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page added 7/19/26
burrowing owls are small grassland owls, theyre only around 10 inches tall, one of the smallest owls. They have striking yellow eyes and long legs.
They live in grasslands all over north america, mexico, & some parts of south america. They dig burrows in the ground where they live and have their young. Theyre plenty capable of digging their own burrows but they often use burrows already dug by prairie dogs or ground squirrels.
They hunt mostly bugs and small rodents.
They were an endangered species for quite a while due to humans destroying their habitats but thanks to conservation they are currently listed as least concern.
their eggs are very much "egg" if that makes sense. small, white, smoothe eggs that ate only about 1 inch by 1 inch big. they typically lay up to 11 eggs where im from more west but the owls native to florida and other southerner places lay only usually groups of up to six
fun fact - way back when, cowboys used to call them howdy owls.
in zuni folklore it was belived the the owls were protectors of sorts. it was said if you carried one into battle with you, you would come out unharmed.
it was also thought that they shared burrows with praririe dogs as an exchange. the prairie dogs let the burrowing owls use their burrows in exchange for protection.
(i learned this from the prairie field guide by peterson field guides.)
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