Bird of the Month - January 2006

Burrowing Owl
Athene cunicularia

By David Fix

At home in treeless country, Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia ) have long legs, perhaps to help them see over the tops of grasses—they are the “lawn-geared” owl.  These small owls are found in temperate western North America, in Florida, and south to Argentina.  They are most numerous in undisturbed grassland, sagebrush steppe, and desert, but also occur on golf courses and at airports.  Burrowing Owls nest and roost chiefly in the abandoned burrows of squirrels, prairie dogs, badgers, and other mammals.  One’s first look at a Burrowing Owl often happens as the owl bobs and bows on a mound of earth next to the burrow entrance or on a nearby fencepost.

Here in the Redwood Region, the Burrowing Owl is a distinctly uncommon sight.  None are known to breed locally.  A very few are reported nearly every year in fall, winter, and early spring.  They are never quite expected, but the cluster of historical records from the Eel River and Humboldt Bay sandspits and similar places suggests that the outer coastal dunes and driftwood are a good place to look.  Occasionally one appears along a dike or levee, or even in undeveloped urban industrial land, as in Eureka several years ago.  Hiding and roosting cover such as logs, pipes, culverts, riprap, or large chunks of wood is important to them. 

Female Burrowing Owls incubate 7-9 white eggs in a burrow for 4 weeks, and the young fledge about four weeks after hatching. Family groups remain together for awhile. Burrowing Owls eat insects, rodents, lizards, and small birds. These owls are partially migratory but are resident in some of their range.

Many North American bird species of grasslands have been diminished in range and number by human activities.  This trend became increasingly apparent in the last century.  Loss of 99% of the original prairie to crops or asphalt has fragmented populations of many grassland birds.  Exotic weeds have had an impact.  Federally subsidized cattle are among the most potent physical forces at work throughout the West, degrading to some extent practically every acre of publicly owned grassland they are allowed access to.  The ruinous impact of cattle can be observed as near at hand as the Mad River Slough Wildlife Area, where Cal Fish and Game continues to play cow politics.  Go take a look at their “habitat enhancement,” but be careful to avoid the barbed wire—an indispensable tool in the management of waterfowl, shorebirds, and raptors.