{"id":6618,"date":"2012-11-20T03:55:31","date_gmt":"2012-11-20T10:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6618"},"modified":"2025-04-25T06:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T11:05:08","slug":"burrowing-owl-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/20\/burrowing-owl-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Burrowing Owl Surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BurrowingBurrowing Owl in low light – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/80, ISO 1000, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

There are Burrowing Owls on Antelope Island; I’ve photographed them hundreds of times, but yesterday I spotted one in a location I had never seen one before.<\/p>\n

It was close to the road which made photographing it from a vehicle easy the problem was heavy clouds made the light low and my shutter speed slow.<\/p>\n

Making sure my exposure was right using my histogram I fired off bursts which increased the chance that some of the images in the bursts would be sharp. And it worked.<\/p>\n

\"BurrowingBurrowing Owl portrait – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/60, ISO 1000, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I liked the how the water behind the owl created a soft, pastel background, how the owl’s eyes seem to glow with the enlarged pupils and even though the setting is a little messy it all seems to meld together well.<\/p>\n

The light did get better before the owl took off but there was a stem in front of the owl’s face after a slight move, that stem was distracting, those images got deleted.<\/p>\n

It was a nice to find this Burrowing Owl surprise yesterday, I hope I’ll see it again.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Burrowing Owl photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are Burrowing Owls on Antelope Island; I’ve photographed them hundreds of times, but yesterday I spotted one in a location I had never seen one before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[511,27,52,1022,26],"tags":[55,970,4214,4142,11978,4620,4067,4071,156,3967,294,4104,4046,4851,4516,4193],"class_list":["post-6618","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-athene-cunicularia","tag-autumn","tag-burrowing-owl","tag-close-up","tag-desert-island","tag-fall","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-low-light-2","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-perched","tag-portrait","tag-surprise","tag-western-burrowing-owl","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/burrowing-owl-mia-mcpherson-0901.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1IK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14672,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/04\/02\/young-burrowing-owls\/","url_meta":{"origin":6618,"position":0},"title":"Young Burrowing Owls","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The past few years I have missed seeing and photographing young Burrowing Owls on Antelope Island State Park for numerous reasons.","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 with its head cocked, 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-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5223.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-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":195,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/08\/16\/burrowing-owl-juveniles\/","url_meta":{"origin":6618,"position":1},"title":"Burrowing Owl Juveniles","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"If you have never had the opportunity to photograph Burrowing Owl juveniles I would suggest you find a burrow and be prepared to laugh yourself silly.","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":"Three Burrowing Owl juveniles, 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-utah-three-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-8264.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-utah-three-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-8264.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-utah-three-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-8264.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-utah-three-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-8264.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":6618,"position":2},"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":[]},{"id":1441,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/11\/23\/adult-burrowing-owls\/","url_meta":{"origin":6618,"position":3},"title":"Adult Burrowing Owls","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I felt it was time to put the beauty of the adult Burrowing Owls in the limelight.","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 western Burrowing Owl in morning light, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-mia-mcpherson-adult-0411.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-mia-mcpherson-adult-0411.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-mia-mcpherson-adult-0411.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-mia-mcpherson-adult-0411.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":6618,"position":4},"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":3761,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/11\/25\/juvenile-burrowing-owls-friday-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":6618,"position":5},"title":"Juvenile Burrowing Owls – Friday Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I 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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juvie-stretch-mia-mcpherson-0600.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6618","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=6618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}