Winter destinations and habitats of Canadian Burrowing Owls

Abstract

The winter destination of Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) that breed in Canada is poorly understood. We flew 166.7 hr in a fixed-wing CESSNA 172, searching southern Texas and the Gulf Coast lowlands and central Mexico for signals from 125 VHF transmitters that were attached to Burrowing Owls in Canada in 1997, 1998, and 2000. Nine owls were located between Houston, Texas, and Michoacn, Mexico. The diurnal roosts used by the owls included vegetation, natural burrows, and a woodpile. Land-cover types around roosts were highly variable and less open than breeding habitat in Canada, but always included at least 35 low vegetation within 1 km of roosts. © 2010 The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc.