The reason for the topic animal is that we tried to band burrowing owls yesterday. We were checking to see if a pair had chicks, but no owls came into the traps, so we left without banding anything.
Despite that, I have seen one here out in an open space. He flew out of his burrow onto a post. They really are fascinating. Burrowing owls are one of the smallest owls in North America. They're around 9-10 inches tall, colored brown with white spots. They have lighter bellies and eyebrows and yellow eyes.
The burrowing owl is named so because it nests in burrows. They normally choose burrows on flat land with low, scrubby bushes and plants. Kind of typical desert habitat. They range over North and South America. They eat mostly insects, but also eat rodents, amphibians, small birds, and reptiles. Burrowing owls are eaten by larger owls and birds of prey, coyotes, badgers, and dogs.
The burrowing owls are endangered in some places in their range, in others listed as a species of special concern. The reason for this is habitat loss from development of their homes, and pesticides poisoning them.
Today we went looking for lizards in the morning. We actually caught two zebra-tailed lizards, a male and a female, and a desert iguana. The male zebra-tailed lizard was beautifully colored. His tail, like all zebra-tails was striped with black, but his sides were yellow and orange, and the sides of his belly were blue and green. The desert iguana was really strong, and it was very, very cool.
Despite that, I have seen one here out in an open space. He flew out of his burrow onto a post. They really are fascinating. Burrowing owls are one of the smallest owls in North America. They're around 9-10 inches tall, colored brown with white spots. They have lighter bellies and eyebrows and yellow eyes.
The burrowing owl is named so because it nests in burrows. They normally choose burrows on flat land with low, scrubby bushes and plants. Kind of typical desert habitat. They range over North and South America. They eat mostly insects, but also eat rodents, amphibians, small birds, and reptiles. Burrowing owls are eaten by larger owls and birds of prey, coyotes, badgers, and dogs.
The burrowing owls are endangered in some places in their range, in others listed as a species of special concern. The reason for this is habitat loss from development of their homes, and pesticides poisoning them.
Today we went looking for lizards in the morning. We actually caught two zebra-tailed lizards, a male and a female, and a desert iguana. The male zebra-tailed lizard was beautifully colored. His tail, like all zebra-tails was striped with black, but his sides were yellow and orange, and the sides of his belly were blue and green. The desert iguana was really strong, and it was very, very cool.
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