Burrowing Owls are adorable little raptors that actually live in the ground. They occupy burrows made by squirrels, foxes, skunks and other mammals. They are not found in the Northeast, so when I recently had reason to be in San Diego, I drove out to The Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge to see them for the first time. More than 70% of the California Burrowing Owl population is found within the Salton Sea ecosystem.
The area is full of large farms with miles of irrigation canals. With very little traffic, you can drive slowly along dirt roads and try to get a glimpse of the well-camouflaged little owls.
Burrowing Owls do most of their hunting at night, but will also hunt during the day. They stand guard outside of their burrows if it gets too hot inside.
They are constantly moving their heads around, it’s very comical, so I took some video to share what still photos can’t:
Burrowing Owls are sadly losing their habitat due to human sprawl, so conservationists install artificial burrows that the owls seem to like, which means you’ve got to check every pipe you pass…
This guy eventually came out for some portraits…
…and he graciously posed exactly where I asked him to.
Another pipe had (at least) three owls hiding inside…
Some other raptors in the area… two Great Horned Owls in a palm tree:
A stunningly beautiful White-Tailed Kite:
American Kestrels were everywhere… the small falcon species is in sharp decline on the east coast, so it was great to see them thriving in California:
American Kestrel fighting with a juvenile Peregrine Falcon for a perch (the kestrel won)…
Northern Harriers on patrol for mammals and wintering shorebirds:
Lastly, here’s an unusual duo – a Great Egret with a Burrowing Owl…
Thanks for following along – please leave any comments or questions below – Happy New Year!
I enjoyed this trip so much in 2016, I repeated it again in 2018:
Here are more adorable Burrowing Owls guarding their homes…
The Great Egret had no regrets eating a small mouse…
Northern Harriers on patrol… male on left, female on right…
… and lastly, a comical Gambel’s Quail
5 Comments
Another beautiful series of photos from Peter Green. Thanks for sharing.
Great pictures and commentary. Educational and uplifting at the same time. Good job, Peter.
Such amazing pictures, Peter! It looks like you had a wonderful time exploring a very different habitat than the urban environment back East. The Burrowing Owls have such long legs! Is this to aid in digging underground or are most of their burrows already dug out by other animals? Love the video ,it really shows how alert and vigilant the little owls must be to avoid ariel predators like the Harriers. Thanks for sharing!
Hi, Peter! Love these pics and commentary, very cool. Thanks for letting me see things I’ve missed that are right outside my front door, especially the battle between the kestrel and the young perigrine over perching rights. What a world :) Enjoyed chatting with you today. Happy trails!
At the California Institution for men…(chino prison)…We have the owls all over