Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia)

Burrowing owls are found in a wide range of prairie habitats, in both Central and South America, and in North America in southwest Canada, the western US, and even in Florida. In many areas of their range, they share urban housing tracts with human neighbors. Burrowing owls some- times find the grassy strips along airport runways to their liking, and occasionally even golf courses. A burrowing owl nest discovered on a Texas golf course contained not only a successful brood of owlets, but 27 golf balls the females had hoarded in her lair!

Burrowing owls stand about 10 inches tall, and with their long legs, are more anatomically designed for walking than flying. Their flight is undulating, and they drop into the grass from low altitudes to catch small rodents, reptiles, and insects. Although active at all times of the day, most of their hunting is done at night. Burrowing owls are unlike other owls in several respects. Social colonies made up of four or five owl families inhabit underground dens. In the American West, where burrowing owls often take over ground squirrel and prairie dog tunnels, the birds repel predators with an alarm signal that sounds like a rattlesnake. Since snakes often rest in shady burrow entrances, most predators are reluctant to call the owl's bluff. To trick coyotes and badgers, which could smell a nest and dig out eggs or young birds, burrowing owls collect cow and bison dung. They line the entrance hole with the dung to create a scent screen. During the day, owls use prairie dog mounds as sentinel posts to see if danger is approaching.

Burrowing owls are bold enough to tolerate humans watching them from as close as ten feet, and their bobbing and weaving antics are humorous to watch. Owls are highly regarded in the folk-lore of numerous cultures. The Zuni Indians considered the burrowing owl a special benefactor, known as the "priest of prairie dogs." Hopi Indians trusted burrowing owls, since they nest underground, as keepers of the dead, and felt they had the power to keep fires burning and to germinate seeds. Burrowing owls are vanishing from their range in the western US--a direct result of conversion of grasslands to agriculture. This process displaces prairie dogs and thus destroys homes and hunting areas suitable for the owls.