Burrowing Owl: Active During the Day

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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Abney Money and I'm Rick Schwartz. Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts. This podcast is a production of I Heart Radio and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in international nonprofit conservation organization which oversees to San Diego Zoo and Safari Parker, and today we're introducing the burrowing owl. This owl is small, active in the daytime, and spends a lot of time on the ground. That's just a few of the things that make it so unique. We will also talk to San Diego Zoo wild Life Alliance Conservation program Manager Colleen Wazinski about San Diego counties declining burrowing out population and what's behind it. Rick. When I think about an owl, I think about its call. I envision like a bird in a nest in trees, and one that's out at night, one that's nocturnal. But the burrowing owl doesn't check all those boxes. What are some of the behaviors unique to the burrowing owl? Oh, yes, ebony. In fact, I'm not sure the burrowing owl checks any of those boxes that you mentioned. When it comes to behaviors unique to the burrowing owl. I think most of us would probably guess, well, the act of burrowing. I mean, after all, these mostly diurnal or daytime dwelling birds, they nest underground in burrows, and burrowing is right there in the name. But interestingly enough, although the term burrowing is part of their common name, they don't really burrow or dig that much. In fact, they tend to take over the abandoned burrows of ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and tortoises. Now they do some of their own digging and burrowing to make the space suitable for their needs, but for the most part, they let the other animals do the majority of the work. And the burrowing owl also has a unique look. It has like a round shape and around head like other owls I've seen, but it's so much smaller. How would you describe how a burrowing owl looks compared to other owl species. Well, here's the thing. I mean, there are over two hundred different species of owls around the world, and they all range in size and shape and coloration. From get this the smallest one. It's so cute. It's called an elf owl and it only weighs in it about one point four ounces to then the largest and this is a big bird. The largest is the black inste fish owl coming in and get this eleven point two pounds. Now, I think as humans, we think was not that big. Owls are much lighter than they look. So to weigh in at eleven point two they're pretty big. But we're talking about the burrowing owl and they come in around five ounces, so just under half a pound, and they're on the smaller side of the scale of all those two different owl species. And to kind of get away from this here for the weight numbers, if everyone listening is having a hard time imagining these these different numbers and weights, think of it this way. The black instant fish owl stands out as tall as the standard fire hydrant, whereas our friend, the burrowing owl is just slightly taller than a standard pop or soda can. But setting aside the burrowing owls smaller size, they do have what we might consider more traditional owl traits. For example, their eyes look rather large compared to the head. They have the brown and tawny colored feathers, a very sharp hooked beak, and sharp talents at the end of their feet. Like other owls do, and just like other owls as well, they are true birds of prey, meaning they hunt other living creatures. And Rick, we we've sort of glided right over one of the owl's most recognizable traits, which for me is is of course it's call. What does a burrowing owl sound like? Glided? Huh? I see you're getting into the puns here with me. I appreciate that. I I can. I can enjoy a good pun here and there I try, I try well. I hope you and everyone else does not expect me to go into my owl calling routine here because it's not a good one. No one needs to hear that. But we can't imagine the traditional hoot hoot or who who of the great horned owls, which is very popular, the one we tend to traditionally think all owls must do. But just to kind of think of that call similar to a great horned owl, but much quieter, almost a muffled sound and a higher pitch for these smaller birds like the burrowing owl, and like all owls, they have a range of different calls meaning different things, So you can hear a lot of other sounds from burrowing owls too, and I have to confess that that who hoo, that great horned owl cahol um, I'm quite fond of. So when you talk about where people might hear those sounds, can you tell us about the burrowing owls like habitats? Oh? Yeah, and everyone might remember we talked about how burrowing owls like to live where they are empty burrows that they can take over. So therefore regions with ground squirrels, prairie dogs, tortoises and other burrowing animals are important to them. So their natural habitat would include grasslands and prairies, scrublands, and even some savannah and desert areas as well. So Rick, what regions in the U s could someone maybe spot a burrowing owl because you described open spaces like prairies which can be hard to come by. Yes, unfortunately, Ebany, you are correct. A lot of the natural habitat that burrowing owls need is also the same habitat that happens to be really good for farming or real estate development as towns and cities grow. And it's not just the physical habitat that can be hard to come by, because burrowing owls rely on other species like the prairie dog to help them create some of their burrows. When those other species decline in population, well, it can mean things are more challenging for the burrowing owls to find appropriate nesting sites. And currently in the US there are populations in Florida, in the Midwest Prairies, and the Southwest, including right here in San Diego County. Wow, I'll have to listen for them now that I'm more aware. So, Rick, how exactly is the disappearing of the prairie dogs specifically affecting burrowing owls. Yeah, I mean it goes back to what we have said in previous episodes about how all species are interconnected. The prairie dog in the burrowing owl have what's known as a symbiotic relationship. Prairie dogs dig tunnels with many different openings, dens, and burrows, and they will move on from those tunnels, abandoning the dens and other things to make new ones for burrowing owls. These are perfect locations to take up residents and make a nest. Prairie dogs and burrowing owls also have to deal with similar predators such as hawks, batters, bobcats, coyotes, and others. So burrowing owls and prairie dogs will give out warning calls when they see predators. So when your new neighbor is just as concerned about the animals that want to eat you as you are, well, that's definitely a benefit. And it's not just prairie dogs, you know. Here in southern California, burrowing owls rely on ground squirrels and desert tortoises too. Without these other animals, there are fewer options for appropriate nesting, if any, really, for the burrowing owls. Wow, that sounds like very very tough conservation circumstances for the burrowing owl So what about the food source? What's the status of their food source? What types of things do burrowing owls eat? Yeah, I'm really glad you asked that, because we're talking about their relationship with prairie dogs and ground squirrels, and I think a lot of people think, you know, jeez, owls eat rodents like that, don't they will. Burrowing owls, of course, like we mentioned, are smaller and they live in close proximity to these prairie dogs, and you know, ground squirrels for a reason. But in general, prairie dogs are just kind of too big and singing. Ground squirrels for the burrowing owl to hunt them. So, yes, burrowing owls are true birds of prey, but their prey is smaller because they're smaller. So in general, brewing owls will eat insects, small reptiles, small amphibians, and even small mammals. The same Eagle Zoo is gearing up for an exciting new experience. I'm talking about the three point to acre Denny Sanford Wildlife Explorer Space Camp. This space is designed to educate, entertain, and inspire the next generation of conservationists, and it will feature a burrowing owl habitat. Rick. What can people expect from this habitat? I am so excited about this. The brewing owls will have this beautiful new habitat in the Wildlife Explorer base camp. And not only is it set up to show our guests their natural environment, but they're sharing the habitat with our prairie dogs. I can't wait for everyone to see this because, you know, as we've been talking about it, it's so important how this relationship works between these two species. Wow. So people can visit the San Diego Zoo and see the prairie dogs and the burrowing owls. Um and at the San Diego Zoo. Wildlife Alliance has also made it easier for people to see burrowing owls in nature. Can you tell us about the burrowing ow cam and what's that all about? Oh? Yes, Ebony, our cams are honestly so amazing, and I'll tell you what. Our live wildlife cams became so popular, especially when we all have to stay home from work in school, will do the pandemic. We found that people from all ages, all over the place, we're going to the San Diego Zoo website and clicking into our cams to see some of their favorite animals. And those live cams are still active today, so people are gonna always go over there. They're always worth checking out and seeing what's going on with our animals on the website. Now. At the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, we do have burrowing owls people can see in their habitat, and like you mentioned, there will be some at the San Diego Zoo's new Wildlife Explorers Base camp. But we also have a quiet area away from everywhere else where we have burrowing owls for our breeding program. We've been able to set up cameras both in the nesting area and outside of the burrows. This allows people to see the owls go about their daily activity. Oh and also this is the best part. You can see the baby chicks once the eggs hatch in the nest. And I can tell you this, The Burrowing Owl cam was very popular in my household last season as we watched and waited for the eight eggs to hatch and witnessed them the chick growing up with their parents. Sounds like a cool experience. Will have to check it out in our house as well. In a moment, we're going to be checking in with the field of team leader of the Burrowing Owl Program that is in charge of placing the research cameras in the burrows and overall study of the ecology and conservation of brewing owls in southern California. But first this now it's time for the San Diego Zoo Minute, an opportunity for you to learn what's new. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance researchers have joined a bi national multi agency partnership to save the endangered peninsular prog horn. Eight prog horn antelope were recently fitted with technologically advanced solar powered GPS enabled radio collars. Their movements will now be plotted against a map and overlaid with landscape data to paint a descriptive picture of the lives of these rare animals. This information could help their lives. And now for a fast fascinating fact. Peninsular prong horn are the world's second fastest land mammal after Cheetah's, able to run at speeds up to sixty miles. Today we're talking about burrowing owls, So let's bring in someone who knows a lot more about them. Colleen Zinski, a conservation program manager with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Hi, Colleen, Hi, have any so, Colleen? Owls are are are known for their calls. How would you describe a burrowing owls call? Well, they have a lot of different calls, but the one that we hear most often is what we call their territorial call, and it's kind of a high pitched cooing, sounds like they kind of go cuckoo, cuckoo. It's really cute some times when they're really mad. They also have a call that we call their alarm call, which I cannot imitate, but it's a really high pitched shrill screaming sound, but I can't. I cannot. I'm not even gonna try to do that for you. And I understand that burrowing owls are found right here in San Diego County. So I was asking about the call because I'm curious if possibly I may have heard a burrowing out and just didn't realize that. Would you think that most people here in the area may have heard that sound before. It's unlikely because they aren't found in very many places in the county right now, unfortunately. Yeah, they do sound a little bit like a morning dove, so you could potentially mistake a morning dove for a browing owl. But they really are at this point restricted to very small patches of habitat, mostly in Otai mesa Um. But we've been working on expanding that population so they can also be found now in the Hombule area and in the Ramona area. So, yes, tell us a more about the ongoing conservation program. Yeah, so I'll back up a second. Here in San Diego County, we have a population of growing owls that breeds here in the county, and then we also have owls that just come for the winter, so they might breed in Canada. Or up in Washington or Oregon, and then they come down here to spend the winter where it's obviously warmer and there's not snow and there's more food to be found. So right now during this time of the year, we have both owls that live here year round and owls that are just here in the winter. So they may be in more areas around the county during the winter than they are for breeding, but we really focus a lot on the breeding population here because they do live here year round. And so we've been working for about the last ten years with a number of different government agencies like the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the City of San Diego, the County of San Diego, and other nonprofits and um NGOs that work on habitat manage in land management. And so since we've been trying to better understand the population of owls in the county, looking at things like their survival rates, their reproductive rates, and just trying to have a better understanding of how they're actually doing in the county and things that we can do to improve that situation. And so over the last about five years, we've actually been moving owls around, both when they need to be removed from a situation where development is going to happen and from our conservation breeding program to help augment the population that's already here. So we're basically trying to boost the numbers in areas that maybe historically had owls or areas that are suitable for owls. And what's that process? What are the phases of the project? I guess I would say that we have too tactics that we're using. There's the monitoring the population that that was already in Otai Mesa, so understand how they've been doing. And that process looks like every spring, we go and look for nesting owls and we focus on areas that we know have had nesting owls before, so we look for the owls that are nesting. We place remote cameras at the borough entrances so we can keep track of the number of chicks that are hatched. We also put colored and numbered leg bands on the owls so they all have a unique identifier that we can read either on the camera or with binoculars or a spotting scope. And because we can uniquely identify them, we know we can measure things like their survival and their reproductive output, so we can understand a lot better how you know, how long any individual owl is living, what those survival rates look like, to understand if the population can grow or not. And so that's kind of the focus during the breeding season, which runs from about February through August. And then in parallel to that, we so have our translocation program where we are moving owls that may be in the way of development, or we're moving owls from the conservation breeding program, and in that situation, we're generally putting owls into sites that didn't already have owls but are protected areas that have good habitat for owls. So we're really trying to expand the population so that we I guess, I gotta get the pun in there, so we don't have all of our eggs in one basket with the OZEIMSA population. So yeah, we're trying to make sure we have enough owls in the county. So Colleen, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has partnered with a number of other organizations to help protect burrowing owls. Can you talk to us about that. Yeah, we work in collaboration with a number of different government agencies like the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fishing Wildlife, the City of San Diego, the County of San Diego, and we also work with other non governmental organizations like the San Diego Habitat Conservancy, who owns and manages land throughout the county. On some of those areas, they're managing habitats specifically for browing owls. So all of the work that we do with browing owls other than at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park are on lands that are owned or managed by other entities, and so having those partnerships to help manage the habitat and to actually build capacity as far as being able to monitor the owls and teaching and learning from them about different techniques for habitat management and protections for for different animals is really important. So it's a multi team effort to protect these. Yeah, We've got a great team here at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and we work with a lot of other teams. So it takes a team, and it takes many teams. So tell us about the process of reintroducing an owl um to an area or introducing an owl to some of these new locations. Yeah, Other than that soft release technique, one thing that we've tried to do to improve the process is to make the owls think that they're moving into an area that already has owls. Because they are a semi colonial species, they are social, they like to be around other owls, and so we use fake poop. We square white paint around the burrow entrances to make it look like there have been owls there. Because they tend to use the same burrows over and over again, and over time, there's a lot of poop that builds up at the entrances. And we also use audio recordings of their calls to mimic other owls being in the area, and so the owls that had those cues present both the fake whitewash and the vocalizations where twenty times more likely to stay at the site for thirty days, which is generally the window of time that we want to make sure that they're there. If they stay longer than if they stay for thirty days, usually they'll contin new to stay. We also use supplemental feeding, so we continue to feed the birds after the aviaries have been removed. This allows them to get essentially an even softer release because it gives them this very long runway to get used to the site and to learn their new territory and where the hunting spots are, where the different prayer might be. We give them this very incremental process to become wild again. And in addition to that thirty day threshold. Are there any other things that you're monitoring to monitor the success of these reintroductions. Yeah. We use cameras at the Barreau entrances to see who's still there, if there, if anything has changed. Um, sometimes they like to switch partners on us and UM. We also keep track of if they're breeding, if they have chicks, how many chicks they have, and that allows us to look at how many of the birds are staying on site, and we generally are hoping that at least fifty of the birds will stay on site and that at least fifty of those birds will breed. Those are usually the two benchmarks that we're trying to aim for, and so far we've been pretty successful with meeting those punchmarks. Using these improved techniques to help soften the release even more than it would have been with just that aviary. So when you say, stay on the site, where would they go? Well, it kind of depends on the situation. If they're owls that we have moved because they were threatened by a development situation, they may try to go back to the place that we moved them from. So, you know, most a lot of animals have really good capabilities to find their way and they really want to get back home. So we actually found that for those birds, moving them farther helped to not have them do that kind of thing, because when they try to find their way back home, then they often experience more threats from predation or just things are not familiar with, like maybe traffic or you know, other things that could harm from them. So what are burrowing Out's biggest threats in nature? The biggest start that burrowing Out's faced, like many other species, is habitat loss. They rely very heavily on grasslands. They like open habitat with low vegetation and and that's so they can be vigilant and see predators coming and there somewhere between. And of grasslands have been lost in California, so they have already faced a huge, huge loss of habitat. And then the other big piece of it is that within those grassland habitats, they need burrows for nesting, and here in the Western US, they generally don't dig their own burrows, so they're relying really heavily on other animals like California ground squirrels or prairie dogs or badgers or desert tortoises to dig burrows for them. And if the habitat is gone and those their animals are gone as well, it's kind of a double whammy that they're facing in terms of losing habitat and losing resources within the habitat that they really need for nesting and survival. In speaking of nesting, these burrowing owls, they spend so much time on the ground and underground. Um as a result, do they have any other unique interesting behaviors compared to other species of owls. One thing that's really notable about them is that they have really long legs. You know, for how tall they are or short they are as the case, maybe their legs are very long. If I had to estimate it, say, their legs make up about a third of their height. So that really allows them to be able to stand on the ground and still get a vantage point, and it allows them to run on the ground, which is pretty funny to watch, but they will often run after prey items like small bugs and things like that. They have some other interesting adaptations, like because they nest in burrows in the ground, the females spend about six weeks in you know, complete darkness in relatively cool conditions. I mean it's about probably high seventy degrees constantly inside the burrow, and so they're sitting in a dark hole that's not as warm as their own body heat for quite a while. Um they do come out every day because the mail will bring them food and they stretch their wings a little bit, like once or twice a day, but they spend a lot of time inside the burrow. It's about six weeks from the time they lay their first eggs till the time that the eggs are hatched and the chicks are old enough to keep themselves warm. They also, because they're in burrows under the ground, have some adaptations for dealing with hypoxic conditions or conditions that have very low oxygen, and so they have a larger heart than would be expected for their body size, and they also will elevate their heart rate when they're exposed to hypoxic um conditions, so the heart rate actually goes up. Their heart beats faster when there's less oxygen to make up for the fact that there's less oxygen in the air. So those are some kind of cool adaptations that they have. So, Colleen, so much work is going into creating a sustainable population. Um, can can we explain the significance of a burrowing owl and its role in the ecosystem. Yeah, they're a normal part of our natural heritage here in the Southwest and throughout western North America, and they are one of the pieces in the food web that is controlling populations of what some of us would consider pests. They're a generalists in terms of their diets, so they basically eat anything that they can catch, so they're eating small mammals, they're eating insects, they may eat some reptiles, and so they have a role in the food web just as far as being controlling these populations of other animals that like any predator would have. They also because they're right in the middle of the food web, there are also a pray species for other animals as well. So, Colleen, what has been the most rewarding part of the program for you. Oh, that's a hard question to answer because there are so many things that are rewarding about it. I always wanted to work with animals. I always, for as long as I can remember, I wanted to work in conservation and be you know, quote unquote part of the solution. I love that I get to work on a really great team because this is it's not just me doing this. We have an amazing team that works really well together, that everybody is really passionate about what we do and loves this little species of owl. And we get to work with a lot of partners too, And so that's also been really rewarding, is working with all these different groups to try to get to the same goal of conserving this unique species that we all really love and that you know, deserves to to continue to survive in the ecosystem. So, I don't know, it hits on all levels. And I you know, there's nothing better than banding a baby burrowing owl. I mean there's They're just cute and it never gets old to get to work directly with that. He's really charismatic, amazing little owls. And it's exciting to know that our listeners can also help with these owls as well and help with efforts to save the burrowing owls. Um, can you please tell us about the wild Watch Burrowing out. Yeah. Wild Watch Browing Owl is a project that's on this Universe platform, which is a community science platform where anybody from around the world can log on through their browser and can help us identify what's happening in those remote camera photos that we gather. So we get millions of photos every year from all of the different nests that we are monitoring, and it takes a lot of work to go through all those photos to see if there is anything of importance in them, and so on. Wild Watch Browing Owl volunteers can help us identify if there are prey items in a photo, if there are birds that are banded in a photo and what their band the ideas are, if there are predators in a photo, if there are any visitors to the burrows like rabbits or squirrels. So I feel like it's a great way for people to kind of get this secret, behind the scenes view of what life is like for a burrowing owl. Always feel a little bit like a voyeur, but it's really fun to get this kind of secret glimpse into their lives. So, Colleen, can you tell us about some of the more interesting things that you may have spotted on the cameras. Yeah, we see some really interesting behaviors. One thing that really surprised us was in some years, when there seems to be plenty of food, some of the owls will actually adopt their neighbor kids. The like the neighbor kid will will come over and end up staying at the neighbor's burrow, and the parents will feed it like it's one of their own, even though it's sometimes twice as big as their own chicks. It's pretty cute that they do seem to live in these like subdivisions, suburbs that you know, like you know, I imagine that they're kind of like the you know, like kids are riding their bikes around and go have dinner at the neighbor's house. Like it's kind of like that, Like they live in this community and look out for each other. And it's pretty fun to see that. And it's just interesting to see all the stuff that's happening out in nature when nobody's looking, you know, like when we're all in bed sleeping, there are rabbits coming by to check it out. There mice that flipped through the field of camera when the owls are sitting right there, and you're thinking, you're a little crazy little mouse because there's something I can eat you right there. But there's just all this stuff happening when none of us are paying attention, and it's kind of magical to get to witness that. And people can see for themselves by going to the wild Watch Burrowing Owl program and logging in. Yeah, it sounds like a lot of fun. And thank you so much, Colleen. Colleen Wazinski, conservation program manager with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Thank you, Thanks, Ebony, Thanks for lisz sening. We hope you learned a lot about the burrowing owl and be sure to subscribe and tune into next week's episode when we share the story of a beautiful pollinator that likes to flutter by. I'm Ebony Money and I'm Rich Schwartz. Thanks for listening. If you would like to find out more about San Diego Zoo Wildlack Alliance, please visit sdz w a dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of I Heart Radio. Our producer is Nikia Swinton. And Our executive producer is Marci de Peina. Our sound engineer and editor is Amina Gnatra. 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