Randy Van Orden wrote:

"On New Years day, a group of ten of us birders were spread out
walking a field near Fall River Mills which is east of Redding, CA. We
were looking for longspurs which had been seen in the area. We
flushed sixteen short eared owls in the field and had them flying
around us for some time calling. We kept raising owls as we walked
along and at another point raised a group of twenty-two short eared
owls. Has anyone else seen short eared owls in groups like this?"

Randy,

Back in the 70s and early 80s, I can remember several winters in which
the perennial ryegrass fields and ungrazed pastures near my family's
place near Jefferson, Oregon (adjacent to Ankney NWR) would be full
of Short-eared Owls. I remember that a dozen-and-a-half birds was
a large but not uncommon count in one 180-acre field.....

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net