The Short Eared Owl is an excellent long distance flyer. It can be found in parts of Africa, both Americas, including the Caribbean and Galapagos, Asia, and Europe. It’s even made it all the way to Hawaii and is still found occasionally on ships far out to sea.
The Shortie may not always appear to have ear tufts-they are indeed very short! It is medium sized and fairly stocky. It soars over open ground hunting mainly small mammals, and it is also a ground nester, finding a nice secluded divot usually next to some foliage for cover.
It is also famous for its mating display, soaring high and then clapping its wings to get the attention of the lady owls.
This owl comes dressed to impress with its bold looks and is seeking your vote today.
The Barking Owl, aka Barking Boobook or Winking Owl, is native to Australia and a few surrounding areas. As you may have guessed, it is known for its dog-like barking, though it has a range of vocalizations.
The Barking Owl has one of the most diverse diets of any Australian owl, taking mice, bats, sugar gliders, possums (not the same as opossums!), and rabbits.
Though not as dramatic in appearance as the Short Eared, it still has that great Boobook profile, and some great facial expressions. Will the darling from Down Under get your vote today?
#owloftheyear2025 #superbowl
Short Eared
This smocky eyes look (*_*)
It always makes me so happy to see that look! It makes the eyes so beautiful.
(Smokey is the proper spelling, just for reference. Not being fussy, I just think I’ve seen you spell it the other way a few times.)
I typed the word 4 times unable to recognised the right spelling. Thank you (^_^)
It can be tricky on some occasions in English. One of our national parks is the Great Smoky Mountains (which are very beautiful!) named after how all the fog in the valleys makes them look smokey. I’m not sure where the other E in smokey went, but Smoky is the name.
It looks like a painting. How pretty.
I didn’t expect it to look as good in person, and though I didn’t see it at sunrise or sunset, it was still astoundingly beautiful.
If saner times return to the world, I’d recommend anyone to come see them.
Barking
Majestic!
Now that I look at it with attention, it has eyebrows!
Funny it is also said to bark in French. It is called Ninoxe aboyeuse (barking ninoxe)
It does sound pretty dog-like!
In french, the deer and animals alike also make a sound called a bark, although it is not the most commun one. Is it also the same in english?
I may have made some translation imprecision here. I know that the Chevreuil can bark. And I find videos of it and of Biche barking on YouTube but the cerf the big heavy deer are not featured barking. So I don’t know…
I finally got to look up the Chevreuil sound and that is definetly a bark! That sounds so crazy coming from a deer!
Interesting. In French the most commun name for the deer sound is the “brame”, I’m not a nature expert but it seems to be a third sound that barking and grunting. Here is a link : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_SuGQvrF2yw&pp=ygUNYnJhbWUgZHUgY2VyZg%3D%3D
Would you call it grunt? I think they do this one in the matting season.
That is a crazy sound!
This is a Red Deer (Cervus elaphus)?
“Roar” seems to be the term for it in English Google.
I also did not know they were bigger than our deer. Our west coast has elk, which are larger and have a bugle call, and we have moose up north that are huge.
Well Cervus elaphus (I don’t know much about it, I’m figuring things out and latin name using wikipédia as we speak along) is bigger than Chevreuil (Capreolus capreolus) but I believe it is smaller than Alces and Rangifer tarandus. I say I believe because this is all based on vague feeling I have from reading encylopedia and watching documentary as a child. I have no real experience on this.
Short Eared has striking eye makeup! She’s the envy of every Maybelline model.
White Faced was caught taking it too easy in the beginning of the first round, trailing Buff Fronted for a few hours. It looked like a huge upset in the works. Over night it came back big and firmly took victory back. That would have been a huge shake up to the bracket had it lost so early.
I have been told that the ears take this one. Boobooks are cool, but those ears, @[email protected]!
They are devilishly adorbs!
Hoping to see and photograph some short eared owls this winter break. Wish me luck folks!
I finally got to see one in person, though not that close or great a view where it was perched, but they are so cute!
I hope you get some great shots! I’d love to see them soaring around and giving that trademark stare right into the camera. Best of luck to you, and be sure to share!
Aaah wonderful!! Their tiny ears are to die for :) I won’t hesitate to post if I get the shots, really crossing my fingers it happens. Good luck to you ik your coming owl searches as well!
The little ear nubs are the best!
If you didn’t know, Snowy Owls have even smaller ear bumps yet than the Short Ear. It feels like a bonus when I see them.
What??? Snowy owls have tufts??? My day just got 100× better, that is absolutely adorable
Yes, indeed! They are genus Bubo, which are the horned owls. They’re small and seldom up, but they are there. Little hidden treasures.
Sugar glider
Thank you for including these! Especially the possums. They’re almost spelled the same and pronounced the same, but are very different looking, and the American opossums are much larger.
Your welcome. It is not much but I’m happy to do a bit.
Australian possum
American opossum
