Burrowing Owl

About the burrowing owl

The burrowing owl is a small, long-legged owl found across open landscapes of North and South America. Unlike most owls, it lives mostly on the ground rather than in trees, nesting and roosting in burrows that it usually does not dig itself. Instead, it repurposes tunnels abandoned by other animals, including American badgers, foxes, ground squirrels, and prairie dogs.

The species was formally described in 1782 by the Spanish naturalist Juan Ignacio Molina from a specimen collected in Chile, and it is now classified in the genus Athene, home to the little owls. Eighteen subspecies have been described, two of which are now extinct, with most found in or near the Andes and the Caribbean. Adults have bright eyes, a beak that can be dark yellow or gray, no ear tufts, and a flattened facial disc. A prominent white "chin" patch and white eyebrows become especially noticeable when the bird bobs its head in agitation. Adults have brown heads and wings marked with white spotting, and their undersides are white with variable brown spotting or barring. The bird measures 19 to 28 cm (7 to 11 in) long, spans 50.8 to 61 cm (20 to 24 in) across the wings, and weighs 140 to 240 g (5 to 8 oz) — roughly the size of an American robin. Males tend to appear lighter in color than females because they spend more time outside the burrow in daylight and their feathers become sun-bleached.

Having evolved for open grassland and prairie rather than dense forest, the burrowing owl has longer legs than most other owls, an adaptation that lets it sprint after prey and provides extra momentum when taking flight, though it typically only becomes airborne in short bursts and rarely flies very high.

Behavior and diet

Unusually for an owl, the burrowing owl is often active during the day, though it tends to avoid the hottest part of midday. Like many other owls, it is mostly a crepuscular hunter, relying on sharp night vision and hearing to hunt most effectively around sunrise and sunset. When hunting, it waits on a perch to spot prey, then swoops down, flies up to snatch insects in flight, or simply chases prey on foot across open ground.

Its diet is highly variable: roughly one third invertebrates and two thirds small vertebrates overall, dominated by large insects and small rodents. It also eats bats, and in some regions its prey is heavy on birds, reptiles, and amphibians as well. Among invertebrates it shows some preference, favoring termites and various crickets, katydids, and grasshoppers, along with select beetles, scorpions, spiders, and millipedes depending on the region. Unlike most owls, it also eats fruits and seeds, especially the fruit of prickly pear and cholla cacti; on Clarion Island, where mammal prey is scarce, it feeds largely on crickets and prickly pear fruit.

Burrowing owls usually take one mate, though a male will occasionally have two, and pairs sometimes nest in loose colonies within open grassland or prairie, and occasionally in altered spaces like airports and golf courses. During nesting season the birds line their burrow with a variety of materials, most commonly cattle dung, which researchers believe helps regulate the burrow's microclimate and attracts insects the owls can eat. A female lays a clutch of four to 12 eggs, usually nine, one every one or two days, then incubates them for three to four weeks while the male brings food. Chicks can make short flights about four weeks after hatching and begin leaving the burrow, though parents continue feeding them for one to three more months.

When threatened in the burrow, a burrowing owl produces rattling and hissing sounds that closely resemble a rattlesnake, a defensive mimicry that appears effective against predators already wary of rattlesnakes.

Range and habitat

Before European colonization, burrowing owls likely occupied every suitable open area of the New World; their range in North America has since contracted in places, while in parts of South America deforestation has allowed them to expand. Western burrowing owls are most common around the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge and across much of the western United States, with known resident populations in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and California. The species ranges from the southern Canadian provinces through Mexico to western Panama, and it is also found across Florida and on some Caribbean islands. In South America it is widespread on nearly every part of the continent outside the dense Amazon interior and the highest Andes, favoring cooler, sub-tropical coastal and temperate zones, with populations rebounding south of the Amazon down to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Birds that breed in Canada and the northern United States typically migrate south to Mexico and the southern U.S. for winter, while most populations elsewhere are year-round residents.

Conservation status

The burrowing owl is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, reflecting its broad and, in places, expanding range, but its status varies sharply by country and region. It is endangered in Canada, threatened in Mexico, a state-threatened species in Colorado and Florida, and a California species of special concern. The species is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and it is listed under CITES Appendix II. NatureServe classifies it as Apparently Secure. In March 2024, several conservation organizations petitioned for the species to be listed under the California Endangered Species Act.