Today’s post is another from my pre-blog days. While photographing in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma, I was fortunate to see several Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia). This was my first ever encounter with these small beauties and I had a blast capturing their images.
An in-flight shot of one of the owls, flying over the prairie dog town:
A while later, one of the owls flew over, carrying a buffalo chip:
He carried this chip back to a small mound in the prairie dog town. With the chip still in his beak, he entered the burrow with the chip … emerging later without the chip. Many times, burrowing owls will line their nests with grasses, weeds and animal dung.
And this next owl flew in with a spider (small tarantula?) in his mouth:
In another post, I’ll share some images of a burrowing owl pair at their nesting burrow.