An Uncommon Golf Course Visitor
Earlier this month while taking a brief vacation to Aruba, I was fortunate to capture an unusual photo on one of the holes at the Tierra Del Sol Golf course. Not the goats that roam along the fringes and are wild yet not uncommon to the island.
The goats travel in large herds and may be slightly protected, or just not worth hunting as we have never seen them on the menus of the local restaurants.
What I was surprised to see were burrowing owls along some of the sand traps. As we were approaching one hole, my playing partner cautioned me to try and keep my ball away from a particular sand trap. Little did he know that I try to keep my ball away from any sand trap.
He had experienced an aggressive critter that had come out and squawked loudly as he approached his errant shot.
As it peaked up from it's burrow it started to chirp. Evidently a warning to either us or the inhabitants of the nest.
Staking it's territory it got more anxious as I got closer with my camera.
The owl is very common to the area as I saw staked nests on several more holes. It could have been an active nest but we didn't stay around too long to find out.
When I next find myself on the island, I will take a curiousity walk along the golf course to see if the owls are back in the sand traps. I know I want no part of the traps so they are welcome to keep them to themselves.
A Burrowing Owl, Not a Common Golf Course Sight
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