Binghamton Zoo Animals

Burrowing Owl

(Speotyto Cuniclaria)
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Genus: Speotyto
Species: Cunicularia

HABITAT AND RANGE: Open terrain that is largely free of visual obstructions. Virgin prairies, and unbroken plains make ideal habitat. Airports and cultivated land are occasionally used. Burrows with at least one perch (help improve ability to see predators and detect prey), and open space in which to find food seem-to be preferred.

From islands off the Pacific Coast, east to western Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, central Kansas and Texas, and southeastern Louisiana; north to Washington, southern British Columbia and western Manitoba; south through California and Mexico to Guatemala. They also appear in Panama and the tip of Florida.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Although burrowing owls lack ear tuft and a well-defined facial disk, these pigeon-sized, round-headed birds, with long lightly feathered legs, are definitely owls. The yellow-eyed adults are sandy brown above and white, barred with brown, below. A white throat, white "eyebrows", and brown collar also help to identify this bird. When the wings are folded over the back, the short square or slightly rounded tail is virtually invisible. Young burrowing owls resemble the adults, but have a rusty throat.

ADAPTATIONS: Burrowing owls are not typical owls. They do not hoot. Instead 3 distinctly different calls are used. The mournful, rapidly uttered mating call "coo-coo-roo", heard in spring on the nesting grounds, my have given rise to the nickname "cuckoo owl". A cackling alarm note (cack-cack-cackc-cack) is given as the bird darts into its hole or flies away. A wounded or enraged bird utters a shrill scream and, snapping its mandible (beak) rapidly, produces a good imitation of a rattlesnake buzz. If the intruder (rattlesnake, badger, skunk, opossum, or man) persists, the owl throws itself onto its back and strikes out vigorously with its talons.

Burrowing owls are not strictly nocturnal, appearing to make no distinction between day and night in procuring food. Unlike larger owls, burrowing owls in spite of their high profile lifestyle, are not usually mobbed by other small birds, who my sense that these tiny owls pose little threat.

Hopi Indians identify the burrowing owl with their god of the dead, Masauu. Since the owl lives in the underworld, he can thus be expected to communicate with the dead and Masauu through subterranean tunnels. The Gosiutes of Utah and Nevada believe the burrowing owl was the protective spirit for brave warriors. Owl feathers were always worn by members of the Dog Society (a warrior group). Rattles also had coverings of owl skins. It was believed these would frighten off enemies.

DIET: Burrowing owls use a variety of methods to find prey. Diligently running back and forth on the ground is useful in picking up nocturnal insects, frogs, and other small creatures. Hunting from a perch, and catching prey on the wing are also successful techniques. Prey items include: -insects: grasshoppers, locusts, beetles, crickets, caterpillars, dragonflies, etc. -mammals: mice, rats, ground squirrels, pocket gophers, chipmunks, shrews, young prairie dogs and cottontails, and even bats -lizards, snakes, frogs, toads, salamanders, fishes, scorpions, and rarely, birds.

REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT: Burrowing owls occasionally dig their own burrows, but seem to prefer to nest in the abandoned burrows, of prairie dogs, woodchucks, skunks, foxes, wolves, armadillos or badgers. After construction of a nest cavity (about 6" high and 8" wide, 30" under-round and 5-10 feet from the burrow's entrance), the same burrow my be used year after year.

Just prior to egg-laying (which begins in April), the male carries chunks of dried cow or horse dung to the burrow entrance. The female uses the dung, and a collection of weed stalks, to line the nest cavity. Some dung is left at the burrow entrance. It is believed that the dung helps to control both temperature and humidity within the nest cavity; and the odor my also fool predators, such as a badger returning to an old den site. In a study of 25 dung-lined nests, only 2 (8%) were lost to badgers, while 13.of 24 unlined nests (54%) were lost.

STATUS IN WILD: In 1966, burrowing owls became the first owls to receive a special status. The United States Department of the Interior Red Book listed them as a "rare species". Two years later they lost this "rare" status. In 1973 they were designated "status undetermined". No specific protection was given, but mere reasonable use of rodenticides was encouraged. Apparently indiscriminate use of rodenticides (carbon disulphide) in campaigns against ground squirrels was the primary cause of the burrowing owls decline. Previously all holes were poisoned and sealed, no distinction was made between holes occupied by squirrels and owls. Now that these chemicals are being used mere responsibly, the burrowing owls seem to be holding their own.