The birding highlight at Malheur NWR may have been seeing Burrowing Owls. It’s been years since I’ve seen them. We saw two pairs. One pair was too distant for good photos. We did observe them exchanging food or maybe something else and also an attempt at copulation. The other pair had a burrow very near the gravel road so we were able to view and photograph them from the car.
In some of these images, you can see the male, the lighter one, attempt to give the female a gift. We decided it was a piece of watermelon rind. She was not impressed and retreated to the burrow and he dropped it and stomped on it! Males are lighter because they spend more time outside the burrow and their feathers get sun bleached.
My Everyday Photos 
4 Comments
Love the burrowing owls. Great shots Teri!
Cape Coral near Sanibel is filled with them. Our friend and Sanibel nature photographer, Ed Saternus, has a pair that nested in front of his home on Cape Coral and he’s getting amazing shots. He’s also on Facebook.
What fun you are having. Our highlight has been two indigo buntings who visit our feeder daily..
Corly
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Thanks Corly! Now I have a reason to return to Florida someday!
These are so good. I like the one where the two birds are looking at each other. Also, on the ground, they don’t look like they would have that wing-span, do they?
Elaine
Thank you! I am amazed at those long wings. How do they keep them tucked in?