Short-eared Owls Courting at Daniel Webster Sanctuary

The following is from an in-house Mass Audubon newsletter. Keep your eyes peeled for any courtship behavior around winter roost sites for both Short-eared and Long-eared Owls.

Short-eared owls nesting at Daniel Webster?
During the first Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas project, short-eared owls were confirmed to be breeding in only eight blocks in the state, all on Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and Monomoy. After one year of data collection, volunteers conducting the surveys for the Breeding Bird Atlas II have confirmed only one nesting site, Tuckernuck Island, off Nantucket. Early this month, though, atlaser Glenn D’Entremont witnessed a sure sign of courtship at the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary when he watched a short-eared owl clapping its wings underneath its body in flight, an attempt by a male to win the attention of a female. Eyes are glued to the sanctuary’s grasslands for further evidence, and the possibility of only the second confirmed short-eared owl nesting site in the state during this Breeding Bird Atlas cycle.