Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia)

Once common across the short-grass prairie regions of Canada’s four western provinces, burrowing owls are now nationally endangered. In the 1990’s the number of burrowing owl breeding pairs in Canada declined at a rate of over 20% per year (Skeel et al. 2001, Wellicome and Holroyd 2001). The leading causes of burrowing owl population decline are the eradication of fossorial and colonial mammals upon which the owls rely for potential nest burrow sites as well as the loss and fragmentation of native grassland habitat.

Burrowing owls disappeared from British Columbia in the 1970s leaving their future existence in the province dependant on the success of the captive breeding and reintroduction program. Although reintroduction efforts have been underway since the early 1980s, the future of the burrowing owls in BC remains tenuous. In 2004, the Centre for Conservation Research began working with the reintroduction implementation team to improve the survival of released burrowing owls.