I usually can only go on Sunday afternoons. Up until now this winter I have not seen short-eared owls, except at quite a distance. Tonight I saw them closer, but still not very close after sunset.
Weekends are not a good time to go. I have been going on Sundays since early December with little luck. It is crowded and people tend to be loud on the weekends, hence the owls stay far beyond the distance to take a decent photo. Not a good recipe for chances to see them up close. This was just after sunset. Here’s hoping I have better luck in the future.
Sharon's Iconic Travel Photography Blog 
Looks like great timing to me. Congrats. Allan
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Some during the week have seen them during the day with better conditions. Less people, less noise, more opportunity. Not a given though. It’s hit or miss, mostly miss.
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Nice one! 😊
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💕
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That’s a lovely shot!
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Great shot!
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Thanks to the owl!
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short-eared owls,
cjsmissionaryministry@gmail.com
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I would consider myself lucky to have had this sighting and to have taken this photograph. I haven’t seen a Short-eared Owl for years.
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Fabulous photo!!
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Beautiful.
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Nice shot. Owls always strike us as special. hence the crowds you face.
I, too, took photos of short eared owls recently, this in north western Washington state. Unlike your experience, our owls flying in daylight seemed to ignore the twenty or so people lined up on the roads to photograph them. I am, of course, shooting with 800mm equivalent focal length, so that affects what I consider ‘close enough’. That blog will appear sometime in March, as I have the rest of my Mexico blogs to drop in February.
Peter Bauer 206-822-9883
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Great shot, Sharon! I’m still trying to capture my first Short-eared Owl 😉
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You may need to come farther north. Here’s hoping you get a lot in the future!
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We actually have these owls at Blackwater NWR in Cambridge MD, I know the exact area where they are but I still haven’t seen one. Others post photos all the time, ugh!
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It is frustrating. The retired photo enthusiasts go to these places near me daily during the week and see them up close. In our area weekends are crowded and noisy so I haven’t had much luck. Obviously the owls are not fans of the weekends there. They start dwindling in numbers here around March.
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Also some tell me they favor coming out earlier before sunset after bad weather and when it’s calm wind wise.
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What really struck me about this photo was the size of the wings. Owls’ bodies are stocky and compact, but their wings are incredibly long. Fantastic shot!
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Nice shot, all the more so given the lighting and distance.
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If it was closer it would be a lot sharper. Happy to get these as most of the days I have gone this winter they have been too far to even take a photo with a zoom lens.
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