Burrowing Owl by the Sea

🎬 ABOUT THIS FILM During the winter and into early spring, a single Burrowing Owl spent several months along the Southern California coast. Most days, it quietly perched on the same jetty, watching the waves. At first, it seemed as though nothing ever happened. But as I continued returning before sunrise and at sunset, I began to notice its daily routine. Each evening, it left the rocks to hunt through the nearby coastal habitat before disappearing into the night. By spring, it was gone. I hope our paths cross again next winter. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📖 WILDLIFE FILMING NOTE This owl was filmed from a respectful distance using a super-telephoto lens. No bait, playback, or disturbance was used. The colored leg band suggests it had previously been part of a wildlife monitoring program. Throughout the winter, it was regularly observed hunting and producing pellets, healthy signs that it was successfully finding food during its stay. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🌿 ABOUT BURROWING OWLS Burrowing Owls have declined across much of Southern California because of habitat loss and urban development. While they are most often associated with grasslands, deserts, and agricultural fields, a small number spend the winter along the Southern California coast each year. Seeing one living beside the Pacific Ocean is a quiet reminder of how adaptable these owls can be, and how important it is to protect the open habitats they still depend on. 📍 Location: Southern California Coast 🦉 Species: Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Real moments I captured in the wild. © Yi Han Photography. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or re-upload is prohibited. #BurrowingOwl #BirdBehavior #WildlifePhotography #NatureDocumentary #WildlifeStory