Burrowing Owl

The burrowing owl is so called because they live in family groups much like a prairie dog town, and in fact many times use prairie dog towns to begin their own villages.

They are brown spotted owls, quite small with the largest being about ten inches tall.

They have very unique white eyebrows above their eyes, which are a bright gold.

burrowing owl1 Burrowing Owl
Burrowing Owl

Burrowing owls are the smallest owl in North American.

Males and females are the same sizes, with very little difference between them.

Burrowing owls traditionally eat smaller mammals such as mice, moles and grasshoppers on the insect side of the menu.

They are also known to eat smaller birds and frogs.

There are about 10,000 breeding pairs in the US today, down from a larger population earlier in the last century.

They range from Mississippi across the mid west and into Canada.

They do not range as far as they had in the past, and many areas which sported them have seen them disappear from that part of the range.

Burrowing owls, unlike others of their species are active in the daytime when they gather food for the babies. They prefer open areas to brush or tree cover, and are found perching on trees and shrubs very often.

burrowing owl2 Burrowing Owl
Burrowing Owl

A community of owls can be heard from a distance away. They make a very impressive clucking sound and dip and bob their heads when they are nervous.

They will nest very often in colonies, so that many are near to each other, with the burrows about a fifty feet walk apart. Burrowing owls often nest in loose colonies about 100 yards apart.

They mate in early spring and will produce about 8 eggs, sometimes as many as twelve. The little owls will appear at the entry to the burrow at about two weeks old, and begin to hunt on their own at just a month and a half old.

At 6 weeks they are flying and leave the nest in a few weeks more to build their own contribution to the colony.


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