Education

Give a Hoot- Owl Calls

Burrowing Owls make a wide range of calls.

The main call is a soft "who who" sound usually given at the burrow entrance. Males use this main call for attracting females to the burrow.

The sound is also associated with breeding and identifiying the territory of a pair.

  1. Male call
  2. Courtship call
  3. Alarm/defense call

Over seventeen calls have been identified, including "rasp," "chuck," and "chatter."

They also have unique alarm calls. Adults will emit a piercing scream but juveniles give a rattlesnake like "buzz" when threatened in the burrow.

At the burrow entrance, the adult male will warn off intruders with series of chucking sounds, accompanied by head bobbing.

Other defensive posturing includes dropping the head and body, spreading the wings up and out, while making a hissing sound.

Education

Rare wild owl tries burrowing into Manitoba enclosure to find mate

She did it for love: Rare wild owl tries burrowing into Manitoba enclosure to find mate

Researcher says fewer than 5 pairs of burrowing owls left in wild; Manitoba population nearing extirpation

CBC News · Posted: Jun 06, 2018

With files from Janice Grant and Aidan Geary

A small, tenacious owl discovered trying to worm its way into a captive male's enclosure last weekend has found a love connection researchers hope will result in much-needed burrowing owl chicks.

A field assistant with the Manitoba Burrowing Owl Recovery Program was doing a regular check on the program's five captive mating pairs on Sunday when she spotted the wild little owl, apparently doggedly interested in getting inside one of the pens.

"She was trying to push through [chicken wire] with her head, which she wasn't able to do, and then she was digging at the outside of the pen as well. She was using her talons to sort of dig underneath — it wasn't doing too much," said Alex Froese, the program director.

"She was very, very eager and very interested in getting into this pen."

Read the full story here

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