Burrowing owls are small. They are about eight inches tall and weigh about 4-6 ounces. They have short tails and long, thin bare legs. They look like short, fat owls on stilts. They have white eyebrows, yellow eyes, and no ear tufts. The adults are a sandy brown color and have spotted white markings on their beige bellies.

    Burrowing owls live in  dry prairies with short grass. They live in burrows, not in trees. If the soil is soft enough, they will dig their own burrows. However, most live in the abandoned burrows which were dug by burrowing animals, such as badgers, gophers or foxes. The owls just change them a little to suit themselves. They will also live in man made nesting boxes that are placed underground. Some burrowing owls spend their summers in Canada, especially Alberta. They spend the winters in the southwestern United States or Mexico. Burrowing owls are also found in the Panhandle and western counties of Oklahoma, in California, Texas, and other western states. A different subspecies is found in Florida.

    Burrowing owls are active during the day. They eat mainly insects, small rodents, toads, lizards, small birds, and dead animals. Sometimes they will eat seeds and fruit, especially the fruit of the prickly pear cactus. They eat different things in different seasons, depending what's available in their local habitat.

     Nesting season begins in April or March. When the male owls are courting the females they flash their white markings, and coo, bow, scratch, and nip at the female.The male is the one that gets the burrow ready. He lines it with dried plants, feathers, and cow or horse dung. He uses the feces of other animals to line their homes to hide their own scent. Then the female  lays 3-6 eggs in the burrow, although sometimes as many as 11. She stays underground to incubate them for about four weeks. The male takes care of the babies after they are born. The young birds begin to hunt for themselves after seven to eight weeks. Sometimes the breeding pairs live together in colonies.

    The life span of a burrowing owl is usally at least 9 years in the wild and 10 years in captivity. They sometimes are run over by cars while crossing the street. They also have lots of natural enemies like larger owls, hawks, falcons, badgers, skunks, snakes, ferrets and domestic cats and dogs.When they are threatened by enemies they either fly away or they go back to their burrows.

    Burrowing owls are presently on the endangered species list. In the late 1970s there were about 2,100 breeding pairs left in Canada. By 1987, the population had dropped by half, with 700 pairs remaining in Alberta, Canada. Their numbers declined because of lost of prairie habitat. Burrowing owls need open areas with low ground cover and existing burrows. Because of development and the extermination of some of the burrowing animals, there is not as much of this kind of land available. There is a Burrowing Owl restoration program in Alberta. Through Operation Burrowing Owl, farmers have agreed not to cultivate more than 50,000 acres of grassland in known owl habitats. By doing this they hope to  increase the amount of food available for owl pairs and the number of young they produce.In the four western provinces in Canada, it is illegal to kill or disturb burrowing owls or their nests. The goal of this program is to increase the burrowing owl population to 1,000 breeding pairs.
 
 

    To see more pictures of burrowing owls and listen to how they sound visit:
http://www.owlpages.com/species/athene/cunicularia/Default.htm

For additional information:
http://www.raysweb.net/specialplaces/pages/owl.html
http://arnica.csustan.edu/esrpp/burowl.htm
http://thewildones.org/Animals/burroOwl.html
http://www.csubak.edu/FACT/Burowl.html