{"id":1441,"date":"2010-11-23T09:50:57","date_gmt":"2010-11-23T15:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=1441"},"modified":"2025-10-12T13:27:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T18:27:12","slug":"adult-burrowing-owls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/11\/23\/adult-burrowing-owls\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Burrowing Owls"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult western Burrowing Owl in morning light –\u00a0D200, f6.3, 1\/320, ISO 250,\u00a0 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve\u00a0shown photos of juvenile Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia)<\/em> before on this post<\/a> and this morning I felt it was time to\u00a0put the beauty of the adult Burrowing Owls in the limelight. I created the photo above in the golden light of dawn, the adult was perched and watching it’s brood of four chicks. I loved the lacy vegetation seen in background in this image.<\/p>\n

\"BurrowingComparison of juvenile and adult western Burrowing Owls –\u00a0 D200, f9, 1\/350, ISO 320, 200-400mm VT with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Mature western Burrowing Owls are generally lighter than the Florida subspecies\u00a0and the juvenile western\u00a0burrowing owls.\u00a0In the photo above the juvenile is on the left and the adult is on the right. The adult’s head and face\u00a0are lighter than the juvenile and the juvenile owl at this age lacks the spotted chest plumage that the adults have. The “eyebrows” of the juvenile stand out more than with the adults. Both the young and mature birds have clear yellow eyes.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult western Burrowing Owl with funny expression –\u00a0D200, f8, 1\/500, ISO 200, 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Juvenile Burrowing Owls seem to spend far more time than the adults parallaxing, they also seem more active and more curious than the mature birds.\u00a0 If you watch the adults while they are preening you can catch them in funny poses too. The adult in the image sure struck a silly pose for me.<\/p>\n

At any age I believe that Burrowing Owls<\/span><\/a> are fascinating and a delight to photograph.<\/p>\n

Life is good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Burrowing Owl photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

\"Save<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I felt it was time to put the beauty of the adult Burrowing Owls in the limelight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,52,1022,26],"tags":[4051,55,215,4021,2663,4214,11978,4157,56,3967,294],"class_list":["post-1441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-burrowing-owls","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adults","tag-athene-cunicularia","tag-bird-id","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-burrowing-owl","tag-desert-island","tag-funny","tag-juveniles-2","tag-owl","tag-owls"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-mia-mcpherson-adult-0411.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-nf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5333,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/07\/14\/adult-burrowing-owl-lift-off\/","url_meta":{"origin":1441,"position":0},"title":"Adult Burrowing Owl Lift Off","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been having fun photographing Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) lately and it is a joy to have them in my viewfinder again.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Burrowing Owl lifting off, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/burrowing-owl-adult-liftoff-mia-mcpherson-0075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/burrowing-owl-adult-liftoff-mia-mcpherson-0075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/burrowing-owl-adult-liftoff-mia-mcpherson-0075.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/burrowing-owl-adult-liftoff-mia-mcpherson-0075.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4744,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/06\/burrowing-owls-friday-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":1441,"position":1},"title":"Burrowing Owls – Friday Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've selected a few Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) images taken a few years ago to post today.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Burrowing Owl adult near mudflats of the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-adult-mia-mcpherson-0343.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-adult-mia-mcpherson-0343.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-adult-mia-mcpherson-0343.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-adult-mia-mcpherson-0343.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4029,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/01\/17\/juvenile-burrowing-owl-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":1441,"position":2},"title":"Juvenile Burrowing Owl Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Burrowing Owls are beautiful birds with lemony yellow eyes, downy soft feathers and subtle coloration. It's hard to believe that they aren't that much different in size from an American Robin.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Burrowing Owl portrait, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-portrait-mia-mcpherson-0395.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-portrait-mia-mcpherson-0395.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-portrait-mia-mcpherson-0395.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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to Utah was great for photographing Burrowing Owls and their young both on Antelope Island State Park and the causeway to it.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Calling juvenile Burrowing Owl, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/burrowing-owl-calling-mia-mcpherson-5102.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/burrowing-owl-calling-mia-mcpherson-5102.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/burrowing-owl-calling-mia-mcpherson-5102.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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