short-eared owl

[shawrt-eerd]

short-eared owl

[shawrt-eerd]
noun
a streaked, buffy brown, cosmopolitan owl, Asio flammeus, having very short tufts of feathers on each side of the head.
Also called prairie owl.


Origin:
1805–15, Americanism
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Short-eared owl is always a great word to know.
So is ort. Does it mean:
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

short-eared owl

(Asio flammeus), stocky bird of prey of the family Strigidae (order Strigiformes), about 40 cm (about 1.3 feet) long with a prominent facial disk. Among the most widely distributed of owls, it is circumpolar from the Arctic to the North Temperate Zone, occurs in Hawaii and much of South America, and migrates far south. Short erectile tufts (ear tufts) on the front of the head are rudimentary and inconspicuous. The bird is brown above with white spots, pale below with breast streaks.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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