Special bird bio
opper
Burrowing Owl – Athene cunnicularia
Burrowing owls as their name suggests, do burrow and we wanted to try to work with a burrowing owl to see if we could demonstrate their behaviour. Consequently over the years we have reared four burrowing owls to work. To start with they come into the house at about 10 days old. At that point they are tiny and very easy to manage as they don’t move around much, however this does not last long. They are very terrestrial owls, with long fine legs and once they start to run around, long before they can fly, they move like quicksilver. Copper was no exception, he quickly learned that the top of the computer was a comfortable place to rest as the warm air from the fans was very pleasant – this did lead to one or two problems with the insides of the computer at times. We have six black Labradors who dread the breeding season as they know that on occasion we have young owls in the house to tame and train. Young owls soon learn that the dogs have soft and comfortable beds, which they can lie in. The dogs are very very good with young birds and never harm them, but they do get pretty fed up with being evicted from their beds! Seeing a tiny owl lying in solitary state on a 10 foot dog bed, with various disgruntled dogs lying on the hard floor is interesting, and watching Copper run around the kitchen floor between 24 dog legs was always amusing to say the least. One never knew where he was in the house. You do have to be extra careful with tiny owls when they are running free in the house, and we only allow it until they are flying reasonably well – the larger owls move out before that point! Buckets with water and lavatories are very dangerous as the owls can easily drown, so some doors have to be kept shut and loo seats and lids must always be down. Copper soon learnt to go upstairs too, we had to call him and listen for the familiar sound of his return call, and then wait for him to appear at the top of the stairs. They naturally go under things and down what might be suitable tunnels, so they are easy to train to work, although their attention span is pretty short and they do have a mind of their own. Copper is a pleasure to watch work as he races down and through his tunnels only to appear at the other end waiting for us and food.