Santa Barbara owl

Micah Schloss and I made great efforts this year to find a Spotted Owl in Santa Barbara.  Sadly, we couldn't turn one up.  We recommitted ourselves to that goal again yesterday, and decided to try to stir up the Short Eared Owl that has been seen lately at a place called More Mesa.

We found it quickly, just beginning its hunt, patrolling over a large meadow.  This bird came in particularly close, and we got excellent looks at it in flight - illuminated by the final sunset of 2012.  It was a life bird for me, and a good way to close out birding in 2012.

Great job this year gang.  I had a lot of fun doing this together, and I'm a better birder for it.

Here is the bird, photographed earlier in Dec.