Burrowing Owl Juveniles

Juvenile Burrowing Owl demonstrating the quintessential Burrowing Owl Pose.

Burrowing Owls slowly turn their heads to one side and then slowly turn them back to upright and then slowly turn them to the other side and then start the process over again until they’re satisfied they’ve determined what they’re seeing.

I traveled to their home in Cape Coral Florida with the specific hope of capturing one of them doing that and was rewarded with seeing the behavior repeatedly.

Nobody warned me I’d be laughing so hard as I was lying flat out on my belly in the grass that it’d be nearly impossible to actually catch a photo of it, though.

They’re a real treat to watch.

The second image of one of this owl’s siblings gracing the homepage of the National Audubon Society. I was tickled to see one of my photos on their homepage for a few days and to see it being used in one of the articles on their website.  https://www.audubon.org/news/what-are-you-looking-eleven-your-face-bird-photos

Burrowing Owls make quite a few appearances on Audubon.org. Hopefully, that’ll help raise awareness of the need to protect these wonderful owls.

Here in the U.S., Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) have been having a hard time of it due to habitat loss. The folks in Cape Coral, Florida & the non-profit Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife have made a commitment to protecting them. (Thankfully, there are also other similar protection efforts in other states.) The CCFW folks ask that we stay at least 20 feet/6 meters away from the owls. While it looks like I must have been closer than that, I was even farther away than their reco. These photos are the result of a zoom lens and some judicious cropping.

Photos taken of wild critters where I find them. No posing or pestering. Photo taken with Nikon D750 & Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 with Nikon TC-17E teleconverter. Handheld.