![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/burrowing-owl-6603-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"burrowing-owl-6603-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nIf you’re going to dig or maintain a burrow in spring you’re very likely to end up looking a little like a kid who’s been playing in the mud.<\/p>\n
For several reasons Florida Burrowing Owls usually excavate their own burrows but their western counterparts rarely do. Instead they take over old burrows of burrowing mammals such as ground squirrels, badgers, prairie dogs, marmots, skunks, prairie dogs, armadillos, kangaroo rats\u00a0 and tortoises.<\/p>\n
But our western owls still have to renovate and maintain the burrows by digging. While doing so both sexes dig with their beak and kick backward with their feet.<\/p>\n
You can imagine the effect on personal hygiene.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I photographed this owl almost exactly three years ago in Box Elder County. Even though “he” is looking slightly behind him I instinctively took the shot when I noticed a slight wind gust push up some of his head feathers. To me it almost looks like he’s wearing a removeable helmet of some sort.<\/p>\n Notice the caked mud on his feet. In early May it’s likely that he’d been renovating or maintaining his burrow and I believe we’re seeing some of the evidence of that activity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Even the top of his beak is muddy and it almost looks like he’s about to hide some of the evidence on his right foot by pulling it up into his lower belly plumage.<\/p>\n Besides the corroboration of the digging activities of Burrowing Owls that these photos provide I like the asymmetry of the very old fencepost perch which is part of the reason I cropped this photo as I did.<\/p>\n And of course the owl is a nice touch too.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Note: I believe I’ve read in the past that the reasons Florida Burrowing Owls dig their own burrows and their western counterparts rarely do are because Florida’s generally sandy soil is easier to dig in and we have far more burrowing mammals and available burrows out west. Please correct me if I’m wrong.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you’re going to dig or maintain a burrow in spring you’re very likely to end up looking a little like a kid who’s been playing in the mud.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/burrowing-owl-6613-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"burrowing-owl-6613-ron-dudley\\"")
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