After turning on a dime and diving, a short-eared owl flies low through the prairie in search of an evening snack.

Short-eared Owl gets in some evening hunting before the sun slips into the horizon.

A Short-eared Owl gathers some speed toward the evening sun after diving for a vole.

Watching short-eared owls on the hunt is one of life's little joys along the journey . . .

Instead of a golden hour, it was more like a few golden minutes. Tom Skilling said the clouds might break toward the end of the day, but they held tight until the very end when the sun finally emerged from the main cloud layer only to sink into another layer of clouds before it disappeared into the horizon . . .