3 years ago today I caught the first Burrowing Owl at my field site. Hadn't planned on giving them all names... but afterwards, found myself thinking of this guy as Paul. He just *seemed* like a Paul. One of my faves (was back next year, too). Always looked pleasantly surprised.

Ok people seem to be big fans of Paul, so a bit more about him and his families! First up, here he is the next year-- see, that really is always his face. We know how old Paul is; he was banded by previous researchers at that site, as a chick in 2016, so he was 1yo when we met

In 2017, Paul's mate was a teensy little female I dubbed Fern. Though she was roughly the weight of a large chick, she was a total spitfire. She did not appreciate getting weighed and banded, and whipped that calming "hood" right off!

Paul's mate the next season was this total puffball, Maia. She was a really great owl mom.

In 2017, Paul and Fern's first nest attempt failed for unknown reasons. They moved to a different burrow, and successfully fledged these bubs later in the season. Meet Biscuit & Bagel (it's not possible to visually sex the chicks, so they all got neutral names)

In 2018, Paul and Maia's kids were all named after comets. Here are Kwee, Lemmon, Bopp, and Sagra

Shortly after banding these nestlings, Lemmon somehow made their way over to another burrow, almost 150m away! They were taken in by one of my other favorites, Tex, and his mate, and reared alongside their chicks.