See also this Burrowing Owl presentation by David H. Johnson: [ Ссылка ]

In Canada, the Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) is endangered. The number of breeding pairs declined 22% per year during the 1990’s even though over 700 landowners voluntarily protected over 37,000 hectares of the owls’ grassland habitat. Low productivity is implicated in the Burrowing Owl’s decline; typically only 3-4 young fledge from the average clutch size of 9 eggs. Food supplementation experiments indicated that the wild food supply was inadequate for this species to reach its reproductive potential. Migration and dispersal are important ecological processes and understanding them is a requirement for species conservation efforts. Studies of movements of Burrowing Owls using banding, VHF telemetry, stable isotopes, geolocators, and satellite transmitters demonstrate that annual dispersal is a second factor driving the owl’s decline. The federal Species At Risk Act’s focus on critical habitat, recovery strategies and action plans have not slowed the species’ decline in prairie Canada. This talk summarizes over 20 years of research into the breeding biology, migration and dispersal of this species in Canada, Texas and Mexico and recommends a conservation solution - supplemental feeding of nests each June. Greater international cooperation and direct conservation action are needed if this species is to remain on the Great Plains.

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