Long-eared Owl Photos

Photography by Terry Sohl

My Favorite: What a magical month. You'll note all the photos below of Long-eared Owls were taken in November or December of 2007 near Brandon, South Dakota. I've seen Long-eared Owls on other dates and in other places, but usually a fleeting glimpse as one flies away through thick cover. I've always known them to be very spooky birds, but that all changed when my young son and I were talking a walk on November 9th, 2007 through a campground in the Big Sioux Recreation Area. As we were walking, suddenly two birds flushed out of the eastern red cedar trees lining the campground road. Owls!! But just a glimpse...what kind? We kept walking, and another owl flushed. Then another. And another! Soon we got our first good look at what they were...Long-eared Owls! And SEVERAL of them, all using the cedar trees as daytime roosts!

We watched them for a while before going back and grabbing my camera. When I returned and started searching more it was obvious just how many there were...16 on that first day alone! Most were in the cedar trees, or in the few scattered spruce trees in the campground. But what made them so different than every other Long-eared Owl I'd seen is they were so TAME!! Yes, if you got within a few feet they would flush (such as the first few birds we found). But if you gave them some room, they were curious, but not overly scared. I snapped photo after photo, not believing my luck. But it wasn't just a one-day phenomenon.

I went back the next day, and they were still there. And the next. And the next. The most I counted was 19 on one day. The fun lasted about a month and half. By early December, numbers started to dwindle, and they were more spread out in the park. By the end of December they were gone. These remain the ONLY photos of Long-eared Owls that I have. My favorite is probably this one from November 21st, 2007, with an owl perched in the relative open and the sun setting behind her.

Long-eared Owl - Asio otus


Long-eared Owl 1	Long-eared Owl 2	Long-eared Owl 3	Long-eared Owl 4
November 9th, 2007	November 23rd, 2007	November 9th, 2007	November 12th, 2007
Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota
Close-up of face and ears with direct stare into the camera	Partially hidden owl portrait in eastern red cedar (juniper)	Alert, inquisitive owl portrait in eastern red cedar (juniper)	Unobstructed view of owl caught in the open with surprised look

Long-eared Owl 5	Long-eared Owl 6	Long-eared Owl 7	Long-eared Owl 8
November 12th, 2007	November 12th, 2007	November 23rd, 2007	November 12th, 2007
Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota
Partially hidden view of owl on its daytime roost in a spruce tree	Partially hidden view of owl in its daytime roost in an eastern red cedar	Unobstructed view of owl on lichen-covered tree branch	Close portrait of head and upper body of a sleep owl on its daytime roost

Long-eared Owl 9	Long-eared Owl 10	Long-eared Owl 11	Long-eared Owl 12
November 12th, 2007	November 12th, 2007	November 15th, 2007	November 23rd, 2007
Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota
Unobstructed head-on view of owl on a tree branch	Unobstructed view of alert owl on its daytime roost in an eastern red cedar tree	"Stretched" thin owl performing their "hiding" technique (I'm a branch!)	Unobstructed view of owl on its daytime roost in a juniper tree

Long-eared Owl 13	Long-eared Owl 14	Long-eared Owl 15	Long-eared Owl 16
November 12th, 2007	November 18th, 2007	November 23rd, 2007	November 21st, 2007
Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota
Landscape orientation view of owl on its daytime roost in a spruce tree	Owl stretched tall trying to blend into a tree trunk on its daytime roost	Pair of partially obscured owls in dense foliage on their daytime roost	Unobstructed view of owl on a tree branch with the sun setting behind him

Long-eared Owl 17	Long-eared Owl 18	Long-eared Owl 19
December 7th, 2007	December 7th, 2007	December 7th, 2007
Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota	Big Sioux Recreation Area, South Dakota
Owl on its daytime roost in a bramble of deciduous bushes	Unobstructed view of an owl on a tree branch, with head-on view	Sleepy owl on its daytime roost of an eastern red cedar (juniper) tree