The short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) is a widespread grassland species in the family Strigidae.

The short-eared owl was formally described in 1763 by the Lutheran bishop Erik Pontoppidan under the binomial name Strix flammea.

[4] This owl is now placed with seven other species in the genus Asio that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760.

[13] The long-eared owl generally has different habitat preferences from the short-eared, most often being found concealed in areas with dense wooded thickets.

The short-eared owl is often most regularly seen flying about in early morning or late day as it hunts over open habitats.

A. flammeus breeds in Europe, Asia, North and South America, the Caribbean, Hawaii and the Galápagos Islands.

Afghanistan; Albania; Algeria; Argentina; Armenia; Austria; Azerbaijan; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Belarus; Belgium; Bolivia; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Brazil; Bulgaria; Canada; Cayman Islands; Chile; China; Colombia; Croatia; Cuba; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; Egypt; Eritrea; Estonia; Ethiopia; Falkland Islands (Malvinas); Faroe Islands; Federated States of Micronesia; Finland; France; French Guiana; Georgia; Germany; Greece; Guam; Guatemala; Guinea; Guyana; Haiti; Hungary; Iceland; India; Iran, Iraq; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Jordan; Kazakhstan; North Korea, South Korea); Kuwait; Kyrgyzstan; Laos; Latvia; Lebanon; Libya; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Maldives; Mali; Malta; Marshall Islands; Mauritania; Mexico; Moldova; Mongolia; Montenegro; Morocco; Myanmar; Nepal; Netherlands; North Macedonia; Northern Mariana Islands; Norway; Oman; Pakistan; Palestinian territories; Paraguay; Peru; Poland; Portugal; Puerto Rico; Romania; Russian Federation; Saint Pierre and Miquelon; Saudi Arabia; Senegal; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Spain; Sudan; Suriname; Sweden; Switzerland; Syria; Taiwan; Tajikistan; Tunisia; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; United States; Uruguay; Uzbekistan; Venezuela; Vietnam; British Virgin Islands; Yemen Vagrant: Belize; Bermuda; Bhutan; Brunei Darussalam; Cameroon; Cape Verde; Chad; Costa Rica; Gibraltar; Greenland; Hong Kong; Kenya; Liberia; Liechtenstein; Malaysia; Niger; Philippines; Qatar; Singapore; Sri Lanka; Svalbard and Jan Mayen; Thailand; Trinidad and Tobago; Uganda; U.S. Virgin Islands Sexual maturity is attained at one year.

The short-eared owl nests on the ground in prairie, tundra, savanna, or meadow habitats.

[16] Its food consists mainly of rodents, especially voles, but it will eat other small mammals such as rabbits,[17] mice, ground squirrels, shrews, rats, bats, muskrats and moles.

It will also occasionally depredate smaller birds, especially when near sea-coasts and adjacent wetlands at which time they attack shorebirds, terns and small gulls and seabirds with semi-regularity.

Insects supplement the diet and short-eared owls may prey on roaches, grasshoppers, beetles, katydids and caterpillars.

Competition can be fierce in North America with the northern harrier, with which the owl shares similar habitat and prey preferences.

[18] Because of the high pH in the stomach of owls they have a reduced ability to digest bone and other hard parts, so they eject pellets containing the remains of their prey.