Hoo R U?

Meet the very curious burrowing owl who clearly wonders who the heck you are!

Burrowing Owls are a federally protected species in the US, Canada, and in Mexico. They are designated endangered, threatened, or a species of special concern, in nine US states, including California.

This burrowing owl pair lives at Avian Behavior International in rural Southern California. You cannot keep burrowning owls unless you are licensed and raise them for breeding, conservation, rehabilitation, and/or educational purposes.

These curious and unique ground dwelling birds live in burrows in the ground where they hide from predators and raise their young.

They are tiny, but big in looks and personality! I have only seen them in the wild a few times in the last ten years because they are now very rare where I live. But click and check out this curious wild cutie that I met a few years ago:

Cheers to you from the precious and endangered Southern California burrowing owls~


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216 thoughts on “Hoo R U?

  1. You clearly have fortunes good hand at gathering these images (these, and all I’ve seen of yours). It is a gift when a camera is more than mere machine. Rather, it is an expression of how you see (and how the world sees you?) (I think so.) It is relationship in pure form.

  2. I love owls. We have a few living in our trees here, mostly barred owls and great horned owls. I think I’ve seen either saw whet or burrowing owls many years ago. But generally we hear owls more often than we see them. Beautiful birds! Your photos are great!

    1. We have horned owls at The Holler. They are often on our roof. We hoo back and forth at each other. Once at night, one responded to my hooing by dropping down and flying swiftly by my head, close enough to ruffle my hair, but not touching me. Amazing დ

  3. After an involuntary break of six months I’m almost back to normal life and enjoy your pictures and posts pretty much. Thank you for sharing! Cheers, Uwe

  4. They are numerous in Cape Coral, Florida where an ideal habitat was created by developers by accident but their biggest threats are cats, either allowed to roam by their owners or feral cats. Cats get far more than hawks and other birds of prey.

    1. Good & bad. So good you have many of them, not good at all about the cats. Cats are significant killers of threatened songbird species too. I need to visit Cape Coral დ

  5. I apologize if this is a duplicate comment. I love these little owls and these are great images, Cindy. I read an MG book awhile ago, where there was a group of school children trying to save an area from being developed, where burrowing owls lived. I wish I could remember the title, but it was quite good and had a great message for the next generation about conservation.

    1. I have some memory of what you are talking about. I read about it too. If I recall correctly, they were successful in saving the space for the owls which was wonderful დ

  6. These are charming birds. We have a few that live around us here in West Texas. The like to live near the prairie dog towns that are all around us. I think they borrow the prairie dog’s burrows and have a steady food supply there. Sadly, we don’t see as many as we used to. Thank you for sharing your lovely photos!

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