{"id":48196,"date":"2017-08-21T06:27:41","date_gmt":"2017-08-21T12:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=48196"},"modified":"2025-10-14T15:12:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T20:12:14","slug":"juvenile-burrowing-owls-vs-a-juvenile-peregrine-falcon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/08\/21\/juvenile-burrowing-owls-vs-a-juvenile-peregrine-falcon\/","title":{"rendered":"Juvenile Burrowing Owl VS a Juvenile Peregrine Falcon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JuvenileJuvenile Burrowing Owls interacting<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2009 I had been photographing a Burrowing Owl family for about 4 to 5 weeks that were located next to the causeway to Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was the year I had moved to Utah and I was thrilled to be able to photograph Burrowing Owls without having to drive several hours to find them.<\/p>\n

I had taken hundreds and hundreds of images of these young owls and the adults too and this particular burrow.<\/p>\n

Eight years ago today I didn’t know that it would be the last time I’d photograph the Burrowing Owl family together and that a juvenile Peregrine Falcon would have a part in that.<\/p>\n

Not long after sunrise I photographed three of the Burrowing Owl chicks as they played and groomed each other in the warm golden light. I left for a while and went to the island and when I came back I took more images of the young burrowing owls.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Peregrine Falcon chasing after Burrowing Owl juveniles<\/span><\/p>\n

All of a sudden one of the juvenile Burrowing Owls flew out onto the mudflats and started acting odd, it appeared to be acting aggressive or defensive, it hissed loudly and tried to make itself look larger by opening its wings.<\/p>\n

It took me a few seconds to realize that the juvenile Burrowing Owl was not alone, that a juvenile Peregrine Falcon had flown in and it seemed to be attempting to attack or prey on the young owl.<\/p>\n

About that time I heard a buzzing noise not too far from the “mobile blind” and looked up to see a hummingbird looking at me then looking at the owl and the falcon and back at me again. I was torn between photographing the hummingbird and the owl and the falcon for a few seconds.<\/p>\n

I didn’t realize at the time that the young Peregrine Falcon was banded either or I would have tried harder to get photos of the band codes.<\/p>\n

The falcon didn’t grab the young owl but it did come close before it flew way out on the mudflats in a location that it could keep an eye on the owls at the burrow. The juvenile owl that had been out on the mudflats flew back to the burrow while making quite a bit of noise.<\/p>\n

After the interaction between the owls and the falcon that day I never saw the Burrowing Owls, young or adult, at that burrow again that year. I don’t know if they dispersed because of the falcon, if the falcon did attack them later, or why they left.<\/p>\n

I could speculate all day long but I will never know what became of those Burrowing Owls.<\/p>\n

I can say though that it was a very memorable day.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> 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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eight years ago today I didn’t know that it would be the last time I’d photograph the Burrowing Owl family together and that a juvenile Peregrine Falcon would have a part in that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160412,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,52,1022,1134,26],"tags":[55,5028,2663,4054,6049,4285,4078,4279,4052,6043,4071,3967,294,1135,6050,153,2315],"class_list":["post-48196","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-peregrine-falcons","category-utah","tag-athene-cunicularia","tag-attack","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-burrow","tag-burrowing-owls","tag-falco-peregrinus","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-flight","tag-hummingbird","tag-juvenile","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-peregrine-falcon","tag-predation","tag-raptors","tag-summer-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-8266.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cxm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18739,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/01\/20\/calling-juvenile-burrowing-owl\/","url_meta":{"origin":48196,"position":0},"title":"Calling Juvenile Burrowing Owl","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The first year I after I moved 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, 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adore Burrowing Owls, especially the juveniles because they can be funny, serious looking, comical and at times they act like clowns.","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 stretching, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juvie-stretch-mia-mcpherson-0600.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-juvie-stretch-mia-mcpherson-0600.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juvie-stretch-mia-mcpherson-0600.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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":98321,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/12\/20\/aba-bird-of-the-year-2022-the-burrowing-owl\/","url_meta":{"origin":48196,"position":4},"title":"ABA Bird Of The Year 2022 – The Burrowing Owl!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"It was announced yesterday that the Burrowing Owl is the 2022 ABA Bird of the Year! Burrowing Owls are small, long-legged, sandy-colored, charismatic owls with bright yellow eyes.","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":"Immature Burrowing Owl on a stump in soft morning light, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/burrowing-owl-immature-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-7693.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/burrowing-owl-immature-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-7693.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/burrowing-owl-immature-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-7693.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/burrowing-owl-immature-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-7693.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9781,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/10\/11\/juvenile-burrowing-owl-in-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":48196,"position":5},"title":"Juvenile Burrowing Owl In Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Burrowing Owls are iconic birds of Antelope Island State Park, I can't tell you how many times people write to me and ask \"Where can I see Burrowing Owls on Antelope Island State Park?\".","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 juvenile on a July morning, causeway to Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-chick-mia-mcpherson-0585.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-chick-mia-mcpherson-0585.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-chick-mia-mcpherson-0585.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}