By Gaye Oberlin
Did you ever wish that DoorDash would deliver your dinner to your door every night? No shopping, no cooking, no cleaning up, it sounds like a dream come true for some of us! Well, for some lucky Burrowing Owls this is exactly what they came to expect over five weeks this summer. On June 21st, twelve pairs of banded owls were relocated from their temporary quarters at Wild at Heart in Phoenix to newly constructed burrows in Prescott National Forest (PNF) east of Paulden. Wild at Heart (WaH) is a bird of prey rescue organization whose mission is to release rehabilitated birds back into the wild. As development continues to spread across the Valley of the Sun, many Burrowing Owls need to be relocated.
Burrowing owls are fascinating because they defy many expectations of an owl. Besides being the only owl to live and raise their young underground, they hunt during the day, cache food underground, and are known to carpet the entrance of their burrows with animal dung or human trash, perhaps to attract insects that become easy prey or to signal to other owls the burrow is occupied. When threatened they may retreat into their burrows and make sounds that mimic a rattlesnake.
Before the owls arrived, Greg Clark, the Burrowing Owl Habitat Coordinator for WaH, PNF employees and volunteers constructed 48 artificial burrows using 55-gallon drums cut in half, buried and connected to the surface by flexible tubing. Temporary tents were assembled over 12 of the burrows to contain and protect the owls while they became accustomed to living in their new location. Of course, while confined to their tents the owls were unable to hunt for themselves and that’s how I, along with my husband Rick and other volunteers (including fellow CHMNs Julia Appletree and Claire Macbride), began our DoorDash careers delivering mice.
Volunteers delivered three mice daily to twelve tents, each containing a pair of owls.
Each team of volunteers received 200 frozen mice and were responsible for feeding the owls one day a week. We carefully placed three mice inside each tent near the mouth of the burrow and recorded the presence of any uneaten mice from the day before. Most of the time there were no leftovers, which was a good indication that the owls were adjusting well to their new home. Once the tents were removed, we used tongs to place the mice far inside the burrow so they wouldn’t attract other predators.
When the tents were removed on July 19th it was discovered that three of the burrows contained eggs and the plan was to continue feeding at those burrows to allow the brooding female to incubate while the males figured out their territories and where to find food. Unfortunately, all the eggs were gone within a week or two. Two skunks captured on camera in one of the burrows may have been the culprits.
After the mandatory feeding period was over Rick and I continued to visit the owls and feed them our remaining mice. Most have deserted the original 12 burrows and have branched out to some of the expansion burrows provided. It’s difficult to count how many owls are still present at the relocation site because they fly back and forth from burrow to burrow while you are feeding. Hopefully, their new home will provide enough food to support them, and they will successfully breed in the Spring. This has been a fun project, and I would do it again in a wingbeat!
With their big eyes and long legs, Burrowing Owls are undeniably cute!
