Photo: Short-eared Owl, Duke Coonrad/Audubon Photography Awards
Short-eared Owls, Diana Whiting/Audubon Photography Awards
Some observant DC-area birders were fortunate to catch sight of Short-eared Owl in the DC-northern Virginia urban core late in December and early in January. Sightings were reported from National Airport, the Washington Sailing Marina, Gravelly Point Park, East Potomac Park, and Hains Point, but it’s a relatively uncommon visitor. In our area, it’s a winter visitor, but it’s a little more likely you’ll see one in the more rural areas of northern Virginia, such Loudoun and Fauquier Counties, primarily because it’s an open-country hunter, foraging in fields and grasslands.
Like another occasional winter visitor, the Snowy Owl, the Short-eared Owl is a diurnal hunter and so is often visible during the daytime. The birds fly low over grasslands, especially at dawn and dusk. You often see them where you also see Northern Harriers, and they sometimes get in conflict over prey with the harriers and each other. They hunt small mammals and birds.
Short-eared Owl, Terri Shaddick/Audubon Photography Awards
They have short ear tufts, distinguishing them from Long-eared Owls, but the tufts are rarely visible. To identify them, look instead for a medium-sized owl, pale below with dense, vertical streaks on the breast. Its back is mottled brown and buff, and it has black-rimmed yellow eyes and a pale facial disk.
Short-eared Owls nest on the ground and you may see them flying up from the ground, but in winter they also may roost in trees. Because they are ground-breeders and migratory, they are particularly sensitive to habitat fragmentation and loss. They require relatively large grassland tracts for foraging. Conversion of open habitat to development is a driver in northern Virginia, reducing roosting and foraging areas for these winter visitors.
When we can, let’s all support conservation of important grassland habitat in northern Virginia and around North America to help this captivating predator.