Today’s images round out my recent trip to SW Missouri to photograph Short-Eared Owls that are wintering at a couple of Missouri prairies. Once the sun was very low in the sky, the owls began their evening assault on the prairie as they hunted:
Even had one owl take a short break on a post, about 100 yards away:
Before the night’s show, I had positioned myself not far from a couple of brush piles in the prairie. I was sure glad I had picked this location. I quickly noticed a pattern … a couple of the owls continuously circled closely around these brush piles, looking for prey:
And at one point, one of the owls made an instantaneous dive to the ground, in a kamikaze-like approach (image not very crisp … too much action and not enough light) and I never did see him return to the air:
And as the light continued to fade away, I turned to catching some silhouette images of the owls as they would venture in the western sunset-lit sky:
