Well hi there! I have finally gotten a page of my own. Whewwww I thought I would never get here. So now I can tell you all about me. As you already know I am the short eared owl or otherwise known as the Evening Owl, Marsh or Swamp Owl, Grass Owl, Flatfaced Owl and the Meadow Owl.

I am medium in size and and of course I am nocturnal. My chest,belly,and back are a buffy brown with dark streaks. I (I am the male speaking here by the way) tend to be lighter in color then my female but our coloring does keep us safe because we kind of blend in to the trees and that around us. If worse comes to worse and we feel danger is emminent we feign death. Pretty clever of us wouldn't you say? Our eyes are a bright yellow circled in black and set in buffy white facial disks. Our bills are black and our heads our round and we look like we don't have any ears. But if you look closely tiny ear tufts are visible. Now chances are you aren't going to get that close to us so you're just going to have to take my word on this.our wingspan ranges from 13"-17" and we weigh between 7-17 oz. again my female being a little larger then myself. Well she's needs to be a little bigger because she has to raise all our little owlets and there is a lot of work involved there let me tell you.

We tend to be on the quiet side but when we want somebody to know we're around I tend to sound like an old steam engine that's what my female partner tells my anyhow and she tends to sound like she's barking. We have also been know to hiss, squeal, & squawk when we get nervous or excited.

Now when we hunt it is usually at nite or in the morning. We tend to like rabbits,deer mice,squirrels,gophers & muskrats. We have also been known to eat birds if we are hunting by marshes or along coastal areas. We do have the distinction of carrying our prey with our talons rather then in our bills.

Now in regards to our breeding habits I will tell you I perform some pretty fancy aerial flying to get my female interested. I fly high in the air and then do an aerial dive that is spectacular, well you would just have to see it to be properly impressed. I know my female is. After that she makes our nest and then just sits on her eggs until they are ready to hatch. She usually hatches between 5-7 eggs and after they are born within 12 days they are moving around and getting used to their new world.

Now you can find us in various areas such as the Galapagos Islands, Iceland, Hawaiian Islands and South America & North America. We can live as long as 13 yrs. which is a pretty long time for an owl. We have to watch out for other animals of course that are bigger then us. Also some of us are not too bright and like to hang out in open fields of airports well I don't have to tell you the danger in that. I just shudder when I think about it. You humans have some really big airplanes that's all I have to say. Well I guess since you can't fly on your own you have to use other means of transportation. See how lucky we are?

Well I think I've told you just about all there is to know about us but if I think of something else I will let Judy know and she can add it to my page. She seems to know what she's doing when it comes to that. So bye for now and have a good day.