The Burrowing Owl
Athene cunicularia
Official status
The Burrowing Owl is currently on British Columbia's Red list (CDC = G4 S1).
COSEWIC has assigned Endangered status in 1995.
Historical facts
Historically, Burrowing Owls in British Columbia bred mainly in
the Okanagan-Similkameen and south Thompson basins: Osoyoos, Oliver, Penticton, White
Lake, Coldstream, Okanagan Landing, Knutsford, Savona, Kamloops, Douglas Lake and Lulu
Island in the Fraser Delta; with occasional records over a slightly wider area in southern
British Columbia - east to the Kootenay River valley, north to Horsefly in the interior
and north to Comox on the coast.
Last breeding record in 1970. Designated threatened in 1979 and reconfirmed as threatened
in 1991; re-examined in 1995 and uplisted to endangered. Except for some recent nests
derived from introductions, its true breeding status is not clear but there may still be a
few isolated nesting pairs in the Okanagan Valley each year. The reintroduction of
Burrowing Owls has not been successful in establishing a stable population.
Why is it endangered?
The overall abundance of Burrowing Owls is limited by the availability of suitable
habitat. The grasslands in which they live are restricted to the dry valley bottoms of the
southern interior, and comprise less than one percent of the area of the province. This
small area of natural grassland is being further diminished by expanding towns, intensive
agriculture, and a multitude of other industrial uses and developments, especially in the
Okanagan Valley. The quantity and quality of grassland has declined substantially across
the Canadian Prairies with most striking losses occurring between 1976 and 1986 for
conversion to croplands.
Humans have contributed to Burrowing Owl mortality in other ways in many parts of their
range. Some owls, particularly naive juveniles feeding on road-kills or on insects
attracted by warm pavement at night, are killed by highway traffic. Others get caught in
fences, hit overhead wires, or are killed by dogs, cats or other predators. Some are shot
by vandals.
Burrowing Owls also have to contend with many natural hazards, such as predators and
weather-caused mortality. However, the addition of human-caused mortality and habitat
degradation has caused population declines in many areas.
Emphasis of the Burrowing Owl recovery program is now on captive breeding in wildlife
rehabilitation centres, including Stanley Park in Vancouver and the Kamloops Wildlife
Park. The long-term goal of BC Environment is to establish self-sustaining populations of
at least ten breeding pairs of owls in each of five different locations in the southern
interior. The program is part of the National Recovery Plan developed in cooperation with
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), and the World
Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The outlook for Burrowing Owls in British Columbia is reasonably good. Although habitat
loss is an on-going problem, many human-cause impacts are lower now than in earlier years.
With public support, these curious little ground-owls may become firmly and permanently
established in southern grasslands.
Although the Burrowing Owl has almost disappeared from the Okanagan Valley, perhaps the
recent introductions will help it regain a secure place in the Okanagan fauna. We can hope
that it may once again become even more common than in 1909 when E.P. Venables of Vernon
wrote: "...sometimes in the evening the call note may still be heard, but it comes
from a long distance, and is a rare sound."
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Created: 4/4/97 Updated: 04/14/01
