From Billy Davidson

This guy knows how good that light is!

He also knows how good the voles are in this grass patch

Short eared owls in light like this are rare!

  • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
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    1 day ago

    No worries! I typically presume the best of everyone in this community. There are just a few uncanny elements of the Short Eared Owls.

    I got to meet one from a distance this year, and they are very adorable, though a bit more compact than I had imagined them to be.

    I want to someday witness them doing their mating clap to impress the lady shorties.

    • mika june [she|her]@piefed.blahaj.zone
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      1 day ago

      i hear owls occasionally, but i’ve only been lucky enough to stumble upon and actually see one in the field. it was such a great experience. glad you had a chance to see a short-eared!

      the clapping behavior is not something i was aware of. so cool! so he’s demonstrating his prowess in flight? mating behaviors are so interesting. every march i go out hoping to witness a woodcock skydance, but apparently they’re my nemesis bird.

      • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
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        1 day ago

        The one I saw was in an ed center. It was a new arrival and was semi-private as it got acclimated, but it was up close to the roof of the aviary so the tarp covering the front didn’t block it from view.

        I was very jealous a few weeks back when my wife got to spot one of the Great Horns that live around our neighborhood. Yes, I get to see them up close regularly, but even when I get to hold owls, they’re still patients, not spotting them randomly, which still seems cooler.

        I saw a barn owl in my yard as a kid, but that was the only real wild sighting I’ve had I think.