Burrowing Owl
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{{Taxobox
| color = pink
| name = Burrowing Owl
| status = Conservation status: Endangered
| image = BurrowingOwl23.jpg
| regnum = Animalia
| phylum = Chordata
| classis = Aves
| ordo = Strigiformes
| familia = Strigidae
| genus = Athene
| species = A. cunicularia
| binomial = Athene cunicularia
Formerly Speotyto cunicularia
| binomial_authority = (Molina, 1782)
}}
Image:Burrowing owl.jpg
The Burrowing Owl, Athene cunicularia, is a small, long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America.[1] There are two subspecies in North America: A. c. hypugea of southern Canada, western USA, and Mexico; and A. c. floridana of Florida and some Carribean islands. Other subspecies are recognized in Central and South America.
Burrowing owls can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or any other dry, open area with low vegetation.[2] Unlike most owls, burrowing owls are often active during the day. However, most hunting is done at night.
They are year-round residents in the southern areas of their range. Birds that breed in Canada and northern USA usually migrate south to Mexico and southern USA during winter months.
Adults have brown plumage with white spotting. The belly is white with brown bars. Their eyes and bill are yellow and they have long legs. The females are darker than the males. The average adult is slightly larger than a robin, [3] at 25 cm (10 inches) length, 53 cm (21 inches) wingspan, 170g (6 oz) weight [4]. The young owls look similar to the adults except that they have a buff bar across their wings and their chests are covered in a white to buff down.
The burrowing owl is endangered in Canada, threatened in Mexico, and a species of special concern in most of the western USA. The major reasons for declining populations are control programs for prairie dogs and loss of habitat.
Burrowing owls are able to live for at least 9 years in the wild and over 10 years in captivity. They are often killed by vehicles when crossing roads, and have many natural enemies, including badgers, coyotes, snakes, cats and dogs.
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Calls
The who, who call of a burrowing owl is mainly given by adult males to attract a female to a promising burrow. This call is also associated with breeding and territory defense. These owls also make other sounds, which are described as chuck, chatter and scream. These sounds are usually accompanied by a bobbing of the head up and down. When alarmed, young birds will give a hissing call that sounds like a rattlesnake.
Mating and Nesting
Image:Burrowing Owl.jpg The nesting season begins in late March or April. Burrowing owls are usually monogamous, but occasionally a male will have two mates.[5] Pairs of owls will sometimes nest in loose colonies. Their typical breeding habitat is open grassland or prairie, but they can occasionally adapt to other open areas like airports and golf courses.
The owls nest in an underground burrow, hence the name Burrowing Owl. They use burrows created by other burrowing animals such as prairie dogs or ground squirrels. If burrows are unavailable and the soil is not hard or rocky, the owls may excavate their own. Burrowing owls will also nest in shallow, underground, man-made structures that have easy access to the surface.
The female can lay around 10-12 eggs over a two week period. She will then incubate the eggs for three weeks while the male brings her food. After the eggs hatch both parents will feed the chicks. Four weeks after hatching, the chicks are able to make short flights and begin leaving the nest burrow. The parents will still help feed the chicks for 1 to 3 months. While most of the eggs will hatch, only four to five chicks usually survive to leave the nest.
During the nesting season, burrowing owls will line the burrow with mammal dung, usually from cattle. The dung helps to control the microclimate inside the burrow and to attract insects, which the owls eat.
Site fidelity rates appear to vary among populations. In the northern half of their range, adults rarely return to the same burrow every year. However, in southern locations, the owls may use the same nest several years in a row.
Diet
The highly variable diet includes small mammals, small birds, snakes, lizards, frogs, insects, and scorpions. But the owls mainly eat large insects and small rodents like mice, rats, and ground squirrels. Unlike other owls, they also eat fruits and seeds, especially the fruit of Tesajilla and prickly pear cactus. When hunting they wait on a perch until they spot prey. Then they swoop down on prey or fly up to catch insects in flight. Sometimes they chase prey on foot across the ground.
Burrowing owls in fiction
Carl Hiaasen's young adult novel Hoot (2002) is about a group of schoolkids doing something about the planned construction of a pancake house that would go hand in hand with the destruction of the burrowing owls' habitat in a small town in Florida. Live burrowing owls were featured in the movie Hoot.
There is also a burrowing owl named Digger featured in the Guardians of Ga'hoole series by Kathryn Lasky.
References
- Template:Cite journal
- Haug EA, Milsap BA, Martell MS (1993) Burrowing owl (Speotyto cunicularia). The Birds of North America, No. 61 (Poole A, Gill F editors). The Academy of Natual Sciences, Philadelphia and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
- Moulton CE, Brady RS, Belthoff JR (2005) A comparison of breeding season food habits of burrowing owls nesting in agricultural and nonagricultural habitat in Idaho. Journal of Raptor Research 39: 429-438.
- Klute DS, Ayers LW, Green MT, Howe WH, Jones SL, Shaffer JA, Sheffield SR, Zimmerman TS (2003) A status assessment and cconservation plan for the western burrowing owl in the United States. US Dept of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Biological Technical Pulication FWS/BTP-R6001-2003, Washington, D.C.
- DeSante DF, Ruhlen ED, Rosenberg DK (2004) Density and abundance of burrowing owls in the agricultural matrix of the Imperial Valley, California. Studies in Avian Biology 27: 116-119.
- Lutz RS, Plumpton DL (1999) Philopatry and nest site reuse by burrowing owls: implications for productivity. Journal of Raptor Research 33: 149-153.
External links
- The Burrowing Owl Athene cunicularia - Information, Pictures and Call
- Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia)da:Prærieugle
de:Kaninchenkauz fi:Preeriapöllö fr:Chevêche des terriers lt:Rausiančioji pelėda nl:Konijnuiltje pt:Coruja-buraqueira sv:Prärieuggla