The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

The short-eared owl [Asio flammeus] is a medium-sized owl with relatively long wings and tiny, often-concealed ear-tufts. In Latin, the word flammeus means fiery, flaming, or the color of fire.

Generally nocturnal, but often active 30 to 60 minutes before sunset; some owls may be active during the day during the breeding season. Short-eared owls eat mainly small mammals, but sometimes take birds. Meadow voles are the primary prey.

Deer mice, shrews, ground squirrel and pocket gophers are consumed, and grasshoppers are eaten when available.

Nests are loosely constructed by the female, who scrapes a spot on the ground and then lines the scrape with grass stems, herb stalks, and feathers plucked from her breast.

Clutch sizes range from four to 14 eggs (average five to seven), with large clutches laid during years of food abundance. Clutch size increases from south to north. Eggs are laid every one to two days, and incubation commences with the first. Incubation is done largely by the female, with the male bringing food to the nest and occasionally taking a turn incubating. Young grow very rapidly after hatching, and begin to wander from the nest as soon as 12 days, an adaptation for a ground-nesting species to reduce the amount of time they are vulnerable to predation. Young fledge at about four weeks.

Wild short-eared owls have reached almost 13 years of age. Natural enemies include many diurnal raptors such as the bald eagle, northern goshawk, gyrfalcon, red-tailed hawk, and snowy owl.

A group of owls are referred to as a "bazaar," "glaring," "stooping," "parliament," or a "wisdom."

To view more images of the short-eared owls, visit http://abirdsingsbecauseithasasong.com/recent-journeys.