Such a treat to be able to focus this cute, male Burrowing Owl a few days ago. Last year I just did not have good luck getting quality pictures of these seasonal visitors to the Colorado plains. This guy and his mate changed my luck finally.
The pair was hanging out by their burrow a good ways from the road when suddenly, he decided to oblige me with a perch not 25 feet from my truck! I didn’t get any flight shots but captured tons of great images as he sat on a mullein plant and took in the sunrise. In fact, he posed so long, I had time to shoot a bit of cool video too – check back this evening to see that. It is well worth it.
Burrowing Owls are considered a threatened species here in the Centennial State. Their numbers appear to be on the decline as humans take over and destroy their habitat. Many folks think nothing of wiping out Prairie Dog colonies, a keystone species itself, but don’t think of the cascading effects of that on all of the other creatures down the line, including these little guys.
