Search Wildlife
≡
Photo by Don Paul
Photo Courtesy of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Short-eared owl
Asio flammeus
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): G5
State (S-rank): S2
External links
Species range
(This species breeds in the northern one-half to two-thirds of the state (see Walters and Sorensen 1983) and probably a migrant throughout. It is said to be "[l]ess common in the Colorado River Basin" (Hayward et al. 1976) or "in eastern Utah" (Behle et al. 1985). A nesting record in Uintah County was reported by Behle (1981).
Strangely, Holt and Leasure (1993) mapped this species as occurring in Utah almost only as a nonbreeding species, with only a mere "sliver" of the northernmost counties (Box Elder, Cache, and Rich) along the Idaho border being within the breeding range of this species. Walters and Sorensen (1983), however, indicated that breeding has been documented in 9 of the 23 "latilong" blocks in Utah, those 9 blocks all being in the northern two-thirds of the state; in fact, of the 13 northernmost "latilong" blocks in Utah, only 4 lacked documented breeding of this species.
Nesting has been confirmed in Box Elder, Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, Juab, and Uintah counties. Occurrences without confirmed breeding are also known from Cache, Wasatch, Tooele, Millard, Beaver, Piute, Sevier, Wayne, Garfield, Washington, and San Juan counties. G. V. Oliver 2001)
Habitat
Walters and Sorensen (1983) listed the habitats in Utah where this species is known to nest as marshes and wet hummocks, agricultural croplands (non-woody), arid grasslands; they listed other habitats utilized during the breeding season as cold desert shrub (including saltbrush and greasewood) and sagebrush-rabbitbrush. They considered all of these habitats to be utilized during winter.
Threats or limiting factors
(Probably the greatest threat to this species in Utah, especially along the Wastach Front, is loss of habitat as a result of agricultural and urban development. G. V. Oliver 2001)
