Article
Ecology
Dejeanne Doublet, David H. Johnson, Fitsum Abadi, Martha J. Desmond
Summary: Development activities associated with urbanization can directly displace animals, causing high mortality and dispersal rates. This study evaluated the effects of translocation on burrowing owl reproduction and found that owls had poor reproductive success in the first year after release, but if they survived 2 years after release, they had similar nest survival and productivity compared to residents.
JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Ornithology
Lois Balin, Richard Heilbrun, Kelly Norrid
Summary: Determining the diet of Burrowing Owls is challenging, but this study used video recordings and infrared cameras to document the types and frequencies of prey items delivered to the nest. The results showed that invertebrates, especially insects, made up the majority of the prey, followed by rodents and squamate reptiles.
JOURNAL OF RAPTOR RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Biology
Angeles Saez-Ventura, Antonio J. Lopez-Montoya, Alvaro Luna, Pedro Romero-Vidal, Antonio Palma, Jose L. Tella, Martina Carrete, Gracia M. Liebanas, Jesus M. Perez
Summary: This study analyzed the ectoparasite community of burrowing owls in rural and urban habitats, and found that rural owls were more susceptible to flea infestations and less susceptible to mites compared to urban owls. Adult birds had fewer ectoparasites than young birds, and females had more lice than males. Understanding the parasite communities in different populations of the same species can provide insights into the impacts of urban stressors on wildlife physiology and host-parasite relationships.
Article
Ecology
Dejeanne D. Doublet, Fitsum Abadi, David H. Johnson, Martha J. Desmond
Summary: This study tracked the fates of translocated and resident burrowing owls in Arizona and found that translocations resulted in lower survival and fidelity probabilities, especially when there were more males in the released cohorts. Therefore, significant changes to the current translocation methodology for burrowing owls are needed, restricting translocations to male-female pairs or single individuals.
JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Eduardo Guimaraes Santos, Helga Correa Wiederhecker, Ricardo Bomfim Machado
Summary: This study using the burrowing owl as a model demonstrated the influence of landscape on flight trajectories, with models incorporating landscape perception and stochasticity showing better predictive ability.
Article
Ornithology
Carl G. Lundblad, Courtney J. Conway, Kirsten Cruz-McDonnell, Dejeanne Doublet, Martha J. Desmond, Corrie J. Navis, Kurt Ongman
Summary: This study reports the long-term monitoring results of Burrowing Owls at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, showing the rapid recovery of owl numbers from near-extirpation and the relationships between abundance and other demographic traits. The findings suggest that the maintenance of Burrowing Owl populations is not necessarily at odds with safe airfield operations, and demonstrate the complex population dynamics of Burrowing Owls.
JOURNAL OF RAPTOR RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Lynne A. Trulio, Debra A. Chromczak, Philip G. Higgins, Sandra Menzel, Christen M. Bossu, Kristen Ruegg
Summary: Partial migration is a common strategy among animal species, and in a declining population of western burrowing owls in northern California, long-distance migratory birds were found to join resident owls in the winter and disappear by the next breeding season. Genomic analysis revealed that some migrants stayed into the summer and bred with resident owls, contributing to genetic diversity in the small resident population.
CONSERVATION GENETICS
(2023)
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Katarina Bennett, Stephanie Osinchuk, Bianca Bauer, Sangeeta Rao, Miranda J. Sadar
Summary: Twelve adult burrowing owls were examined, and ocular lesions were found in some of them. The most common abnormality was mild multifocal fundic pigment clumping. The measurements of intraocular pressure were affected by gender, while tear production was not affected by gender or age.
JOURNAL OF AVIAN MEDICINE AND SURGERY
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Breanna E. Pyott, Lauren M. M. Meads, Alexandra L. M. Froese, Stephen D. Petersen, Aimee M. Mitchell, Albrecht I. Schulte-Hostedde
Summary: Quantitatively evaluating and monitoring augmentation efforts are critical for conservation success. We evaluated two owl population augmentation programs and found that wild-hatched owls in British Columbia had a higher rate of return compared to captive-released owls, indicating a need to investigate the causes behind the lower return rate of captive-released owls. The presence of surrounding cropland had a negative effect on the number of owls returning to release sites.
AVIAN CONSERVATION AND ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Natasha Peters, Corinne J. Kendall, Jacob G. Davies, Claire Bracebridge, Aaron Nicholas, Msafiri P. Mgumba, Colin M. Beale
Summary: Medium and large scavengers face considerable risk from geographically dispersed threats as they often have to travel long distances to find sufficient foraging areas, including buffer zones of protected areas. Using GPS tracking and a novel capture-recapture model, researchers assessed the exposure, threat, and risk of poisoning to vultures in southern Tanzania. They found that the highest risk of poisoning was within 20 km of protected areas, but also identified additional hotspots outside of nearby buffers. This risk assessment method allows for more precise identification of localized high-risk areas, aiding in conservation prioritization and resource allocation.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Pedro Romero-Vidal, Alvaro Luna, Lola Fernandez-Gomez, Joan Navarro, Antonio Palma, Jose L. Tella, Martina Carrete
Summary: Urbanization has caused significant changes in ecosystems and biotic community composition. In this study, the diet specialization of burrowing owl breeding pairs in urban and rural areas was examined. The results showed that both urban and rural pairs exhibited trophic specialization. Individual behavior affected the diet of urban pairs, while intraspecific competition influenced the diet of rural pairs.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Eduardo G. Santos, Helga C. Wiederhecker, Ricardo B. Machado
Summary: Bird strikes at airports are a human-wildlife conflict present in major cities worldwide. This study tested the effectiveness of translocating the Burrowing Owl species in reducing bird strikes at Brasilia International Airport. The results indicate that translocation is not a suitable management option and the landscape structure and release distance do not guarantee the persistence or return of translocated birds. The study also revealed a higher number of collisions during the translocation process.
WILDLIFE SOCIETY BULLETIN
(2023)
Article
Ornithology
Alejandro Baladron, Matilde Cavalli, Maria S. Bo, Juan P. Isacch
Summary: Burrowing Owls nest in different habitats with similar characteristics in terms of size, lining, and decoration, although nests in dunes have wider entrances and longer tunnels. In rural and urban areas, owls use manure to line the burrows and decorate the nest entrance with visible objects, but urban nests have a higher diversity and amount of decoration materials. The burrowing behavior and characteristics of Burrowing Owls in the Pampas are consistent with those reported for North American populations, despite differences in burrow construction processes between the two ranges of the species' distribution.
JOURNAL OF RAPTOR RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Ornithology
Lois Balin, Richard Heilbrun, Jason Cox, Kelly Norrid
Summary: Studying the nesting ecology and behavior of Burrowing Owls using a self-powered digital monitoring system provided valuable ecological insights, such as nest initiation dates, clutch sizes, incubation dates, prey items delivered to the nest, and predators of Burrowing Owls in the El Paso area. Despite encountering technical problems, the overall design of the system was recommended for its effectiveness in capturing high-resolution video recordings in remote areas.
JOURNAL OF RAPTOR RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Brynn A. Mclellan, Eric Howe, Robby R. Marrotte, Joseph M. Northrup
Summary: Reliable estimates of population density are crucial for wildlife management and conservation. Spatially explicit capture-recapture models and information-theoretic model selection criteria are commonly used for density estimation. This study tested the performance of these models and criteria in the presence of realistic levels of density and detectability variation. Simulations of American black bear populations were used to assess the reliability of model selection criteria and the accuracy of density estimates. The study found that unmodeled heterogeneity in density and detectability can lead to biased estimates, but including a good approximating model can yield accurate results.