Burrowing Owl (Phoenix Zoo - Arizona Trail)

Burrowing Owl

Athene cunicularia

Summary ⁵

The Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) is a tiny but long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. Burrowing Owls can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or any other open dry area with low vegetation. They nest and roost in burrows, such as those excavated by prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.). Unlike most owls, Burrowing Owls are often active during the day, although they tend to avoid the midday heat. But like...

Geographic range ⁶

Athene cunicularia is found in North and South America. They live in the desert regions and grasslands of western North America, and also in the drier areas of Central and South America. Burrowing Owls spend their winters in Texas where they commonly breed. During the summer the owls also can be found in northern areas of the Great Plains and northern California (Snyder 2000; Interactive Broadcasting Company 1999).

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); neotropical (Native )

Iucn red list assessment ⁷

Red List Category

Least Concern

Red List Criteria

Version

3.1

Year Assessed

2012

Assessor/s

BirdLife International

Reviewer/s

Butchart, S. & Symes, A.

Contributor/s

Justification

This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.