Short-eared Owl
Asio flammeus · Ciuf de câmp
An owl of open country that often hunts in daylight, quartering low over rough grassland on long wings.
At a glance
- Status in Romania
- Resident
- Habitat
- Meadow
- Activity
- Morning · Evening · Night
- Diet
- Small mammals hunted over open ground.
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)
- Photography difficulty
- Difficult
Photograph this species
- Best months
- All year
- Best time / activity
- Morning · Evening · Night
- Photography difficulty
- Difficult
- Where to look
- Extensive rough grassland in the plains; watch for low hunting flight at dawn and dusk.
Months confirmed by a Romanian source. General guidance, not local sightings.
Photography Guide
Practical starting points based on the species’ behaviour and habitat, not fixed rules.
- Where and how to look
- Extensive rough grassland in the plains; watch for low hunting flight at dawn and dusk.
- Best time / activity
- Morning · Evening · Night
- Behaviour to anticipate
- Quartering flight over grassland in the last hour of light.
- Photography difficulty
- Difficult
- Starting shutter speed
- 1/2000 sec or faster for flight.
- Fieldcraft
- Scan open ground from a vehicle or a fixed point rather than walking through hunting areas.
- Ethics
- Never use playback or flash at roosts or nests, keep visits short, and do not share roost locations. It nests on the ground — never walk through likely nesting grassland in spring.
Identification
Habitat
Distribution
Approximate range in Romania
Diet
Behaviour
Seasonality in Romania
Sedentary in Romania, where it breeds locally in small numbers, mainly in the West Plain and the south-east (Bărăgan, Dobrogea); breeding sites elsewhere are rare and isolated.
Presence
Breeding
Migration
Wintering
About this data
Source-verified months inform the seasonal filters. Local timing can vary. Unconfirmed months do not imply absence. Presence verification is separate from monthly status; each month's details identify its verification. Lighter bands mark estimated timing. Empty event rows mean no event is recorded, not confirmed absence.