A Stumbling, Bumbling Burrowing Owl

Young Burrowing Owls are pretty awkward when they’re still learning the ropes. In this case the “rope” was a wire.

 

burrowing owl 3152 ron dudley

1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

This past June I spent considerable time watching and photographing a family of Burrowing Owls in Box Elder County, Utah. The young birds were constantly honing their flying, landing and perching skills and the most challenging of perches was the wire on an old barbed wire fence very near their burrow. On the wire they would often lose their balance and it was comical to watch them try to recover.

This bird had a stable perch but as soon as it tried to take one step to our right its right foot slipped and it lost its balance.

 

 

burrowing owl 3175 ron dudley

1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

It spent considerable time trying to recover by flapping its wings and trying to get that right foot back on the wire but for some reason it kept missing the wire.  I took 33 images during the process, smiling the entire time. Eventually the bird was successful in finding the wire with its foot but even then it wobbled and struggled so eventually it gave up and…

 

 

burrowing owl 3199 ron dudley

1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

took off for greener pastures.

In this shot I like the canopy of wings over the body, the head poking out from the wing enclosure (with a good look at the eye) and the extended legs from push-off. I didn’t rotate to level the wire in these images because the wire was actually sloped.

Ron

 

 

21 Comments

  1. Comical looks especially the flight shot-like me trying to cross a creek on a log. Stuff that is hard to learn and hard to keep as we get older.

  2. Love (of course) the owl, loathe the wire.
    And couldn’t balance half as well as the charmer.

  3. I think that in the last shot the bird is hoping it was getting away without being seen… Young Burrowing Owls are always fun to see in action, even if it’s ‘just’ photos. It never occurred to me that the wire needed leveling – the bird draws all the focus. Thanks for starting my day with a smile.

  4. Beautiful! Third photo is great 🙂 Amazing what the young have to learn vs. what comes hard wired.

    • “Amazing what the young have to learn vs. what comes hard wired.”

      I think about that a lot, Judy. The boundary between the two is interesting to ponder.

  5. Usually when I see images of these funny little birds, I laugh, but my reaction is the same as Dick’s. instead of laughing, I cringed, hoping that withall that flapping around, the little guy didn’t get scewered on that effing stuff I call “Devil wire” or “Devil’s Wire”…Can’t there be some kind of public service payback program for removing the damned stuff?…maybe by convicted crooked politicians, CEO’s, drug pushers and their lawyers…or the good guys, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts, drunk drivers, etc…..

    • “Crooked politicians” – Is there really such a thing, Patty???

      • The question should be…”Convicted”…

        • Around here it doesn’t matter if they’re convicted or not, Patty – they still get high honors from other politicians. This bozo is a perfect example: http://www.sltrib.com/news/3047293-155/convict-named-utahs-county-commissioner-of

          • This article makes me see red. Volunteering at our local state park and historic site (Hueco Tanks) and seeing what people have done to it, makes me very conscious of the value of archeological sites. When some investors bought the land that is now the park with the idea of building a resort with a lake for water skiing, they bulldozed up tremendous amounts of archeology to create huge, unsightly berms. Then they discovered that the water ran out of the lake area as fast as they could pump it in… We are grateful for what’s left. And concerned for unprotected land in the next county that is full of ancient petroglyphs on the rocks. I have a hard time understanding why people can’t appreciate such amazing historical resources. Of course, those are probably the same people who couldn’t care less about nature, too. (Sorry about the rant.)

          • No need to apologize, Susan. I agree with you and besides a little rant now and then is good for the soul…

          • BARF!!! If only it could be ON him!!!!! AND those who were stupid enough to praise his insensitive idiocy….I don’t ever remember a time when so many were so damn dumb!!! Let the insects take ove….bring ’em on,mas one of our recent brilliant “leaders” was known to say..

  6. Spot on as usual! And, comical i’m sure.
    I look at these images and have to admit, when you said “on an old barbed wire fence” I get concerned whether that fence is necessary. Remembering the Barn Owl you rescued from a barbed wire fence, I have to ask myself how many of these types of fences are still out there and how many are actually used. If the answer is not many, why are they still up? Sorry, but these animals have enough to deal with in their every day life, why should they also have to deal with forgotten unused barbed wire fences.

    • Dick, these old barbed wire fences are almost everywhere out west on both public and private land – they’re ubiquitous and I believe that most of them are still used. Fences are very expensive to install so they’re generally built to last a very long time. I’m no fan of them either.

      Barbed wire is terrible stuff. These images were taken only a short distance from where we found a dead Burrowing Owl entangled in the wire. https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2015/06/25/burrowing-owl-take-off-series-and-the-dangers-of-barbed-wire/

      There’s been some discussion involving the Golden Spike National Monument (some of these fences border on the monument) about replacing the barbed wire with something less dangerous to wildlife and they’re “looking into it” last I heard…

      • I hear you, but I wonder if there are enough concerned citizens to go out and flag the wire? Why wait for the government to do it, there must be a number of local citizens who feel the same as you and Mia, or is there some law that would ridicule citizens from undertaking such an ordeal?

    • I’m not sure, Dick but I believe that flagging the wire is one of the options the monument says they’re looking in to. Next time I’m up there I’ll ask them about it again.

  7. The video, though not as good as the still shots, is amazingly good. Have fun! Great for showing behavior.

  8. Ron:

    Do you ever take videos? This seems like a great opportunity for that. My wife and I use 7D Mark II’s and get great HD video in addition to the stills we take. Livens up our slideshows. Bottom line, we’re green seeing your burrowing owl.

    Beautiful shots by the way.

    Thank you again for your daily snapshot into Ron’s world. Beauty everywhere.

    • “Do you ever take videos?”

      No, I’ve never done it, Richard. I’ve thought about it time and time again but it always comes down to “do I want the shot or the clip”? I wish there was some way to get both but even with more than one camera I can only operate one at a time.

      Your question will probably have me pondering the possibility, again…

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