A pair of burrowing owls showing their affection and playing kissy face.

Okay, I admit, they could have just been cleaning bugs off of each other’s faces. I am a romantic at heart though so I will go with the more appealing reason for this display. 😉

I always say that burrowing owls are arguably one of the most entertaining forms of wildlife you could hope to see. They are rarely motionless and their activities just bring a smile to your face.

Here, the male (left), flew in and instantly started this routine. She definitely appeared to be appreciative and enjoyed it.

A male burrowing owl seems quite impressed with itself upon returning with some nesting material. 😉

I spent a good bit of time this morning with a fabulous pair of these cool little owls. As always, they were highly entertaining spending some time gathering stuff, playing kissy face (a pic I will share soon) and flying around. It won’t be long and she should be down in the burrow sitting on eggs.

A friend tipped me off to a spot where burrowing owls were working on setting up their summer home (thank you!) so I of course had to check it out. This pair was being extraordinarily shy with one flying off and the other refusing to show itself. The second one couldn’t entirely contain its curiosity though and peeked its head up for a look making for a fun shot.

A burrowing owl hanging out and probably wondering if he didn’t move to his summer home a bit too early. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I saw the first of these of the season and today was the day.

A pair of them appeared this week at a common spot in eastern Colorado and gave me some nice captures. As these guys are normally associated with warmer weather, it was fun to get pics of them in the snow.

It won’t be long before these cool little dudes return to the plains of Colorado. I typically see my first of the season right around the end of March / start of April.

This image was taken back at the end of June, north of Denver. This owl and its mate had established a home in an open space right along a very popular trail in the foothills. The traffic didn’t bother the family one bit though and the adults routinely would land not 10 feet away from people. It was a very fun opportunity allowing for some neat captures.

With a half dozen photographers training their lenses on this little one and its family, this owlet had a lot to watch.

It had ventured out quite a ways from its familial burrow when I think it suddenly realized there were a lot of humans there. As burrowing owls do, it bent over and swung back and forth, trying to ascertain what those big creatures were. It was very cute and quite amusing to watch.

These pics are from some time I spent with this family back at the end of June. I took tons of pics of them but haven’t done a good job sharing them. This will help get some of those out there.

There was no danger of me speeding past this little one when I saw it soon after sunrise recently. It was quite content to sit on its manmade perch and take in the scenery of Colorado’s great plains.

These little guys won’t be around too much longer as they will be starting their trek to the south. Even now, with their little ones fledged, most have dispersed and they are getting harder to find.

Normally a picture of these little guys will solicit a comment along the lines of, “Aww. They are so cute!” Well, that isn’t always the case.

This hard-working dad had spent the better part of the morning providing for his family. On the menu were a variety of bugs and a vole. After sharing the bounty and partaking in breakfast, he flew up and perched on a sign right in front of me.

His face wore the remnants of his meal and indeed, he looked pretty darned serious. Of course having to work so hard to feed seven little owlet mouths might have made him a bit grumpy too. 😉