January 11, 2009 - Burrowing Owl on St. George Island, FL
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St. George Island has an unusual visitor this winter: a Burrowing Owl. They are usually found in the western half of the United States in summer. They migrate in fall and spend the winter in Mexico and the southwestern states. In addition, there are two isolated populations in Florida. Southern Florida has some colonies and there are also some Burrowing Owls at Elgin Air Force Base in the far western part of the Florida panhandle. St. George Island, located in the central part of the panhandle, is pretty far away from all of these locations.
My friend, Alan Knothe, took me to the area where the owl was being seen; a broad, sandy beach on the far western end of the island. As we walked along the beach, Alan spotted the bird under this boardwalk. It came out to watch us as we got closer. Burrowing Owls really do nest in holes in the ground and we were speculating that the depression under the boardwalk might seem like a good spot to this owl.
Burrowing Owls are only 9-11” tall. The one feature that is always mentioned when you read about them is their long legs. They really stand out when the owl is stretching to its full height, as in this photo. (Diana said, “It looks like the owl forgot to put its pants on!”)
Because owls have their eyes on the front of their heads, they have a more “human” appearance than most birds. This can lead to ascribing human attributes to owls. Even though I know this isn’t true, it sure looks like this owl is winking at me.
The spot where I initially started taking photos of the owl had the sunlight shining from the right. That tends to produce harsh shadows so I decided to move around to the other side of the boardwalk so the sun would be behind me. As I walked over there, the owl was almost out of sight. It did, however, keep a close eye on me as it peeked over the boardwalk.
Here’s a photo of the owl after I got the sunlight shining from behind me. Click the photo to enlarge it and then you can see the thin, wispy feathers on the legs.
The Burrowing Owl has feathers that stick out over its beak. When you see the bird in profile, the beak almost disappears. You have to look closely to tell in which direction it is facing.
This is the last photo I took of this little owl. It looks like it might be nap time.
Marge Lial
on January 11, 2009Earl, this is a very interesting group of photos. I enjoyed them.