I have heard owls hooting at night over the years. There are plenty of trees in this area as well as abundant small prey for them in the form of countless squirrels, chipmunks, mice, voles, moles, shrews, and other critters. But, I have never spotted an owl, since they tend to be more reclusive than other birds.
So, imagine my surprise when I opened my back door yesterday morning and peered out to see an owl perched in a tree right beside my house! It was very close, probably no more than 10 feet/meters from my back door! As soon as I saw it, I briefly froze, with my mind racing as to how to get a photo without spooking it into flight.
I quickly zipped across the room to grab my cellphone, then went back to the door. Without sticking my head outside again, I activated the camera on my phone and slid it out just enough so the camera lens was clear of the door frame. I used the screen to sight the owl and zoom-in, then pressed the button to take the pic. Then, I made a second pic just to be sure I got it. If I'd had any sense about me, I would have silenced the phone first, as the "shutter sound" apparently alerted the owl that I was there, as the second pic showed its head slightly turned in my direction.
Then, I quietly raced through the house to a window looking out at the tree, hoping to get an even better pic. By the time I got to the window, however, the bird had flown. So, no other pics were available to be taken. 😢
Not being very knowledgeable about owls, I had no clue what species it might be, so I turned to an online search. I perused several websites that told of owls that might be spotted in my area and carefully looked at the pics shown. I also considered the size of the owl I saw with the written descriptions online. None of the pics matched perfectly, but the closest I found was the Short-Eared Owl, (Asio flammeus). [1]
Birds can be quite difficult to identify sometimes for a couple of reasons. First, plumage can vary slightly by season, and some birds appear different in winter versus summer. Second, many bird species exhibit sexual dimorphism, where the females and males have different colorations. So, unless a website shows photos of both females and males, it can hamper identification.[2]
Fortunately, this species doesn't display sexual dimorphism other than the females typically being a bit larger than the males, and the plumage doesn't seem to change with the seasons.[3] That leaves me at a bit of a loss as to why the wings appear more black in the one that visited my house than the dark-brown wings in online photos.[1] The color difference might just be a trick of my own eyes, the ambient lighting, or maybe it's not a Short-Eared Owl after all, but yet another species. If any owl aficionados have other specie suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them!
SOURCES
1 Audubon.org: Short-Eared Owl
2 Wikipedia: Sexual Dimorphism
3 Wikipedia: Short-Eared Owl
𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝟏𝟎𝟎% 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧-𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧, 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐞, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐀𝐈 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞.
𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚛: 𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚟𝚎-𝟷𝟶𝟼𝟺𝟺𝟺 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 ("𝙵𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜"). 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚞𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚜𝚘 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚝. 𝙰𝚕𝚜𝚘, 𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚎 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚎.
