There’s a burgeoning city on the outskirts of the east San Francisco Bay Area.  It’s an agricultural mecca that in the last decade or so has discovered what an infusion of dollars from people fleeing exorbitant costs of living on the opposite sides of the bay can do to a rural setting.  It’s a city that is famous for America’s number one field crop and appropriately holds on to an iconic festival celebrating corn.  It’s a place where just down the road past the cornfields and orchards one can find a handful of dirt on the floor fruit and vegetable stands.  It’s a location that draws visitors aching for a bygone era when local food was indeed local, and picking out peaches did not involve a grocery store.  The city is Brentwood and it is a vital component to maintaining a Burrowing Owl population in the Bay Area.  When combined with Antioch, Oakley, Livermore and other outlying municipalities, they indeed make a case that this is the Bay Area’s Burrowing Owl stronghold.

But with the arrival of dollars and people, agricultural land and open spaces that once dominated the landscape are finding themselves transformed from suitable habitat to hardscapes that force Burrowing Owls to eke out a living in parking lots, along highways and even in the future site of the next peddler at the local mall.

Strip malls attract people which in turn draw in cars like a magnet.  I wish I could say the following was a hypothetical situation crafted to make a point, but sadly it has become reality.  In the case of the Streets of Brentwood, Burrowing Owls produced a family next to a two lane road that connects the mall’s parking lot to the main street.  As I’m sure you can surmise, juvenile Burrowing Owls learning to fly have become fodder for speeding cars.  After a heartbreaking incident, I met with management to propose the installation of caution signs as a means to remind patrons to slow down and be on the watch for low flying Burrowing Owls. 

Thanks to Jane Reid, General Manager of The Streets of Brentwood, the mall paid for and installed two caution signs on August 19th as a way to help safeguard the owls.  Since the installation, we are accident free!

I and the Burrowing Owl Conservation Network are excited to have their support and that of the many residents who were helping us keep an eye on these owls.  We are looking forward to working with this business in the future.

As you may recall, in April I rescued a Burrowing Owl who had become trapped in the rafters of Mainland in the Streets of Brentwood.  The quick thinking conservation-minded staff made a big difference for this owl who was returned to his burrow.  You can read the story and see the pictures HERE.

With a number of documentaries hitting theaters, NatGeo, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and so forth over the past few years, I imagine most of us have now encountered the renowned courtship behaviors of the male Bowerbird.  As seen in the photo, they take on a fairly unique approach that may include rocks, plastics, shells, sticks and other brightly colored objects in an attempt to woo the fairer sex.  But with a travel distance of over 8,000 miles and a hectic schedule, planning a trip down under to experience the antics of Bowerbirds first hand is a few years away.  So I thought…

(Bowerbird) Credit: Ron_n_Beth, http://www.flickr.com/photos/doc44/

After a prolonged date with destiny that is now approaching 3 years, my wife and I stepped into a suburban open space to rendezvous with nature as we have done so many times before.  It was during a nighttime walk four months back that we crossed paths with a Burrowing Owl who returned to a patch of land sandwiched between all the fixings of suburbia. From that first sighting, we made it routine to stop by for a short visit and even celebrated the appearance of his mate.  

And that’s when the species line between Bowerbird and Burrowing Owl began to blur.  Sure we have seen plenty of owls decorating burrows with dried frogs, trash, foil, bones, and even dog and coyote dung, but this particular male took design to a meticulous level as he created an ornate burrow entrance complete with hardwood floors made of bark.

North America’s Western Burrowing Owl may not be quite at the same level as the Bowerbird in terms of design aptitude, but they should definitely take notice that there’s an up and coming contractor taking the stage in the world of birds.  Here are a few other burrow pictures for the design portfolio. Enjoy!

Check out the dried frogs. We counted 15 in all decorating this burrow entrance.

Cheryl R., a neighboring wildlife advocate and VP-Wildlife of the nonprofit organization Worth A Dam, routinely passes me information she finds of conservation interest.  The articles, pictures, and news typically pertain to burrowing owls, which, if you are not aware, is of particular interest to me since I’m in the midst of trying to protect a population that is literally a 2 minute walk from my home.

Over the last week, her research resulted in a number of burrowing owl related items that I found quite intriguing.  As I read through one article from June 2008, I was amazed that the French Valley Wildlife Preserve near Temecula was home to at least five pairs of owls.  However, it was not their mere presence on the preserve that caught my attention, but the fact that the preserve, according to the article, was 407 acres and home to 10 owls.  Mind you I only have firsthand knowledge of a very small number of local sites with burrowing owls, but the urban habitat I’ve been monitoring (and future address of 127 residential homes) is currently supporting 11 resident owls (including 4 pairs).  And that does not take into account the owls that migrated after breeding season.  Did I mention this area is a sixteenth the size of the preserve at approximately 25 acres?  So by the end of the article I was left wondering if my own private burrowing owl refuge is unique in terms of the population size it supports.  And the short answer is I’m not sure.

Is the location of this temporary open space ideal for the owls because it is protected, is a prime feeding habitat because it is adjacent to and for all practical purposes in a neighborhood and bordering rolling hills, has graded lots with sparse weeds providing an ideal environment, etc?  I guess I now have more questions than answers, which will require a bit of digging on my part to discover solutions…if any are actually available.

But what I do know is that my neighborhood is a hotbed for burrowing owls with at least 15 individuals residing year around, and I’m not complaining.  Whether sitting on a short fence separating the street from the canal, looking for dinner on my lawn and driveway, or simply watching the night pass from a corner street sign, I just can’t help but get excited living next to and with these creatures.  And as a neighbor of mine they deserve a place to call home as well.

And to round up this post here is a trailer for an animated short that Cheryl found with you guessed it, burrowing owls in the starring role.

The Hidden Life of the Burrowing Owl, Trailer from mike roush on Vimeo.

My last few postings about a local band of burrowing owls was more about the trial and tribulations of their lives in a habitat continually being squeezed by urban development.  Whether under threat of a housing development or a community center, the tone was less than upbeat as I waded through red tape and alternating project managers in an ongoing plight to ensure their survival.

And with that said I had not actually planned to breach the burrowing owl topic so soon, but I came across a video that is nothing more than a feel good burrowing owl moment.  So, sit back and take a close-up look at a burrow in Washington state that is home to 12 successfully reared owlets.

By the way, glad to see the parents are ever so attentive as a predator soars above their heads!

If you have ever driven by a landfill it becomes quite apparent that it is not a biological wasteland.  As tractors move an endless supply of debris about the land, the skies are littered with flocks of birds capitalizing on the smorgasbord of human consumption.  It is disturbing to see wildlife integrate a daily trip to the dump as a means of survival, but the landscape ultimately undergoes a transformation as garbage is covered by earth and grasses.  A seemingly semi-pristine environment now appears on the horizon with the exception of methane burners emerging from the treeless area and representing the only evidence of meddling.

As the flock of gulls migrate with the bulldozers, a host of other species move in to fill the niche.  Not surprisingly, the influx of rodents drives an increase in raptors that utilize the tall methane burners as perches for spotting prey.  A topic that I had not been aware of prior to a recent AP article on May 24, 2009, these landfill methane burners intermittently ignite and are scorching and killing perched hawks and owls.

“The methane burners have an igniter which causes a sudden flame flare that can scorch or even kill anything perched on top, flying over, or located inside the stack.”

“Typically, closed landfills are low traffic areas, so only a small percentage of burned raptors are rescued.  It is believed that most injured raptors die due to starvation or predation after burn injuries have been sustained.”

Wildlife Rehabilitation Bulletin, Raptor Burns from landfill Methane Burners, Gary Siftar, 2008

A number of remediation ideas are being discussed by wildlife rehabilitators and conservationists to prevent perching, but what I found interesting, as pointed out by the AP, is that the New York State Association for Solid Waste Management and the Federation of New York Solid Waste Associations have joined forces with the National Audubon Society to help curb the problem.  It is definitely a positive note that I hope is not just limited to lip service but becomes an adopted practice at landfills nationwide.

Links of interest:

The Birdchaser – More Methane Burned Hawks in Oklahoma

Audubon Birdscapes – Making Landfill Methane Burners Safe for Raptors

AP, May 24, 2009 – Landfill methane towers scorch perched hawks