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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/short-eared-owl-8184-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"short-eared-owl-8184-ron-dudley\\"")
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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I photographed this cooperative Short-eared Owl in late spring three years ago in northern Utah. The fresh green background colors are typical of the time of year when I’m most likely to see this species and there’s a dried grass stem in the claws that is most likely a remnant from an earlier hunting foray. I like the shy, almost withdrawn pose, the old and weathered perch and the clean background.<\/p>\n My good friends Jim and Nancy DeWitt were the inspiration for this post. They spent part of this past weekend in Idaho’s Upper Weiser Valley doing their Short-eared Owl survey. They’ve been volunteering their time surveying their assigned route for several years now and when Jim told me it was time for another survey my mind became fixated on SEOW’s for much of the weekend (beats the hell out of thinking about coronavirus.)<\/p>\n Depending on available prey SEOWs can be highly unpredictable in their choice of nesting grounds from year to year so I never know if they’ll show up in good numbers around here. For several years running they were relatively easy to find in northern Utah during the nesting season but last year was a near-total bust.<\/p>\n I have hopes for this year but then I do every springtime. Sometimes they pan out and sometimes they don’t.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Note: Jim DeWitt is a prolific and astute blogger on an eclectic range of subjects including bird photography, politics, science,\u00a0 legal\/ethical issues (he’s a retired attorney) and concert reviews. Some of my readers may know him by his blog title Wickersham’s Conscience<\/a> <\/span>or by the pseudonym Hieronymus Bosch.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Demure” pops into my mind every time I look at this photo.<\/p>\n