Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS

THE ROLLERS AND THEIR ALLIES

THE OWLS

Burrowing Owls

Within the limits of the group of Owls there are perhaps none having more curious and interesting habits than the little Burrowing Owls (Speolyto), of which some eight or ten forms are distinguished.

They may be-known at once by their small size, none exceeding eleven inches in length, their relatively long legs, mainly diurnal habits, and predilection for underground burrows; all are natives of the New World. They have a rather small flat head, short bill, and rather poorly defined facial disk, while the wings are comparatively short and incapable of a long-sustained flight. In color, the plumage is a sandy brownish, spotted, barred, and sometimes otherwise varied with white or buffy above, the lower parts being white or buffy broadly barred, or transversely spotted, with brown; there is also a collar of mixed brown and buffy across the throat, and the middle of the chest is plain white.

Judging from their present distribution the Burrowing Owls are of quite ancient origin, since they are found in southern South America, several of the West Indian Islands, Florida, and the plains region of western North America from British Columbia to Guatemala, the respective habitats being often separated by many hundreds of miles. By the accident of discovery the typical form is assumed to be the South American Burrowing Owl (S. cunicularia) which everywhere inhabits the open pampas region of the Argentine Republic, Chile, Paraguay, and probably southern Brazil. Of its appearance in Buenos Ayres Mr. Hudson says:

“It never affects concealment nor appears confused by diurnal sounds and the glare of noon. It stares fixedly at a passer-by, following him with the eyes, the round head turning about as on a pivot. If closely approached, it drops its body or bobs in a curious fashion, emitting a brief scream, followed by three abrupt ejaculations; and if made to fly, goes only fifteen or twenty yards away, and alights again with face toward the intruder; and no sooner does it alight than it repeats the odd gesture and scream, standing stiff and erect, and appearing beyond measure astonished at the intrusion.”

As the North American form will be more fully described, no more will be said of this beyond the fact that, according to Hudson, nine tenths of the Owls on the pampas make their own nesting burrows, the remainder making use of the forsaken holes of various mammals.

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