Burrowing Owls: Sentries in Fields and Prairie Dog Towns

Study the eyes of this Burrowing Owl. So watchful and attentive. © SB

Okay, maybe I do have a true favourite among grasslands birds: The Burrowing Owl.

We saw at least three pairs of Burrowing Owls — two nesting in Grasslands National Park, and one not far from the park on the Prairie Passages Tour of Saskatchewan pastures and grasslands earlier this summer.

I love the way they stand guard over the area around their burrows, whether in the middle of a Black-tailed Prairie Dog town, or on fence posts in the park and along nearby roads.

So small. So serious. And, in Saskatchewan, so endangered.

Once again, the habitat they need is being lost, along with vital companion species, including the gophers and prairie dogs that dig the burrows they use.

(I recently finished Rock Creek, a beautiful memoir based in Southern Saskatchewan. In it, poet Thelma Poirier says: "Burrowing owls. A misnomer. More fittingly they could be called borrowing owls'. They borrow the burrows of ground squirrels." Indeed.)

Close-up of a Burrowing Owl,
standing guard over its nearby burrow. © SB

As an example of their declining numbers, the website for the Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre in Moose Jaw, SK, says that the population trend for Burrowing Owls around Regina, SK, in the last ten years "points straight down." The site continues:

Agricultural crops don't provide the habitat that burrowing owls require, so the owls are restricted to the small fragments of prairie that remain as cattle pastures. In much of southern Saskatchewan, these small cattle pastures are the last remaining refuge for burrowing owls. The horses and cattle are beneficial to the owls, as they keep the grass short by grazing and provide nest-lining material (manure!) for the owls.

So what a treat, to see these owls near Val Marie!

Wider shot:  Burrowing Owls are another Prairie Dog town resident.
The nesting burrow must have been nearby, 
as we saw a pair of owls here. © SB

What are these birds? Burrowing Owls.
Location: In and near Grasslands National Park, Val Marie, Saskatchewan. 

Photo date:  July 25, 2013.

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Burrowing Owls: Grasslands, Pasture and Imprinted

Potter, the Burrowing Owl,
poses in Moose Jaw. © SB

The easiest way to get a photo of a Burrowing Owl in Saskatchewan is to visit the Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre in Moose Jaw.

But, depending on background and timing, the resulting image (as shown at left) may not seem realistic...

For example, I adore Potter — last year's newborn and newly imprinted Burrowing Owl — but the photograph of him standing on a sheet-covered chair, with a bird poster behind, does not look at all like a Burrowing Owl in the wild!

Ditto, my shot of Potter, the Burrowing Owl in a floral arrangement, or this same little Burrowing Owl drifting off to sleep. Or my photograph of Potter sitting in someone's glowing red hair and head-swivelling in flowers. 

But pictures in natural settings are so much more challenging. Burrowing Owls are only about eight or ten inches tall, so they can easily hide in grasses or simply be too far away for a camera to capture. 

They are also most visible when nesting, but that is a critical time when they should not be disturbed. 

Back to photography... As examples of shooting a tame, imprinted Burrowing Owl, zoom in on the details of Potter, above.

And then try the same, with these totally wild Burrowing Owls in their natural prairie settings, first at Grasslands National Park and then on a privately-owned pasture southeast of Regina.

Burrowing Owl beside burrow in Prairie Dog Colony,
Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan  © SB

Family of Burrowing Owls in Saskatchewan pasture,
southeast of Regina. (Two on dock stalk,
one to the left, half-hidden in the grass.)   © SB  

I spent close to an hour chatting with the owner of the pasture, who'd offered to point out the burrow location after I told him I'd seen the owls on nearby fence posts and these stalks of dock. (And yes, he has officially reported this nesting site and is now receiving support — aka, frozen white mice — to feed the Burrowing Owls... I stayed far out by the road for the pictures, but he drives right up to the burrow near the dock to drop off their extra food. They're never visible when he wheels by, but he says the food he leaves for them quickly disappears.)

The owls in  GNP also receive similar dead/frozen/rodent sustenance to help broods of this endangered species survive. (I was surprised by how few nests there were in the park... Perhaps 12? This truly is a precious threatened bird.)


What are these birds? Burrowing Owls

Locations: #1, Potter: Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan; #2, owl in the grass: Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (at second Black-tailed Prairie Dog Colony); #3, three owls with stalks of dock: Pasture, southeast of Regina, Saskatchewan. 

Photo dates: #1, September 4, 2011; #2, June 23, 2012; #3, July 23, 2012. 

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Potter, Burrowing Owl: Rotating Head

What's front or back when your head rotates like this? 

There is something eerie about a creature like Potter, the Burrowing Owl, whose head can rotate 270 degrees, so that he stares at you like this, body aiming forward, face back.

For Potter's full bouquet, see below, Burrowing Owl Floral Arrangement. (Try doing it with your head facing backwards...)

What is this? A somewhat-tame burrowing owl — he's being imprinted to help educate people about the issues his at-risk species faces. 
Location: Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Photo Date: September 4, 2011. 

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Burrowing Owls in the Office

Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre, Moose Jaw, Saskaskatchewan: When you are raising an imprinted Burrowing Owl in your office, where do you let it sit?

Anywhere it wants! You want the bird to accept people and not be afraid, don't you? So it's all good. The owl can land safely on the desk, the chair, the flowers, your hair...

Wait a minute! An owl... on your head... ??? Well, on Lorri's head at least. She works with the Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre, and her hair was Potter's chosen perch for a while this afternoon. (After he got out of the Burrowing Owl floral arrangement, he flew right up.)

It's not unusual for Potter to land on someone's head... The BOIC's Facebook page talks about Potter landing on a little boy's head this weekend. Tears at first ensued, but then they became friends.

Potter, the Burrowing Owl, on Lorri's head, © SB

What is this? A somewhat-tame burrowing owl — he's being imprinted to help educate people about the issues his at-risk species faces. 
Location: Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Photo Date: September 4, 2011. 

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