{"id":6839,"date":"2012-12-19T06:27:50","date_gmt":"2012-12-19T13:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6839"},"modified":"2025-10-13T04:56:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T09:56:46","slug":"fledgling-burrowing-owl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/19\/fledgling-burrowing-owl\/","title":{"rendered":"Fledgling Burrowing Owl"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JuvieJuvie Burrowing Owl in rabbitbrush – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/320, ISO 320, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This is an image I created a few years ago of a fledgling Burrowing Owl on the way to Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The burrow was just off of the shoulder of the road so getting images while staying in the vehicle and using it as a mobile blind was easy.<\/p>\n

This fledgling Burrowing Owl was just learning to fly at the time and wasn’t always great at landing. When I took this image it had made a soft crash landing into the rabbitbrush and it was trying to get its balance back.<\/p>\n

I could not resist laughing as I watched the young owl fluttered its wings but my laughing did make it hard to keep my focus locked on.<\/p>\n

These Burrowing Owls are amazing and funny subjects that are tremendous fun to photograph.<\/p>\n

There is finally some clearing in the clouds here so I’m heading out to find some birds to photograph, hope I remember how to use my camera!<\/p>\n

Life is 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":"

This fledgling Burrowing Owl was just learning to fly at the time and wasn’t always great at landing. When I took this image it had made a soft crash landing into the Rabbitbrush and it was trying to get its balance back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160018,"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":[511,27,52,26],"tags":[55,4021,2663,4214,4141,4067,4071,4123,3967,294,4353,4289,2315],"class_list":["post-6839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-burrowing-owls","category-utah","tag-athene-cunicularia","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-burrowing-owl","tag-fledgling","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-landing","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-utah","tag-rabbitbrush","tag-summer-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-3535.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1Mj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4744,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/06\/burrowing-owls-friday-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":6839,"position":0},"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":5344,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/07\/15\/burrowing-owl-butt-shot\/","url_meta":{"origin":6839,"position":1},"title":"Burrowing Owl Butt Shot!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Let's face it some butt shots aren't very pretty but some can be awfully darned cute!","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 Butt Shot! 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McPherson","date":"June 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The heat of summer has turned the green grasses brown on Antelope Island State Park so I thought I'd share some of the \"brown birds\" I photographed there yesterday.","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 from rabbitbrush, Antelope Island State Park in Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-adult-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2064.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-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2064.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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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":26026,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/07\/01\/a-bundle-of-western-burrowing-owls\/","url_meta":{"origin":6839,"position":4},"title":"Bundle of Western Burrowing Owls","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I thought I would share some images I have taken of Western Burrowing Owls that I took over several days spent with them in Box Elder County, Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Burrowing Owl about to land on a barbed wire fence, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-flight-mia-mcpherson-8669.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-flight-mia-mcpherson-8669.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-flight-mia-mcpherson-8669.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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