More Short-eared Owls

After getting some pretty good photographs of short-eared owls, I went back to the grasslands that I’ve been calling Harrier Hill. The day had been sunny and bright, cool but not cold, with just a slight breeze and some clouds in the west.

Short-eared owls are considered an endangered species in Pennsylvania with but a handful of breeding sites – several on grassy reclaimed strip mines in the western part of the state and one at an urban airport in the southeast; there have been more of these owls nesting to the north in western New York. However, most breed far to the north, including on arctic tundra, and migrate as far south as central Mexico to winter in extensive grasslands.

Short-eared owls have wintered in the grasslands on Harrier Hill for at least 25 years. Although I’ve seen the species elsewhere, this is the most reliable, and my favorite, place to see them.

On this day the first short-eared owl made its appearance about 45 minutes before sundown –

It proceeded to put on quite a show circling around the car as it searched the field for meadow voles –

Three times it made a sharp, swift turn and dove on prey –

Twice it missed and emerged from the grass with empty talons …

... the third time it apparently caught something, and stayed on the ground mantling (hiding) its prey with its wings –

Vole, white-footed mouse, small bird? Any of those would be a suitable meal, but I couldn’t tell what the owl caught. Until it rose from the grass, taking flight with a vole in its talons –

After a few minutes it returned, made several more loops around the field during which it came within 75 feet of the car ...

… and headed over the ridge that lay to the south. Two other owls appeared high in the sky, also headed south, as the light dimmed.