BirdNote on Burrowing Owls

CURWOOD: One of the pleasures we find in BirdNote is learning more about some less-familiar feathered friends, and that's the case this week, with an unexpected underground owl. Here's Michael Stein. http://birdnote.org/show/burrowing-owl BirdNote A burrowing owl spreads its wings to defend its home. (Photo: Jim Belthoff) The Burrowing Owl [SOUNDS OF COW, IRRIGATION IN EASTERN WASHINGTON] STEIN: It is a warm May afternoon. As you take a leisurely drive through open grassland in the West, suddenly, a remarkable sight catches your eyeatop a fencepost on surprisingly long legs, stands a small, brown owl. [BURROWING OWL CHATTERING] Two burrowing owls meet near an artificial burrow. (Photo: Jim Belthoff) STEIN: Youve chanced upon a Burrowing Owl, an owl species most active during the day. [BURROWING OWL COO-COOO VOCALIZATION] STEIN: The ten-inch-tall owl bobs up and down on its legs, swivels its head, and stares back at you with large, lemon-yellow eyes. Fluttering up from its perch, the Burrowing Owl hovers twenty feet above ground, then drops, catching a large beetle in its talons. It flies to an abandoned marmot burrow, where it nests and avoids the heat of midday. Naturalist Hamilton Tyler noted that the Zuni people call the Burrowing Owl, the priest of the prairie dogs, because the owls live on peaceable terms with prairie dogs, rattlesnakes, and horned toads. [BURROWING OWL CHATTERING] CA burrowing owl leaves its nest to hunt for insects and rodents. (Photo: Jim Belthoff) STEIN: The Burrowing Owl is in serious decline in the West, due to intensive agriculture, destruction of ground squirrel colonies and elimination of sage habitats. This charismatic owl, which migrates south for the winter, returns each spring to an ever-more uncertain fate. [BURROWING OWL COO-COOO] STEIN: Im Michael Stein. Burrowing owls nest with large broods, and are comfortable settling about 100 yards from their neighbors. (Photo: Jim Belthoff) [BURROWING OWL COO-COOO] Written by Bob Sundstrom Calls of the Burrowing Owl provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by G.A. Keller. LMS CD 25 T2 & 3 Irrigation ambient recorded by C. Peterson A burrowing owl leaves its nest to hunt for insects and rodents. (Photo: Jim Belthoff) Producer: John Kessler Executive Producer: Chris Peterson 2014 Tune In to Nature.org May 2014 Narrator: Michael Stein http://birdnote.org/show/burrowing-owl CURWOOD: To see some photos of these interesting owls, burrow into our website, LOE.org. [BURROWING OWL COO-COOO]