So I teamed up with Defenders of Wildlife and The Burrowing Owl Conservation Network and a bunch of awesome volunteers to install 8 artificial burrows for the little guys. With the help of a Bobcat/backhoe and some seriously hardcore volunteers we got all 8 boxes installed in approx. 3 hours. I think that is a record. The project was located at our Swainsons Grassland Preserve which is home to endangered fairy shrimp, Swainson's Hawk and of course, western burrowing owls. I thought some of you might enjoy our little project. Here are a bunch of pictures and a video about the plight of burrowing owl populations.
Nice project. Here is cousin Aruba "choco" burrowing owl. Pic of mine few months back. Similar plight, maybe they need similar assist from your group.
That's probably a good sign - it means they're still wild. Some of the critters around here are getting a little too bold, thinking I'm nice and won't hurt them. Zuli very nearly got a squirrel a couple of days ago, and I haven't seen one since. Dog 1, varmints 0. Awesome efforts with the owls, my friend. :thumb:
Damn squirrels! lol I felt bad because I saw one running around in circles in the middle of a 2 lane highway and well, he zigged when he should have zagged.
Don't feel bad - they're just rats with fluffy tails. And maybe natural selection by automobile isn't quite the right term, but it's the same idea.
Thankfully they are usually tree squirrels and not ground squirrels. I need them to dig the holes needed by the burrowing owls.
I am in Virginia. But the photo is a Aruba vacation snap shot. I could not get too close either, this is probably 30x zoom. He/she was very cautious.
My experience is also that burrowing owls defend territory very aggressively, considering their size. Punching above their weight as the boxers would say.
I volunteer at the Ohio Wildlife Center hospital and I get to see huge owls up close. They give me bad looks sometimes.
Thanks! I wasn't familiar with artificial nesting boxes for these critters. What purpose does the white plastic bucket serve on the top of each barrel/box? Human access? Some decades ago, I discovered an active burrowing owl nesting site right in front of the old Tenco Tractor Co.(now Holt of California) on Pacific Avenue near Pleasant Grove, CA. We were surprised that these birds would settle in adjacent to an extremely noisy and busy Caterpillar sales and repair facility. Amazingly, they had taken over a ground squirrel tunnel system not six feet from the road's asphalt. With a big rice dryer directly across the street, I'm sure these fascinating little owls had an excellent foraging source for rodents. Locations - Sacramento CA Caterpillar Dealership
They can indeed cast some dirty looks. lol The white bucket is actually two buckets. One bucket has the bottom removed and is glued into the blue barrel (55ga drum cut in half which was donated by Tree Top apple juice company). The second white bucket is filled with dirt and plant inside the first white bucket. This seals the hole but allows for easy human access to check for young and any banding that needs to be done. Thanks for the link. These guys are high adaptable and will live in the oddest places. In the video link in the first post there are nesting owls living on a very busy offramp in the Bay Area. It's a testament to our over-development that such an adaptable creature can still be in severe decline.
20 some years ago I worked at a company in San Jose that had a 1/3 mile banked oval paved track that we ran military vehicles on, up to 30 ton tracked vehicles at over 40 mph. There were burrowing owls in the berms along the track. There was not only noise and a lot of activity, there was vibration in the ground that even a lowly human could feel.
