Original range | Current range | Estimated population | Threats to survival | Species recovery | Partners and links

Description: The burrowing owl, distinguished by its very long legs and short tail, is one of the smallest owl species. It gets its name from nesting in burrows dug by animals such as ground squirrels, badgers and prairie dogs. Burrowing owls are also known as "Howdy Owls" because of their habit of bobbing up and down in a bowing motion, a behaviour that likely allows them to determine distance from multiple viewpoints. Young owls in the nest make a rattling sound similar to rattlesnakes to ward off predators.

Burrowing owls in the northern part of their range migrate south for the winter. They are nocturnal (active at night), although unlike other owls, they are somewhat active during the day.

Burrowing owls feed on rodents, large insects (such as crickets, beetles and grasshoppers), and small reptiles and amphibians. They breed in spring, laying 6-12 eggs. About 50% of hatchlings survive, taking 40-45 days to fledge.

Original range: Prairie grasslands of central and southwestern Canada, central and southern United States and Mexico, and South America.

Current range: In Canada, the burrowing owl has virtually disappeared from Manitoba and British Columbia. In the remainder of the owl's original range, they exist in greatly diminished numbers in isolated fragments.

Estimated population: Fewer than 1,000 pairs in Canada. Population numbers in the United States are not known.

Threats to survival: Habitat is lost and fragmentated: as shortgrass prairie are increasingly converted to growing crops. In addition, efforts by farmers to reduce ground squirrels, prairie dogs and insects diminish available burrow nest sites, roosting sites and food sources, especially during migration. Predators: nest predation by badgers, foxes, skunks, weasels and snakes, adult predation by coyotes and raptors. Insecticides are another threat: owls ingest carbofuran when they feed on insects.

Species recovery: WPC first began working with burrowing owl recovery in Saskatchewan in 1997. Today we are participating in a burrowing owl reintroduction program in British Columbia’s Nicola Valley, where the returning wild population numbered only a handful of owls in 2005. After implementing an improved technique for releasing captive-bred owls, which we first developed in Saskatchewan, 20% more owls remained at the release site, 14% more survived the breeding season, and 20% more young were produced. The following year saw the largest jump in the number of burrowing owls returning from migration ever recorded in B.C.

In the spring of 2010, 23 burrowing owls returned to B.C. from migration, the largest number observed since the recovery program began. Highlights of the 2011 program will include: