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!