Another owl with a funny name…But if we have a Long-eared Owl, of course we must have a Short-eared Owl too. Though these two “tufted” owls have similar names, they are actually quite different.
In fact, the Short-eared Owl is quite different than all other owl species. First, Short-eared Owls have a flight style like no other. It’s erratic, to say the least. Often described as “moth-like”, it flaps its wings high in a slow, floppy fashion.
Secondly, they favor a different type of habitat than most other owls. While many owls seek deep, dense forests, Short-eared Owls prefer to be out in the open. They make their homes in mostly flat, treeless terrain like marshes, tundra, swamps, grasslands, or fields.
So where do they nest without trees, you might ask? Short-eared Owls don’t need trees; they nests right on the ground! While most owl species are content to plop right down into an abandoned nest of a Magpie or Crow, or cozy up into an old woodpecker hole, female Short-eared Owls choose a high place or a mound and scratch out a bowl-shaped depression, filling it with grass and soft, downy feathers. Birds that nest on the ground are at high risk from predators like foxes, cats, dogs, and other wild and domestic animals.
So, save a bird! The next time you take old Fido for a walk through the meadow, keep him on a leash!
Maps provided by The Birds of North America Online and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.