The owl that wasn't, Berkeley Marina

This is a shot about a shot that I had in my head but was never able to get. After finding this owl in a burrow that was an ideal location for a nice ground level image right near the fence to keep the dogs out, I had high hopes to come home with an image of this bird standing tall by its burrow. I returned to the park many times this spring, but each time the owl stayed tucked away inside. On my last trip in March, I finally saw it half-out of the hole -- but by then the grass was too tall for the shot I wanted anyway. Such is the joy of wildlife photography though. Not that there's joy in not getting a shot you want, but there is much joy when the stars align and the animals actually do what you were envisioning in perfect light. You never know when it will happen -- so the more potential images you have stored in your head, the better ;-)

Burrowing Owl at the Berkeley Marina

Another shot of a wintering burrowing owl at the Berkeley Marina. One of the great things about these guys is that when they find a burrow they like, they'll keep it for a while -- which means that they are reliably easy to find once you know where they are. I'm still waiting for a nice shot of one of the birds that is in the grassy area for this season. I have plenty of shots of it more than halfway in its burrow, but I'd like one with a bit more owl showing. However, this owl hangs out on top of a rock quite frequently, which means you can see the whole bird.

Look into my eyes... Western Burrowing Owl at the Berkeley Marina

A western burrowing owl at the Berkeley Marina. A small colony of these cute little guys spend the winter in Cesar Chavez Park. This one decided to settle outside of the fenced in area designated for the owls, and instead picked a burrow in the rocks along the shoreline.



Owls have such amazing eyes, and I find it nearly impossible to look away from them in images. The striking yellow color really stands out from their camouflaged plumage, and it's a hypnotic stare. Thankfully, this guy was much more worried about what was going on up along the trail (ie, dogs) than in me, but it definitely makes for more interesting images when he glanced my way and stared into my soul ;-)

Late light, tall grass, and a burrowing owl

These shots are from March of this year at Cesar Chavez Park in Berkeley. By this late in the spring, the grass had grown high, and the burrowing owls seemed to enjoy the extra cover. Thankfully there was a narrow tunnel through the grass that stretched from the bird to the trail, and I was able to get an unobstructed shot. I've been sitting with the images from this series in my queue for quite some time, and today finally felt like the right day to post some. I'm not sure why I passed them over for so long.





Shared as part of World Bird Wednesday -- click here to check out the other posts for this week

Surprise! The burrowing owls are back!

Well, its not really a surprise that the western burrowing owls have returned to Cesar Chavez Park at the Berkeley marina, since they are annual winter visitors, but this one sure does look surprised. Actually though, it has such huge eyes since a dog was walking by. They appear to be fairly used to people stopping for a look, but if a dog wanders too close to the fence, they get visibly agitated.

I'm quite impressed with the new permanent fencing that was erected in the off-season to protect the owls from people and dogs getting too close. Instead of that hideous orange plastic netting, there is now a nice permanent fixture with a few cables running between anchors. Its much easier on the eyes, and also would allow for ground level shooting now, assuming that an owl was perched in a place that you could see it from along the trail.

Quick Post -- Western Burrowing Owl

From a February walk in Cesar Chavez Park at the Berkeley Marina.



This bird seemed particularly nervous about overhead predators, glancing skyward every few minutes.