For this month, I am going to share a visit I made recently.  I did a similar visit 2 years ago with friends and I have always wanted to go back, but it is a drive to an area I do not know well and it is at least an hour south from where I live.  However, I decided to do my homework, plan my trip and execute it on Friday.  Camera was packed up and off I headed south to visit these tiny tiny little birds who live in the ground.

Burrowing Owls are typically found in areas with low vegetation and dry weather.  These owls are no bigger than a ruler and have to be the cutest little critters I have seen.  They burrow holes in the ground to make their home and can be seen during the course of the day.  I probably got there at about 10:30 AM and started the process of walking to the various holes that were cordoned off.  Burrowing Owls are a protected species in Florida and you will be fined if you encroach into the cordoned off area.

So here are some of the photo’s that I took on this particular day.

My first stop was at the lower level of the park, where this little one was out of the hole and watching me closely.

Since there was not too much activity, I walked to a few more holes, before heading back to the entrance to go up the hill. I spotted this little one hanging out in the shade of a fire hydrant. It’s eye’s got quite big as I approached.

The day was hot and I envied the shade this little owl had found.

To give you an idea of how small they are, this little one is standing by a standard size fire hydrant.

I got up to move and I spooked it, so it ran around to the other side of the fire hydrant and watched me around it.

I headed up to a new hole, where I found 2 owls. Slowly they started popping out until 6 were out of the holes.

These owls are so tiny. This was the spike of a wooden pillar used to cordon off the area so that we did not get right up to the owls nest.

Interesting fact is that when the owl feels that it’s nest is threatened they will typically lie over the nest with it’s wings spread out. The wings were not spread out here, nor was it over a nest.

This little one popped out of it’s hole and proceeded to stretch it’s wings.

I just love this beautiful face and its big eyes, along with it’s very cute eyebrows.

A little gross, but it appears that this owl was regurgitating it’s unwanted food.

They owls did not seem to be intimidated by me and carried on as usual unless I moved.

What a cute little body these Burrowing Owls have.

Clearly this one was either shy or decided that looking at the camera was not what it wanted to do.

But then I shifted on the grass and it’s head popped up.

I love the close ups of their beautiful features.

I did a quick stop back to the original one to see if it was still on it’s perch and it was.

At another hole I spotted this little one who was cleaning house. I watched it for a while scooping sand out of the entrance.

While I was watching, these two heads popped out to see what was going on.

Having seen all the owls I thought I could see at the park, I headed out to a second park, where I found this little one sitting at the entrance of it’s hole. It’s head was a constant motion of looking to the left, right, above it and at what I was doing.

They are so small that I am sure that they are prey for any larger birds.

I had a great trip – it was worth the drive, and on my way home, I stopped at the South African shop and bought a few home goodies to munch on. Overall it was a good day.

Thank you for joining me for this month’s Tell me a Story.    This is a circle blog.  Please take time to visit my fellow blogger Emily Kohl Photography  and see what she have for you this month. Keep following the circle to see what the other photographers have shared this month. Don’t forget to leave a little love on their pages.

You can also find me on Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Google+ and Viewbug.

I got the opportunity to choose the theme for Share Six this month and I went for Street Photography.

“Why Street Photography?  For me it takes me out of my comfort zone. I am happy shooting nature, and sunsets and beaches. Now I will confess, I do find that I am more comfortable doing street photography when I am on vacation rather than when I am at home.  I like to meander and to keep looking around me until something catches my attention.  Street Photography is me having the courage to go into a busy area urban or otherwise and shoot what I see in front of me.  The image may or may not have people in it.  It can be reflections, it can be graffiti, it can be shapes, or it may be people. You could take it looking straight on, or looking up, or looking down. You can frame it through doorways, or arches, or trees.  There are so many different aspects to Street Photography.”

When I get out on the street with the intention of shooting images of people I take my long lens, and try to do this as inconspicuously as possible and from a distance.  When I am shooting scenery, I will carry a variety of lens, normally my wide angle for buildings, my 70-300mm for distance, and a couple of lensbaby optics.

I will confess, I have yet to walk up to someone and ask them if I can photograph them. That takes me way out of my comfort zone completely.  Who knows maybe one day I will get the courage.  Mmm 100 faces sounds like an interesting project to consider.

What I have found though, is that when I am shooting street, that my immediate editing reaction is to go black and white.

I thought I would share various images I have taken, some on trips away and some locally.  Since I only see my brother when he is in USA, we tend to travel to wherever he is in conference and then stay a few days post conference. It is always a city and that feeds my desire to head out and explore.  While he is in conference, we are sight seeing, then when he is done we spend a few days traveling the area.  Locally the images I have shared are for a Street group that I joined earlier this year.

Denver, Colorado and it was snowing. For a South Florida girl – it was more than pretty cold. I was freezing. My hands were shaking and the view was gray and bleak, but I loved this street scene. This was taken with my Canon Rebel 3, with the EF-S 18-55mm lens.

Boulder, Colorado. Same trip as the previous image but we had stopped off in Boulder to have lunch and do a bit of sight seeing . These guys grabbed my attention pretty quickly and I knew I had to get a photo of them. This image was taken with my Cannon Rebel T3i and the EF-S18-55mm lens.

Off to Vegas and I think I took a multitude of images. Vegas is busy and you can end up behind the camera most of the time. I am still editing from 3 years ago. What I found with this image is that night time shooting is hard. I was not crazy about the color version, but when I converted it to black and white, I loved it. This image was taken with my Canon Rebel T3i and the EF-S 18-55mm lens.

Seattle and boy did we walk that city. Just for the record, I love Seattle and there is so much to do. If you want to see more street images check out my blogs on Seattle. This particular image was taken at night time. Let’s be honest it was a disaster. We were sitting at a traffic light when I noticed these statues at the bus station. Of course, I am in manual and I am trying to adjust my settings for a night shot. Suffice to say the car is moving when I am shooting the image. Again the color was not great but when I converted it to black and white I fell in love. The image was taken with my Canon 6D and the EF 28-135mm lens (bought specifically for the trip and the lens I used the majority of the time we were in Seattle).

Taken downtown West Palm Beach, part of the Street 52 group topic for the week was to follow someone and take a photography. Ok, I can do that. I had a meeting just along the road, so I had parked my car and walked down this road to my meeting.  I loved the angle of the trees which formed an arch of sorts. From there I was going to take a bit of time to meander down the side streets to see what I can find. I happened to double back down this road as this lady was walking ahead of me. This image is taken with my Canon 6D and EF 28-135mm lens.

Another shot for the Street 52 group. This time it was to go out and capture the image of someone who caught your attention. This particular morning I had gone down to the beach to capture the sunrise. Walking back to my car, this man slowly walked towards the bench with this huge dog. It was really the dog that caught my attention, but as the man sat down, he almost immediately went into this sleeping pose. I quickly snapped off a couple of images before getting into my car. This image is taken with Canon 6D and the EF 70-300mm lens.

These are my six images.  Indulge my while I share one more (although I could happily have gone on sharing street images).  This was the day that I tried to look inconspicuous when taking my photograph, and as I did this he looked up at me.  Ugh but he was great and told me to take another one.  You will have those days when you get caught.  Smile!! If the opportunity comes about take time to learn a little bit about your subject.

Peace Out – I really enjoyed my short chat with this very interesting guy. This image was taken with the Canon Rebel T3i and the EF-S 55-250mm lens.

If you do not shoot street, then I would encourage you to pick up your camera, head into the city and have a fun day looking like a tourist.  I love it.  There is so much going on and it is fun to be part of the vibe of the streets and capture what catches your attention. Go out, have fun!!

Thank you for joining me for this month’s Share Six.  This is a circle blog.  From the sneak peak images I have seen, you are going to want to follow the circle.  Please take time to visit our guest blogger for this month, Katherine of Cobert Photography and see what she has for you this month.  Keep following the circle to see what the other photographers have shared this month.  Don’t forget to leave a little love on their page as well.

You can also find me on Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Google+ and Viewbug.

Now it is your turn. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook at Share Six and come and share your images on the theme Street Photography throughout the month of April.  A new theme will come out on June 6.

Remember you can follow us on Instagram at @sharesix  and tag your images #sharesix_streetphotography

You can also find the Share Six webpage at http://www.sharesix.wordpress.com

We look forward to seeing your images on the theme street photography