• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Tony's Takes Photography

Wildlife, landscape and weather photography

  • Home
  • Top Shots
  • Latest News & Images
  • Purchase Prints
  • Photo Books
  • Calendars
  • Contact
  • About Tony
You are here: Home / Wildlife / Burrowing Owl pair keeps close watch

Burrowing Owl pair keeps close watch

April 20, 2016 by Tony Leave a Comment

This beautiful pair of small owls has staked out a nice home on some private property northeast of Denver, Colorado. Thankfully they should be safe as mating season begins and they hopefully raise a nice little family in the coming months. However, many others of this threatened species, won’t be given that same opportunity due to their choice of home location.

Denver International Airport owns a great deal of property in the area, much outside of the airport’s fences. Over the past month, a massive operation to wipe out Prairie Dog habitat and thus historical Burrowing Owl habitat and raptor feeding grounds, has been undertaken by the airport and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

One location that already had owls in it was poisoned and bulldozed, something that is entirely illegal. This is being done ostensibly to mitigate the hazards of a bird striking an airplane, something that is a very real danger.

However, DIA’s and the USDA’s actions appear to have gone wholly overboard. In fact, it may have the opposite effect as without raptors in the area, other birds like geese and ducks that are for more prevalent will come to the area knowing there are no predators. I searched the FAA’s bird strike database for DIA and found that raptors in fact account for a very small percentage of bird strikes at the facility.

It is rather disheartening to see such total disregard for wildlife, particularly when it involves a threatened species like the Burrowing Owl and protected species like the Bald Eagle.

A Burrowing Owl pair at their home in Adams County, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
A Burrowing Owl pair at their home in Adams County, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Filed Under: Wildlife Tagged With: Burrowing Owl

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CAPTCHA
Refresh

*

Primary Sidebar

Connect With Me

Tony's Takes on Facebook Tony's Takes on Twitter Tony's Takes RSS Feed

Recent News & Images

  • “Can you hear me now?”
  • Bighorn sheep ram visits his namesake lakes
  • Church and castle ruins in central Italy
  • Hummingbird shows off up close
  • Snuggling up with mama for Fox Friday

Photo Use Information

All photos © Tony’s Takes. Images are available for purchase as prints or as digital files for other uses. Please don’t steal; my prices aren’t expensive. For more information contact me here.

Galleries

  • Exhibits
  • In the City
  • In the News
  • Landscapes
  • Pets
  • Random Stuff
  • Sun, Moon and Stars
  • Transportation
  • Weather
  • Wildlife

Archives

Search

Tags

American Kestrel Astrophotography Bald Eagle Bear Bighorn Sheep Bison Burrowing Owl Canada Goose Clouds Coyote Deer Duck Elk Fall Colors Ferruginous Hawk Flowers Fox Golden Eagle Great Blue Heron Great Horned Owl Hummingbird Marmot Military Moon Moose Mountain Goat Mountains Northern Harrier Osprey Pelican Pika Prairie Falcon Pronghorn Rabbit Red Tailed Hawk Snowy Egret Squirrel Sunrise Sunset Swainson’s Hawk Thunderstorm Turkey Turkey Vulture Video Weather

Footer

Connect With Me

Tony's Takes on Facebook Tony's Takes on Twitter Tony's Takes RSS Feed

Search

Photo Use

All photos © Tony’s Takes. Images are available for purchase as prints or as digital files for other uses. Please don’t steal; my prices aren’t expensive and I will work with you to get you the art you desire. For more information contact me here.

Latest

  • “Can you hear me now?”
  • Bighorn sheep ram visits his namesake lakes
  • Church and castle ruins in central Italy
  • Hummingbird shows off up close
  • Snuggling up with mama for Fox Friday
Copyright © 2023 Tony's Takes Photography
  • Home
  • Latest News & Images
  • Purchase Prints
  • Photo Books
  • Calendars
  • Contact
  • About Tony