Photo © Harold Stiver | Dreamstime.com

Short-eared Owl

This is an owl of open grasslands and prairie, visiting Texas only during the colder months of the year. My all-time most incredible sighting of this species in Texas was about a decade ago when two biologist buddies and I kicked up 16 short-eared owls that were roosting, as they do, on the ground in a remnant tallgrass prairie in far eastern Collin County. At one point, all 16 were aloft, circling around, confused and wanting to go back to sleep, so we decided to leave them alone and give them peace and quiet.