Ooh, Baby!

A Successful Year for Our Burrowing Owls!

Photo by Andy Fikus

​Red Rock Audubon and friends of burrowing owls recently celebrated together the end of a successful year for our resident owls. Eight people monitored seven burrows in and adjacent to the Rainbow Owl Preserve during the 2019 nesting season. Monitors recorded data on individual burrows once a week from April until the young fledged, usually sometime in July or early August depending on each owl family’s schedule.

Photo by Mitch Duckworth

​Each successful pair of owls produced between 2 and 7 chicks. A total of 20 nestlings fledged, meaning they survived to 45 days old when they could fly as well as adults. The average number of owlets fledged per successful nest was 4. This is an increase over last year, when only 2.8 owlets fledged per successful nest. 2019 was a much wetter year which may have increased food, such as insects, for the owls to eat.

Photo by Mitch Duckworth

​It is interesting to note that one male owl mated with two different females located in adjacent burrows. Both monitors felt that the male owl did not give his chicks enough attention (bring enough food to the nest), and this is reflected by the fact that only 2 chicks fledged from each of these nests.

Photo by Andy Fikus

​Many thanks to Christiana Manville of the US Fish and Wildlife Service for leading this study, Cathy Kozmary of Red Rock Audubon for coordinating the monitoring, and Dr. Michael and Mannetta Braunstein for purchasing the land to create the Rainbow Owl Preserve.

Article submitted by Christiana Manville and Nancy Chang