After a couple of failed attempts to find them in another area, I spent three days in a spot where multiple short eared owls had been spotted. There was a group of at least 4 in one field who'd come out each evening around sunset to hunt. During the day they'd be sitting camouflaged in the high grass.
What I found interesting is that even though they were hanging around near each other at rest, when it came time to hunt, they would frequently rush at each other and squabble. Clearly they weren't among friends.
Another funny behaviour was how they would react to crows that also hung around the field, and vice versa. It's common for crows to harass birds of prey in a group, loudly crying out (it's one way to find out where there are owls even). But these crows acted a bit differently. Individual crows would from time to time come and annoy an owl just sitting around minding its business, but not as frantically as I'm used to seeing them. But what was even more incredible, the owls would do the same to the crows. It happened several times, but I've not seen something like that before.
I had a blast watching these guys and gals, it was a great way to cap off 2025. With that, I wish all superbowlers a great end of 2025 and/or start of 2026!
So cool!!
I'd love to see them hunt. They've been a close second favorite owl this year for me, right after the Barn Owl. They sound like they can be quite acrobatic, and that they often get into little scuffles amongst themselves and with other birds like you mentioned. I did get to see one that had just come into another shelter, which was still fun.
Seeing the ways animals antagonize each other is some of my favorite stuff. They can act so childish! I've seen released hawks try to take food from the ones still in our flight pens (they didn't quite get how the fencing works) and the other weekend my squirrels at home were acting like furry missiles charging the crows to keep them away from the peanuts I was tossing.
I'm glad you got to see such cool sights to end out the year!
That's exactly it, it seemed like childish little fights, they weren't going for the kill, just pissing each other off. It was somehow both interesting and entertaining.
I have to be honest, this sub motivated me to keep trying until I found them. Always happy to share the love of owls with others 😊
There's a bit of risk from them interfering with each other's hunting or stealing others' prey, since it's wasting their energy, but that's also what keeps them from getting into violent fights. The petty behavior makes them question if hanging around is worth it.
I'm glad you were inspired. It sounds like you spent a lot of hours to get these photos. I have so much appreciation for wildlife photographers. Sitting for long times in not always comfortable places to maybe not even see anything isn't something anyone can do.