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Asio flammeus
Short-eared Owl on marker 12 at the Ridgefield NWR in southwest Washington state.
Open grasslands.
I was parked near post 12 waiting to photograph a hawk taking off from its perch when this owl landed on a speed limit sign about 200 feet from me. One of the 4 or 5 cars that were observing the hawk, drove by the owl and flushed it so that it landed on marker 12, about a hundred feet from me. This owl has been seen off and on in daytime at the refuge for a month or two now but this is my first sighting of this winter's bird. The juvenile hawk was causing a "traffic jam" of a bunch of cars, letting folks drive within 15 feet of it. It's amazing the owl would choose to land on signs and posts so close to all this congestion. Maybe the owl just wanted to see what all the fuss was about! [I also added a video but I got a "problem saving" when I added my you tube link, and now it won't let me take the link out of the video field. Will have to start my spotting over!]
Spotted on Jan 4, 2013
Submitted on Jan 5, 2013
10 Comments
Looks like it is ready to kill its next victim
Evil owl
So jealous of this shot! I have only seen one flying far away through binos, would love to be able to get a picture one day!
Thanks, Satyen!
Beautiful!
Thanks all for your nice comments!
Great picture of this rarely seen bird!
Lovely spotting and nice story about how you saw it!
Very nice !
Nice find and great photo, Dennis! What an incredible stare!