Two burrowing owls stowed away on a cruise ship out of Miami, and are now living the high life at a Spanish resort before returning to the US next month.

Biologists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said the mating pair boarded Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas before the vessel’s transatlantic crossing to Cartagena in southern Spain in February. The tiny owls, a threatened species in Florida, usually prefer more rural landscapes, and may have been spooked by all the concrete around the Port of Miami, they say.

They were spotted by crew members a short distance into the 14-day voyage, having found refuge in the ship’s lush Central Park area, which features more than 12,000 plants. The biologists say they probably foraged for food, and were eventually caught by the crew using nets, then handed over to Spanish officials at docking.

They have been quarantined since the spring of this year at the Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) wildlife rescue center in Murcia, 30 miles north of Cartagena, in readiness for their repatriation as soon as mid-January.

Natalie Montero-McAllister, FWC’s imperiled species policy administrator, said the owls are ground dwelling and spend most of their time in ground burrows or large, open areas. For that reason, she said, they might have been confused by the vast expanses of metal on board the ship, and an absence of their regular diet of small reptiles and birds, frogs and rodents.

“It must have been very bewildering for them. Some of the newer cruise ships have a lot of green space and like plant life on board to make it more park-like, so I’m curious if that may have been something that was of particular interest or comforting for them,” she said.

“But it’s not clear at all why they showed up on the cruise ship and what made them choose that area.”

Crew members snagged both birds in nets after passengers reported seeing them among the greenery, and in other areas of the ship including the solarium and miniature golf course. They were fed and watered by crew members using “expert guidelines”. One of the owls escaped and returned to the green space, only to be recaptured shortly before the 20 February docking in Spain.

The globetrotting owls are not the first to have attempted an overseas voyage from Miami. Passengers on board Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas were surprised to see a burrowing owl “perched on exit signs, peeking through planters, and resting along railings” on a two-week Caribbean cruise in 2023.

A burrowing owl on a cruise on 2023. Photograph: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Several crew members and FWC workers, alerted by the Wildlife Rescue of Dade County group, eventually captured the bird from the rail of a cabin balcony after it eluded several attempts with makeshift netting on lower floors.

That owl was returned to the wild after a short stay at the South Florida Wildlife Center in Fort Lauderdale.

The owls returning from Spain will be similarly released once they are deemed fit for travel, and after an assessment and re-assimilation period at a Florida facility under the care of the federal agriculture department.

“We plan to release them to another area that they’re likely familiar with, since they came from somewhere in Miami. We’re under the impression that they are accustomed to urban environments, so we’ll bring them to another urban environment so that way it’s something familiar to them,” Montero-McAllister said.

After a free cruise to Europe, the owls will be returning by air, their fares paid for by the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida, the charitable arm of FWC.

“Our foundation is delighted to help pay for the owls’ ticket home and their care. They’re having quite the adventure and we’re glad to help get them safely back to a burrow in Florida,” said Tindl Rainey, the group’s director of conservation.