Visit to Cape Coral -- Saturday Part II

This was the first of the Burrowing Owls up close!  After a hardy brunch, we headed over to Cape Coral to try to find Burrowing Owls and actually found two burrows with current residents.  We found a lot that didn't seem to have anybody living in them.   This was the little fellow who was sitting at the first place.  Down in Cape Coral, they are very protective of these birds who burrow in the ground.  There is usually fencing around the burrows and a perch for them to sit.  This guy was sitting on one of the fence posts.  They blend into their environment so well, it is hard to see them sometimes!  

They are quite small but definitely owllike!  This second picture shows the second Burrowing Owl just outside his burrow.

This was the owl from the second burrow and he is standing next to the burrow on the ground.  You can see how well they blend in.  They are 9 1/2 inches high.  Burrowing owls are found frequently out west but this is a different sub-species and does look a bit different than the other.  They were the subject of one of Carl Hiassem's very funny books called Hoot.  It is young adult fiction but I enjoyed it.

This was another very large treat today up in Cape Coral.  This is a Florida Scrub Jay which is an endangered species (as are many of the birds I have shown like the Wood Stork).  It is a beautiful bird and we were fortunate enough to have two practically pose for us.  This one is cracking open a peanut that he found.  Aren't the colors beautiful!

This is a full frontal that another of the jays gave us.

I had so many nice pictures of these birds, it was hard to choose just a couple.  Amazing they came out so well as it was very overcast today and so the light wasn't great but I was extremely pleased.


I should add I probably took 100 pictures of the owls and another 100 of the jays!!  


It was definitely a great bird day capped with a fine prime rib dinner prepared by our generous host Bill who spent the day driving us around.  I might add he even took us to our favorite quilt shop before we headed to Cape Coral!

One of the jays actually jumped up onto the car right next to us!  My sister has some funny pictures of her husband with the field glasses trying to spot the jays while one was literally over his head on the roof!