For this painting I was allowed to use the beautiful photo of r_visserfotos. It was a picture of the , the Short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) (Dutch: Velduil), skimming low across the fields with a beautiful pastel background.

Most owls are true night hunters, but the Short-eared owl is one of the owls that you can also see hunting during the day with a wingspan of about 1 meter. And then you get pictures like this.

It is a hunter with a preference for open terrain, especially swampy areas and bogs. The chances of you spotting the Short-eared owl in the Netherlands are not that big. It is on the red list with 10-20 breeding pairs and an average population of 100-500 individuals per year (in the Netherlands). Especially in winter you see them, which are often migratory birds. Most observations come mainly from the west side of the Netherlands and the Wadden Islands.

With its flat muzzle and beautiful dark-rimmed sulfur-yellow eyes, it has a bright and fierce expression that you can see and recognize from afar. If you look carefully you can even see short ear plumes, hence its name. In terms of color pattern, it resembles the Long-eared owl (Dutch: Ransuil), but you never actually see it flying during the day, at most in the migration period. And even then, the flight of the owl is much less graceful than that of the field owl. In addition, the owl lacks the bright yellow eyes and has much longer ear plumes (what’s in a name…).

Cotman watercolours tubes, Faber Castel Pastel pencils on Saunders Waterford 300gsm 310×230 Cotton Satiné High White paper

Reference foto: rvisserfotos