A bit of a throwback image to March when I was finally able to find these awesome guys. They had moved to a different thicket of Russian olive trees from where they were historically and it took me three visits to find them. When I did find them, it was well worth it.

This particular owl was quite the cooperative subject. It had perched in a relatively open spot and paid me little attention. I just sat down in the dirt and observed it for nearly a half hour. It gave me a ton of fantastic poses from looking at me to closing its eyes and napping to looking toward the sun. I then quietly departed, leaving it as I found it.

How about that look? I have to say, it looks a little bit evil with the pointy ears and very serious look on the owl’s face.

Long eared owls are really interesting in that they have so many different appearances. This one looks somewhat short and pudgy but when they fully stand up, they look much more slender and almost like a different type of bird.

I usually only get to see them a time or two a year but it is definitely a treat each and every time – even if it usually means crawling through poky Russian olive trees. 😉

You can view more of my pics of these guys here.

A bit of a fun shot I took this past Sunday while looking for these well-hidden creatures. It gives you a good idea of just how thick the foliage was where I was looking and highlights the difficulty in picking them out.

And yes, there is an owl in this image. 😉 This one actually isn’t too hard to find. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the picture I posted earlier today.

Third time is the charm! Twice before I had tried in vain to find these guys at their usual spot on Colorado’s northeastern plains. I spent hours combing through thick foliage with nothing to show for them.

Sunday I decided I just had to try again so I hit the road and this time, tried an entirely different thicket of bushes and trees. That proved to be very worthwhile.

I spent two hours with them, watching them hang out in their hiding place, preen, sleep and, sometimes, give me the evil eye. This one was one of the more amusing ones.

I first spotted the owl when it was napping and my approach did disturb it a bit. It gave me a half-sleepy look, then closed its eyes again. After a while, my butt was getting tired as I sat waiting for it to do something and I needed to rearrange. In doing so, the owl awoke, seeming to have forgotten I was there. It gave me this fantastic look and a nice view of those meat hooks. After a minute, it decided I was no threat and went back to its slumber.

These guys are just so danged cool and I am happy to have spent time with them.

Harkening back to March 15th for this image of one of these very elusive, secretive owls.

For years I had heard about these guys hanging out at a spot on the northeastern plains of Colorado but despite multiple visits, I never could find them. This past winter / spring, I finally did.

There were at least a half dozen that had made a very dense thicket of Russian olive trees their home for the season. As I worked my way through the trees (getting stabbed routinely by the dang things) I finally found my long-sought after photo subject.

Most often they were in the thickest, densest part of the trees making spotting them nearly impossible. Sometimes I would find myself only 10 feet away and not even know they were there until they flew off.

On this particular morning, I got lucky and this one was in a relatively open area and stuck around long enough to give me some nice, full shots of it. Judging by its wide eyes, I don’t know that it was thrilled that I had found it. 😉  The image does also give you a good idea as to how the long eared owl got its name.

A capture from my most recent visit a couple weeks ago to check out these guys. I ended up getting some nice captures of them as they did their best to stay well-hidden among Russian olive trees (ouch!).

These owls have a number of different “looks” to them. Usually they stand kind of tall and skinny and have a cute look. However, sometimes they kind of squat down and puff out like in this shot. It kind of makes them look a bit mean I think. 😉

Spotting owls is oftentimes a challenge, sometimes more difficult than others. Yesterday I headed to the northeastern plains of Colorado, hoping to get another change to observe and photograph long eared owls.

I had some luck, grabbing a few decent pics. This one though, really highlights the challenge in finding these owls in particular as they will seek out the thickest foliage possible.

I almost missed these two (do you see them?). In fact, as I looked into the thicket, I saw what looked like one but wasn’t even sure so I took a pic and then had to play it back on my camera and zoom in on the screen to verify. Masters of camouflage indeed!

One more from my encounter with the long eared owls on the Colorado plains.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, it took a lot of work and I only came away with a few decent captures. This one has to be my favorite and judging by the look on its face, it was as surprised to see me as I was it.

These guys were so buried in this thick brush they were almost impossible to spot until you were right up on them. At one point, I am crouched over, working my way through the shrubbery and I look up and there this one was, not 30 feet away. I was able to grab just a couple quick shots before it headed off to a more concealed area.

A fun encounter for sure!

Finally! I knew for years these cool owls wintered at a spot in northeastern Colorado but had never had any luck finding them. That changed yesterday!

A friend provided me some tips to help narrow down the search area that helped greatly. The owls definitely didn’t make it easy on me though as I had to work my way through some very dense brush, much of which was pokey Russian olive trees.

Once well inside the stand of trees and bushes though, I started to see the long-eared owls and there had to have been at least a half dozen of them. Of course spotting them and being able to get a picture are two very different things.

These guys are notorious for their ability to hide. I spent an hour and a half trying and came away only with a few decent shots, none of which gave a truly clear look at them. Nevertheless, given that this is only the third or fourth time I have ever seen any at all, I came away pretty pleased.