Great-horned Owl perched in a farm hedgerow (David Bradbeer) Short-eared Owl hunting voles over a grassland (Hank Tseng). A farm lane in Delta, BC (Tyler Garnham). A Marsh Wren singing atop a hedgerow (David Bradbeer). A diversity of food grown in Delta, BC (Markus Merkens). Coopers Hawk perching on a fence (Markus Merkens). Barley growing in a Delta field (Tyler Garnham). Trumpeter Swans feed on a cover crop (David Bradbeer). Spring plowing on a Delta farm (Markus Merkens). Snow Geese taking off from a farm field (David Shackleton) Ladybird beetle on a barley plant (David Bradbeer)

Short-eared Owl

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Unlike other owls, Short-eared Owls can be active both day and night, doing much of their hunting at dusk.

They are a medium-sized owl, often about 30-40 cm (one foot) long with a wingspan close to one meter (three feet). They are most easily identified by their large cream-coloured facial disk, yellow eyes, moth-like flight, and light-coloured body with dark wing tips.

Perhaps their most unique feature, however, is that they emit a barking sound when annoyed or to express territoriality. They are also rather flamboyant actors, sometimes putting on an act of distress by squealing over a “broken” wing to distract predators from their nests or young.

They are different from their other owl-relatives in their tendency to nest on the ground in open fields.

These owls will often congregate in areas where there is abundant prey, such voles, often in open habitats.  Short-eared Owls are specialized vole hunters, and in the lower Fraser River delta their diet consists mainly of Townsend’s voles, often found in Grassland Set-Asides.

Short-eared Owls are a Blue-Listed (Threatened) species in British Columbia and are listed as a species of special concern under the federal Species at Risk Act. This is most likely due to the loss of important breeding habitat such as marshes and grasslands.  The Fraser River delta provides some habitat suitable for breeding, and the owls remain within the Greater Vancouver area year-round.

 

Photo by Hank Tseng