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Burrowing Owls
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At the mama's burrow
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My first shots of one owlet learning to fly.
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The entire family, mama is on the left, right next to post, papa is on far right.
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Mama Owl
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Papa Owl
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Mama, papa, and oldest baby owl
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These interesting little owls have a seemingly unlikely home: They live underground in burrows. These owls will usually claim a gopher tortoise burrow or prairie dog burrow that has been abandoned, but they can dig their own in about two days. These burrows can be found in large, open fields such as airports, golf courses, and land that has been cleared for development.
The average height of an adult is between 7½ to 9 inches tall and weighs between 3 and 4 oz. They are about the size of a robin. Their wingspan averages 22 inches. They do not have the ear tufts that one would normally expect to see on an owl. They have large yellow eyes and long legs. The males are larger than the females. Their plumage is brown with white spots and bars. Their faces and/or eyes are framed in white, and their beak is a green or yellow-green color.
They feed on insects, lizards, mice, frogs and roadkill. Burrowing owls are diurnal – they hunt for food both in the day as well as at night. Once an owl has captured its prey, he/she tears it up or will swallow it whole, as they are unable to chew. Most of this food is digested except the bones, feathers, fur and shells of insects. The undigested pieces are made into a tight oval ball (a little larger than a pea) and spit up.
Burrowing owls can be found from the southern provinces of Canada southward toward southern California and Texas. Owls from these locations spend their winters in the southern United States. There is a large population in Cape Coral, Florida where there are estimated to be over 1,000 nesting pairs! Cape Coral even holds an annual “Burrowing Owl Festival”!
Nesting season is mid-February through mid-July. The female will lay 8-12 eggs over a 2-3 week period. This means that they hatch their young asynchronously. Males line the tunnel and nest chamber with dried flowers, leaves and even dry feces. This lining helps keep the burrow cool during the day and warm during the night. During nesting, males have been known to decorate the entrance to the females’ nest with brightly colored objects and shiny objects. While owlets are still in their nest, they have been known to mimic a rattlesnake to scare away a predator.
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The Burrowing owl has many predators. Snakes may dig up or enter the burrows; eating the eggs, owlets, or adult female. Hawks, larger owls, domestic cats and dogs are also predators. Burrowing owls perch on nearby posts, signs, or man-made perches for a better vantage point to see possible predators. The mortality rate of a one-year old Burrowing owl is 19%, while the average lifespan of a Burrowing owl is three years. The number one cause of death for these owls is collisions with cars.
Burrowing owls in Florida have been declared a “Species of Special Concern”. They are also protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It is unlawful to harass, disturb or feed a burrowing owl. It is also unlawful to disturb the burrow in which they live.
I discovered that my neighborhood FPL substation had a pair of burrowing owls after seeing an owl on my corner stop sign during several of my night-time runs. Armed with a flashlight, my daughter and I tried to get a good look at the owl and “Google” it. My brother suggested it may be a “ground owl”, and that Google search yielded a picture of an owl that my daughter immediately recognized as our mystery owl. The information we read told us to look for burrows in a wide open area and the FPL substation seemed the perfect locale. It took a few days, but we were right. That was last summer. Since then, we have observed these charming little owls nearly every day. After not seeing one of the owls for nearly two weeks, I began to worry that something had happened to it. On March 1st I pulled in to check on them and just barely caught the sight of two little ones ducking underground. The next day I discovered there were three owlets. And one of them was learning how to fly. Several days later, another baby emerged; bringing the total so far to four owlets.
Burrowing owl links:
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
www.myfwc.com
Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife
www.ccfriendsofwildlife.org
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| There are now five burrows! Four of them are clustered together, and one is off to the north, about 20 feet away.
For the last two weeks, my daily (sometimes twice daily) observations show a variety of the family at a time. The most active time of the day seems to be right around nightfall - 8:00 local time. At this time, I have witnessed the owlets as they practiced hovering and diving for prey. It is quite a sight to watch them hover with Venus in the background! However, the most I have seen at any one time has been five. I am not sure if one has left the family, has befallen some tragedy, or if the mama owl is sitting on eggs again.
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It is unusual for them to produce more than one clutch per year, but it is not unheard of. It is also highly unusual for them to produce 4 owlets to "adulthood".
At this time, it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate the owlets from the adults. They are all the same size as the mama, and the papa continues to be the largest.
It would appear that the family is doing well, even with the drought conditions we are seeing.
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| This afternoon the lawn crew came through just before I came to check on the owls. There is a tire track going across the sand kicked out of one of the original burrows, but no damage to the burrow itself.
Since all the owls were out of their burrows, we took the opportunity to inspect things a little closer. I was specifically looking for signs that the mama owl might be in one of the burrows, sitting on eggs. One of the clues to that would be decorations lining the entrance to the burrow. However, as I approached one of the burrows, the mama poked her head out and flew over to one of the stands about 20 feet away. Guess she's not sitting on eggs
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I did happen to notice that the last "starter hole" I dug is now a bonafide burrow. That brings the total to six now! I dug 2 "starter holes" in a catty corner configuration to the existing two. The other two "starter holes" I dug about 20 feet away. I placed a T-stand at the entrance to the the new "starter holes." This definitely worked to attract them to stay
Pictures to follow soon!
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| Three days after my last blog entry, I went to see my owls and found only three owls. It is not all that unusual at this point to only see a few owls, sometimes the others are in the burrows or off hunting. After a few more days, I only saw the two adults. It has now been two weeks since I last saw any of the babies. I checked the burrows to see if they are being maintained or if there were any signs of predators, and they were fine. I noticed that one of the burrows had semi-fresh remains of a small frog near the entrance. The adults have returned to their behavior of hanging out in the transformer area of the substation and are very rarely seen by their burrows. |
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It would appear that the baby owls have grown up and moved out of the house.
I find myself a little disappointed at this unexpected turn of events. Each owl had its' own burrow and there was clearly plenty of food, so why leave? Perhaps it is simply their nature. Or perhaps they will return at nesting season next year.
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