Widget's Tidbits(2): On Burrowing Owls

Widget here again! It's been a while since I wrote my introduction and I thought it was time to check in with you again. Today I've got some nifty information for you about some of my friends.   These friends are bigger than me, though not quite as big as some of my other friends, but size doesn't matter. I love these guys and they're pretty awesome birds if you ask me.   So what are these friends of mine? They're Burrowing Owls. Most of us live up in the treetops, but these guys live in the ground. They are born and raised underground and live their entire lives out of little burrows. They typically build their homes in dens that have been vacated by other animals or existing spaces in the earth, including cracks under sidewalks or canal berms.   The burrowing owls aren't that much bigger than me. I stand a little over 4 inches tall, and burrowing owls only get to be about 11 inches tall. So maybe they're actually a lot bigger than me, but it's a manageable difference.   Burrowing Owls were featured in the 2006 film Hoot. The movie is about a boy who moves with his family and discovers a population of burrowing owls. He then makes it his mission to protect the threatened owls and keep them safe in their habitat. You should check it out! If you get a chance take a look at the Special Features, you'll see the artificial habitats created by Wild At Heart and a few of the owls. We're famous!  

  I've been making a number of new friends here at Wild At Heart, in the last few days. You see, a few hours away from Wild At Heart is a town called Yuma. Right now there's a lot of construction going on in Yuma and it's putting my friends in danger. How? Their homes are smack dab in the middle of where the human giants want to expand their hospital. There's no arguing with the human giants so my friends have to move.  

  Bob (one of the big people who runs my home) has been spending a lot of time down in Yuma helping to relocate my Burrowing Owl friends. Bob brought back 22 new friends from Yuma who will be staying the winter with us here at Wild At Heart. It takes a minimum of 60 days for my friends to break their bond with the old home.  Winter will be just around the corner by that time and all of our friends out in the wild will be migrating to Mexico. Most of my new friends are too young to make that journey right now.  They will get to stay and hang out here at Wild At Heart until spring. When spring and our wild friends return to Arizona, they will be released into the artificial habitats that have been built around the state (over 6000 burrows so far - Yippee!).   

  This isn't the first time Bob has been asked to help out with this species of owls. Earlier this year there was a pair of burrowing owls found on the site of the new performing arts center at Estrella Mountain Community College, and he was contacted to help relocate them. The college didn't want to lose their owls so they built new habitats for them right on the college campus. It was such a big deal, and Bob was so awesome, that they even wrote an article about the experience! You can read the article here.  

  I think it's pretty cool that Bob is willing to help (and didn't let our few minutes of fame go to his head) even when it means he has to drive long distances. It says a lot about how much his work at Wild At Heart means to him. And I can tell you from personal experience that his dedication really means a lot to those of us who call this place our home.   Anyways, back to the burrowing owls. Bob is continuing to help down in Yuma, bringing back new friends and making sure that all of the owls are relocated before the construction begins. He won't rest until he is certain they are all safe! This year we had a family of baby burrowing owls come in. They were orphaned, after their mom got hit by a car, and brought to Wild At Heart to have a chance at life.  

 

Wild At Heart is looking forward to the successful relocation and release of these burrowing owls into artificial habitats that have been constructed specifically for these small, special birds. They have had success in the past, especially with an owl named Lorcan. Lorcan came to Wild At Heart from South Dakota. He wasn't in good shape when he was found, but the people at Wild At Heart were able to get him back on track and looking good as new! After being transported to Wild At Heart last November, Lorcan spent four months here before he was released into his new home.

 

 

If you'd like to read more about Lorcan, you can check out his Photo Album on Facebook.

Also, if you'd like to learn more about the relocation of the burrowing owls in Yuma, you can read this article from the Yuma Sun.

For more information about the burrowing owls project at Wild At Heart, click here.

 

Thanks for stopping in to read about my friends here! Check back soon for more of Widget's Tidbits, where everything is coming to you straight from the beak!