Short-eared Owls

Short-eared Owls in Belgium

I have spent the last months a few days at the belgian coast to photograph Short-eared Owls (asio flammeus) there. It was my secon encounter , after one short fly-over of a Short-eared owl I witnessed in the north of the Netherlands.
At my first visit to this area in December I was not only lucky enough to see a Snowy Owl, quite a rare visitor to Belgium, but also saw 5 different Short-eared Owls at one spot in action. In the late afternoon this birds start to get active and fly over the polders in this area looking for prey. It is really a fascinating view to see this beautiful birds flying over the fields and then abruptly changing direction to catch their prey, mainly mice, on the ground.

The images above were taken on my first visit of the short eared owls to Belgium in December 2008.

Then in January I went to Belgium, as it is quite close to my grandparents, a couple more times and a great time with these birds. I haven't made the image(s) I wanted to take of this birs, but it will definetly not be the last time that I will go to Belgium and I hope that the short eared owls will stay at this place for a while.

Short eared Owl - asio flammeus - Sumpfohreule - Velduil