Burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia)🦉are found throughout the Americas wherever vegetation is low, and soil permits burrows.
They're prevalent in the mountain states of Colorado, Texas and New Mexico, especially in areas where prairie dogs create convenient burrows.
(Pic: Mac Stone)
They stay in the borrowed burrows in the heat of the day, and hunt insects, lizards & small mammals at dusk and dawn with keen eyesight. They have long legs for ground pursuits, but are also agile flyers.
Groups are usually family units: a male & female parent and any young.
One member of the troop usually stands watch for predators: typically coyotes, hawks, domestic pets like dogs or cats.
(Pic: Judi Dressler)
Some burrowing owls will retreat into burrows and imitate the sounds of an angry rattlesnake: rattle and hissing.
This is a behavioral adaptation called "Batesian Mimicry".
Human encroachment poses a threat to some populations, as do programs to rehome or eliminate prairie dogs that produce the tunnels that burrowing owls call home.
