painting. Click on the words short eared owls to link to the article.

Short Eared Owls by the Humber

I finally got some shots of short eared owls that are good enough to paint from.

Over the years I have managed to get some good photographs of barn owls, tawny owls and little owls, but short eared - and long eared - owls have been missing from my portfolio.

So last week I set off to a spot just south of the Humber River where the birdwatchers on our guided walks with Michael Flowers had recently spotted 15 short eared owls. I spent two afternoons there waiting and watching.

As I watched a buzzard, a hen harrier and this marsh harrier flew by.

And then five short eared owls appeared and set upon the buzzard. They mobbed him systematically until he gave up and left their territory. Unfortunately the action was too far away to photograph.

It proved a long, cold wait but it was worth it because then the five owls began to hunt.

I had put up a branch for them while I had been waiting in the hope that one of them would perch on it and after four hours of watching this one spotted it and landed on it for a few minutes.

I snapped away as fast as I could. This will make the perfect pose for a painting.

It shook itself, and then set off again to chase away a rival.