March 29

This has been a good winter for Short-eared Owls with several locations around Edmonton having owls. The most recent location is near Tofield, east of Edmonton. These owls are behaving a little differently in that they are hunting in the early afternoon. Most of the other owls are hunting just before sunset, so you have limited time to get photos. That is the positive side of their behavior. The challenging side is that they do not fly close to the road and they are very skittish.

I got this shot a couple of weeks ago. I noticed that when an owl caught a vole, it would often sit in the field and look around to make sure it was safe before taking off to a secure location to eat its meal. This particular owl had caught a vole fairly close to the road, about 30 meters into the field. So I jumped in my truck and drove up beside it. I leaned over the passenger seat and stuck my camera out the window. I was just in time to get the lift-off and a few good shots. I was out for about three hours and only got close to the owls twice, both by watching for a capture close to the road.

Stay Well !