Field Guide
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Short-eared Owl
Asio flammeus
Not yet photographed by the community
Day-hunting moorland owl with bouncing flight.
Species Profile
Amber List (Birds of Conservation Concern)
- Lifespan
- 12–15 years in the wild, though average typically 5–8 years
- Size & Weight
- 37–39 cm, wingspan 95–110 cm; 330–450 g
- Habitat
- Open moorland, grassland, wetlands, and rough ground with low vegetation, favouring areas with good vole populations.
- UK Distribution
- Found throughout the UK, but more numerous in northern England, Scotland, and Wales. Winter visitor populations increase in autumn and spring; some resident breeding pairs remain year-round.
- Diet
- Primarily small mammals, especially field voles and bank voles, supplemented with shrews, mice, and occasionally small birds.
- Prey
- Field voles, bank voles, common shrews, wood mice, house mice, occasionally young rabbits and small passerines
- Predators
- Golden eagles, white-tailed eagles, peregrine falcons, and rarely foxes and corvids targeting eggs or chicks
- Mating Season
- March to August
- Breeding
- Clutch of 4–8 eggs (average 5–6), incubation period 24–29 days, fledging at 35–42 days. Single brood per year, occasionally two in good vole years.
- Behaviour
- Highly adaptable hunters that quarter low over open ground in characteristic buoyant, wavering flight, often crepuscular or active in daylight. Males perform spectacular sky-dancing displays during breeding season. Largely solitary outside breeding season.
- •Short-eared owls can hear voles moving beneath snow and grass, allowing them to hunt in near darkness
- •They are one of the few owls to hunt regularly in daylight, particularly during the breeding season and in northern latitudes
- •Males perform dramatic aerial displays, climbing steeply and clapping their wings together beneath their bodies
- •Population numbers in the UK fluctuate dramatically with vole population cycles, with irruptions occurring every 3–4 years
- •Unlike most owls, short-eared owls nest on the ground in a simple scrape lined with vegetation and downy feathers
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