Thanks, Ian, for making me aware that these owls have ear tufts. Once
I saw that they are tiny black projections, I searched through a bunch
of photos by some of you and others, and found at least hints of them,
if not fully-extended ones, on some Snowy photos of the following
photographers:

Lee Rentz, Bob Kothenbeutel, Gregg Thompson, Paul Bannick (on one of
his photo in the Seattle Times article) - I couldn't locate Doug
Schurman's shots from Boundary Bay, but I imagine at least one of
those has a tuft or two. I also didn't check Ruth Sullivan's photos
for them and I probably missed many others from here (Tweeters).

I am trying to figure out if these micro-tufts are for display, for
camouflage (as with Short-eared Owls) or just vestigial organs like
our appendix. Anyone know? When do they go up at attention?

Barb Deihl

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net