Profile
In flight
Owls
Short-eared Owl
Asio flammeus
- rare
- 55 km/h
- Least Concern
Hunts in daylight, coursing low over grasslands like a giant moth. Ear tufts are barely visible.
- Population
- ~1.2–2.1 million mature individuals globally (decreasing trend)
- Habitat
- Open country — grasslands, prairies, marshes, bogs, tundra, savanna, meadows, and agricultural fields
- Fun fact
- Unlike most owls, the Short-eared Owl is frequently active in broad daylight, coursing low over open fields with buoyant, moth-like wingbeats as it hunts for voles.
- Range
- One of the most widely distributed owls in the world, breeding across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and the Galápagos, with populations on many oceanic islands — absent only from Australia and Antarctica
- Diet
- Primarily small mammals, especially voles and other rodents (also rabbits, ground squirrels, shrews, muskrats); occasionally small birds and insects, particularly near coasts/wetlands
- Size
- 0.38 m
- Wingspan
- 0.97 m
- Lifespan
- 13 years
