Burrowing Owls
Aug. 12: Engaging birds that look at you as intently as you look at them
Last weekend the Tucson Audubon Society held its annual Southeast Arizona Birding Festival. I helped lead a field trip to see Burrowing Owls northwest of Tucson in agricultural areas. Several days prior to the trip, I visited the sites, "scouting" to confirm that the owls were present. Below is some of what I saw. I first traveled to land owned by the City of Tucson. It had been farmland which was purchased by the City to prevent further draining of our precious groundwater. With the farm land sitting unused, the City came to an agreement with Wild at Heart, a Wildlife Rescue group in Phoenix. One of their programs rescues Burrowing Owls from land that is scheduled to become urbanized. Wild at Heart has various sites throughout the state where they place these owls and one of the sites is northwest of Tucson.
Several years ago, Wild at Heart dug artificial burrows throughout this area. Every year or so they introduce perhaps two dozen owls. You can see the opening to one of the burrows. The small crosses list the "address" of the burrow and give the owls a perch from which they can hunt or just survey their territory.
I then drove a mile or so away to another location where a family of Burrowing Owls has resided for years. One of the adults was out and on a power line, just sitting.
Burrowing Owls are about 8-9 inches tall and stand out in the open often during the day. Usually, they are near the entrance to their burrow. They will use burrows dug out by ground squirrels or other animals, but they can renovate or create burrows on their own over time. This Owl is wearing tags, letting us know this was one of the rehabbed Owls that Wild at Heart released sometime in the past.Tucson Audubon introduces you to Burrowing Owls: https://tucsonaudubon.org/bird_profile/burrowing-owl/
A juvenile Burrowing Owl flew off and landed on vegetation at the edge of the nearby cornfield. It took a while before it found its balance.
It then turned around and again, off balance, took a while to settle down.
This is a young Burrowing Owl. Its white belly lets us know this. As an adult, it will have a spotted belly.
The white eyebrows are a distinctive feature of Burrowing Owls. Its big yellow eyes are captivating. The bills of Burrowing Owls, like those of other owls, are located below their eyes so as to not interfere with the owl's vision when it is hunting.
To read more about Burrowing Owls, Audubon Southwest has several links to enjoy:
https://southwest.audubon.org/our-work/working-lands/burrowing-owl-conservation
The Desert Museum compares the lives of Burrowing Owls to those of other common owls of our area: https://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_owls.php