Feathers of Fury
These tiny guys (no bigger than a football) make up for their small size with large amounts of anger and aggression. Burrowing Owls have a vicious screech and bright yellow eyes that stare down any threatening creatures.
On this day, that "threatening" creature happened to be my furry, little Shitzu, Rocky (who is named after my favorite ice cream flavor - Rocky Road). Rocky (pictured below) was minding his own business while on a walk at Zanjero park with my brother, cousin, and I. I was taking pictures of these beautiful birds when alarms started sounding. This frightening noise was coming from the beaks of the Burrowing owls. Perched on their wooden posts, they began communicating to each other about the danger they thought they were in. One even started soaring over our heads, making me a little nervous.
Then suddenly, with wings outstretched and claws ready to inflict pain, the ferocious owl headed straight for my dog! My brother, who was holding the leash, dropped it and ran away with my cousin as the bird sunk its deadly claws into Rocky's back...
Scared for my dog's safety, I ran over to make sure he was okay. To my amazement, he just looked up at me with his big brown eyes and wagged his tail, happy as could be. Apparently Rocky was unbothered by the incident and escaped the attack without even one scratch! However, I don't think I will be taking him back to this park anytime soon.
All images were taken on a Nikon D3100. The owl pictures were captured using a Tamron 70-300mm Telephoto lens. Rocky's portrait (pictured below) was taken with the kit lens (a 18-55mm lens) that came with the Nikon D3100 camera.
