Burrowing Owls deserve their own page since my current home town of Cape Coral has the largest population in Florida. People come from all over the world to photograph our citys' beautiful owls!
Enjoy these Burrowing Owl photos. At the bottom, I included a list of facts about the owls.
This information about Burrowing Owls is from a book called Peterson Reference Guide to Owls, and answered a lot of questions we had wondered about. Thought you might enjoy!
*Burrowing Owls are the only type of owl in North America where the male is larger than the female.
*There are burrowing owls in the western USA, in addition to other places, but our Florida burrowing owls split from them around 350,000 years ago. They now are significantly different genetically.
*The average weight of a Florida burrowing owl is only 5.5 oz.
*Average lifespan is 6-8 years, but studies have shown them to live up to 9 years.
*Burrowing owls were called “howdy owls” in the west due to how they bob up and down.
*Upon fledging, female Cape Coral burrowing owls disperse to 0.7 miles of their parents, males 0.3 miles from their parents. Lazy already! lol
*Up to 1/3 of male chicks take over their parent’s territory, which is the real reason the male dispersement is lower.
*The male’s song is wa-WAAH-oo; the female’s reply is a eep call.
*They eat insects and vertebrates.
*Cape Coral has so many burrowing owls because they like an area where homes occupy 55-60% of the lots.
*The western burrowing owls find burrows already dug out by prairie dogs, but the owls in Florida are required to dig their own burrows.
*Incubation lasts a month, chicks come above ground at 2 weeks old, fledging occurs at 6-7 weeks.
*Males do most of the foraging while the female stays in the burrow or on the perch.