Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Strigiformes > Strigidae > Athene > Athene cunicularia

Athene cunicularia (Burrowing Owl)

Synonyms: Glaucidium dickinsoni; Otus providentiae; Speotyto cunicularia; Speotyto cunicularia cunicularia; Strix cunicularia
Language: French; Spanish

Wikipedia Abstract

The burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) is a small, long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. Burrowing owls can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or any other open dry area with low vegetation. They nest and roost in burrows, such as those excavated by prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.). Unlike most owls, burrowing owls are often active during the day, although they tend to avoid the midday heat. But like many other kinds of owls, burrowing owls do most of their hunting from dusk until dawn, when they can use their night vision and hearing to their advantage. Living in open grasslands as opposed to the forest, the burrowing owl has developed longer legs, which enables it to sprint as well as fly when hunting.
View Wikipedia Record: Athene cunicularia

Infraspecies

Athene cunicularia amaura
Athene cunicularia boliviana
Athene cunicularia brachyptera
Athene cunicularia carrikeri
Athene cunicularia cunicularia (South American burrowing owl)
Athene cunicularia floridana (Florida burrowing owl) (Attributes)
Athene cunicularia grallaria
Athene cunicularia guadeloupensis
Athene cunicularia guantanamensis
Athene cunicularia hypugaea (Western burrowing owl)
Athene cunicularia juninensis
Athene cunicularia minor
Athene cunicularia nanodes
Athene cunicularia partridgei
Athene cunicularia pichinchae
Athene cunicularia rostrata
Athene cunicularia tolimae
Athene cunicularia troglodytes

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
10
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
36
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 20.9734
EDGE Score: 3.08983
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  151 grams
Birth Weight [3]  9 grams
Breeding Habitat [2]  Temperate grasslands, Desert scrub, Agricultural
Wintering Geography [2]  Widespread
Wintering Habitat [2]  Temperate grasslands, Desert scrub, Agricultural
Diet [4]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates)
Diet - Ectothermic [4]  10 %
Diet - Endothermic [4]  70 %
Diet - Invertibrates [4]  20 %
Forages - Mid-High [4]  10 %
Forages - Understory [4]  10 %
Forages - Ground [4]  80 %
Female Maturity [3]  1 year
Male Maturity [3]  1 year
Clutch Size [5]  8
Clutches / Year [3]  2
Global Population (2017 est.) [2]  3,500,000
Incubation [3]  28 days
Maximum Longevity [3]  11 years
Nocturnal [4]  Yes
Raptor Research Conservation Priority [6]  157
Snout to Vent Length [1]  9 inches (23 cm)
Wing Span [7]  24 inches (.6 m)

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

+ Click for partial list (100)Full list (122)

Biodiversity Hotspots

Habitat Vegetation Classification

Name Location  Website 
Intermountain Low & Black Sagebrush Steppe & Shrubland United States (Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada)
Intermountain Montane Sagebrush Steppe Canada; United States (Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Montana, Nevada, California, Oregon, Wyoming)
Intermountain Semi-Desert Grassland United States (Utah, New Mexico, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, California, Montana, Oregon, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona)
Mojave Mid-Elevation Mixed Desert Scrub Mexico (Baja California); United States (New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California)
West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Bog United States (Louisiana, Texas)

Prey / Diet

Prey / Diet Overlap

Predators

Athene cunicularia (Burrowing Owl)[8]
Buteo swainsoni (Swainson's Hawk)[8]

Consumers

Range Map

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Audio

Play / PauseVolume
Provided by Birds Of A Feather on Myxer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Partners in Flight Avian Conservation Assessment Database, version 2017. Accessed on January 2018.
♦ 3de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 4Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 5Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 6Buechley ER, Santangeli A, Girardello M, et al. Global raptor research and conservation priorities: Tropical raptors fall prey to knowledge gaps. Divers Distrib. 2019;25:856–869. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12901
♦ 7Wing Loading in 15 Species of North American Owls, Duncan, James R.; Johnson, David H.; Nicholls, Thomas H., eds. Biology and conservation of owls of the Northern Hemisphere: 2nd International symposium. Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-190. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Forest Experiment Station. 553-561 (1997)
♦ 8Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 9Predation upon small mammals in shrublands and grasslands of southern South America: ecological correlates and presumable consequences, Fabian M. Jaksic, Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 59: 209-221 (1986)
♦ 10Comparative Diets of Burrowing Owls in Oregon and Washington, Gregory A. Green, Richard E. Fitzner, Robert G. Anthony and Lee E. Rogers, Northwest Science, Vol. 67, No. 2, 1993, pp. 88-93
♦ 11Ctenomys talarum, Enrique R. Justo, Luciano J. M. De Santis, and Marta S. Kin, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 730, pp. 1–5 (2003)
♦ 12Desmodus rotundus, Arthur M. Greenhall, Gerhard Joermann, and Uwe Schmidt, Mammalian Species No. 202, pp. 1-6 (1983)
♦ 13del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 14Geomys bursarius (Rodentia: Geomyidae), MATTHEW B. CONNIOR, MAMMALIAN SPECIES 43(879):104–117 (2011)
♦ 15Microcavia australis, Marcelo F. Tognelli, Claudia M. Campos, and Ricardo A. Ojeda, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 648, pp. 1–4 (2001)
♦ 16Raw, A. (1997). Avian predation on individual neotropical social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) outside their nests. Ornitologia neotropical, 8, 89-92.
♦ 17Reithrodon auritus, Ulyses F. J. Pardin ̃as and Carlos A. Galliari, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 664, pp. 1–8 (2001)
♦ 18SPECIES ASSESSMENT FOR GREAT BASIN SPADEFOOT TOAD (SPEA INTERMONTANA) IN WYOMING, REBECCA S. BUSECK, DOUGLAS A. KEINATH AND MICHELE GERAUD, United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, January 2005
♦ 19International Flea Database
♦ 20Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Audio software provided by SoundManager 2
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0