This is another photography moment that I can never forget. This Blue Jay watched Daddy Burrowing Owl feeding his Owlets and decided he wanted in on the action. He pestered him non-stop. He was right beside him on the log at one point, begging for food.
There are restrictions around Burrowing Owl nesting sites and I was unable to move to get both on the same depth of field, on the log. Out of all of my photos, I only had two where both Burrowing Owl Dad and Blue Jay were in focus.
I will also explain the Burrowing Owls colour. I had no idea why he was this shade until I saw him bathing in terra cotta dirt that was at the baseball diamond, where his burrow was located.
I went to the photographer’s feed to see if there were other pictures of the owl and jay. There were not, but I found this charmingly similar story of interspecies snacking!
Unexpected dinner date!
This was another unforgettable encounter. Not for image quality, but for the unique subject matter.
I was photographing in the other direction, where the light was ideal, when I turned and looked back to see this unique sight. I quickly changed direction and took a few shots of this “cute coot” seemingly feeding a yellow slider. I would have loved to back up the car to get a better vantage point, but thought I might miss this photo op. I had already missed a panther trying to get a lower perspective at Merritt Island :(
I posted this on a group in Facebook and it was quite popular, however some of the comments said my photo was Al (none of my photos are Al). Some said the Coot was far from the turtle and I was trying to mislead people. The turtle and coot are very close - I usually crop out of the OOF second turtle, but left it in the frame. I will also post my EXIF info in the comments to prove it is not Al.
I assure you that for all of these years I did think the coot was purposely feeding the turtle. A turtle expert had commented on the photo saying that turtles are unable to eat out of the water. The turtle did go into the water right after this photo. I have no idea if the coot was feeding the turtle (maybe unlikely), whether is was an opportunity for the turtle to grab the vegetation and run. Whatever it was, I will never forget that day at Viera Wetlands in Florida…
I also wanted to add that our Snapping Turtles come out of the water to grab the crab apples that have fallen from our tree.