Burrowing Owls In Butte County

Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) photos by Larry Jordan

Last month I took a trip down to Wildhorse Golf Club in Davis, California, to see how this year’s crop of Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) were doing.  I didn’t have nearly enough time to do a proper survey of the golf course to see how many owls were there but last fall I counted over twenty at this artificial/natural cavity breeding site.  This is a couple of owls at one of the many natural cavities in and around this golf course.

In California, most of these natural burrows taken over by Burrowing Owls are excavated by the California Ground Squirrel.

The Burrowing Owl needs fossorial (digging or burrowing) mammals to excavate its burrows in most parts of the country and the continued extermination of the California Ground Squirrel in this state is one of the reasons for the decline in Burrowing Owl populations.

In other parts of the country, the burrows are dug by badgers, foxes and prairie dogs and the owls are thought to dig their own burrows in Florida.

Two other major reasons for this owl’s decline are intensive agricultural practices and urban sprawl.

Fortunately, we had a successful breeding pair produce eight young this season near Chico in Butte County (click on photos for full sized images).

It was fun watching these youngsters flying from one perch to another, usually a rock or ledge, as they practiced their aerial maneuvers with their siblings.

This family is probably ready to leave for their wintering grounds soon. They have been coming to this location for several years for breeding season but we have no idea where they go during the winter months.

These were the best photographs I could get of this Burrowing Owl family with the digiscope from the road.  They nest on private property, like most breeding pairs, and we have not yet gotten permission to do closer study of this group.

Unfortunately, the owls seen on the artificial site in Chico earlier in the year have not been seen since May. I was really hoping that we had a breeding pair using that site but I don’t know what happened to them. We had seen three owls there at one point in the spring, then nothing.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed for next season.

The owls in Davis on the other hand, are permanent residents and can be seen at Wildhorse Golf Club any time of the year.  If you are travelling near Sacramento, California, I urge you to stop in Davis and give them a look.  You won’t be disappointed.  They are very approachable.

For those of you that didn’t know, I am the Burrowing Owl Habitat Manager for the Burrowing Owl Conservation Network, a project of Earth Island Institute.  “The Burrowing Owl Conservation Network advocates for the protection and restoration of the Western Burrowing Owl and promotes the preservation and careful management of habitat to prevent loss, foster healthy populations, and maintain intact natural communities for an ecologically sound future.”

If you haven’t already, please help us out by clicking here or on the button at the top of the left side panel to join our cause on Facebook.  You might also want to visit the Burrowing Owl Conservation Network and see everything we are doing to help this California Species of Special Concern.  We also have some really cool T-shirts!

This post is this weeks entry for World Bird Wednesday, a fun meme hosted by the very talented Dave Springman who always has a well written story accompanied by excellent photographs.  Check it out!