{"id":8621,"date":"2013-06-19T03:55:13","date_gmt":"2013-06-19T09:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8621"},"modified":"2025-10-13T07:26:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T12:26:33","slug":"western-burrowing-owls-are-declining-throughout-their-range","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/19\/western-burrowing-owls-are-declining-throughout-their-range\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Burrowing Owls Are Declining Throughout Their Range"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who follows my blog knows I adore Burrowing Owls, I am totally fascinated by these small “Clowns of the Desert” and could spend hours & hours watching and photographing them.<\/p>\n

\"BandedBanded Burrowing Owl adult with telemetry device<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week while taking a quick look at a burrow I have been watching I noticed several chicks above the ground and one adult that was perched high up on a dried out sunflower stalk way off in the distance.<\/p>\n

I took a few quick shots of the adult and I am glad I did because with my naked eye I couldn’t see that someone has banded the adult and it appears that a telemetry device has also been attached to the adult.<\/p>\n

You might wonder why.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Burrowing Owl in Utah<\/span><\/p>\n

Western Burrowing Owls populations are declining, human population explosion and subsequent urban development plus habitat degradation has reduced Burrowing Owl populations by 60%.<\/p>\n

That number is still rising. Burrowing Owls are a Species of Concern in Utah and we should be concerned if we want to stop their population decline.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult and juvenile Burrowing Owl on sagebrush<\/span><\/p>\n

The reason for the bands on the Burrowing Owls on Antelope Island is research on their populations and the telemetry device will be used to track their migration.<\/p>\n

As a bird photographer I’m not exactly thrilled about the “bling” the owls are wearing but as a person concerned about their conservation and their future I do understand why the research is needed.<\/p>\n

Western Burrowing Owls are declining throughout their range and we need to act on it now.<\/p>\n

For facts on Western Burrowing Owls take a look at these sites:<\/p>\n

Burrowing Owl Conservation Network<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Center for Biological Diversity<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Burrowing Owl photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

*I am still away, thanks for your comments on these posts and please feel free to share this with your family & friends.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Western Burrowing Owls populations are declining, human population explosion and subsequent urban development plus habitat degradation has reduced Burrowing Owl populations by 60% and that number is still rising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,52,1022,26],"tags":[4004,55,2250,2663,4214,11978,2253,4067,4071,2252,294,4353,2254,2251,4516],"class_list":["post-8621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-burrowing-owls","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-athene-cunicularia","tag-banded","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-burrowing-owl","tag-desert-island","tag-endangered-2","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-migration-studies","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-utah","tag-species-of-concern","tag-telemetry-device","tag-western-burrowing-owl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owls-adult-juvie-mia-mcpherson-5881.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2f3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15267,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/06\/24\/adult-burrowing-owl-and-the-great-salt-lake\/","url_meta":{"origin":8621,"position":0},"title":"Adult 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