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“Winter VIP”
by Jim Rostohar, November 2002
Naval Air Station - Kingsville (to
Burrowing Owl research)
“Miles” a burrowing owl from Montana, has become a “VIP” winter visitor at Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Orange Grove near Alice, Texas. He found a new home through the care of several individuals, numerous organizations and the hospitality of the U.S. Navy.
Miles was injured last fall in a collision with a vehicle just outside of
Miles City, Mont. He suffered head injuries, but fortunately was taken to the
Montana Raptor Conservation Center in Bozeman, Mont., where he was nursed back
to health prior to being transported to South Texas.
Miles recovered well enough to be released back into the wild, despite the loss of sight in one eye. Although he would have normally been released near the site he was found, winter arrived in the northern states, making it impractical for Miles to be released in Montana at this time. At the request of the United States Geological Survey, the U.S. Navy came to the rescue, providing Miles with some “winter quarters.”
Fortunately, two Canadian Wildlife Service biologists with whom the USGS has been working for years, Geoff Holroyd and Helen Trefry, were traveling from Alberta to Texas at the same time that Miles needed a lift. Holroyd and Trefry were traveling to Texas to continue their winter work on owls in southern Texas and Mexico.
“He enjoyed the trip and took in all the sights,” Holroyd said. “He sat near the entrance of his cage and looked out the window the entire trip. He ate a mouse a day.”
Holroyd and Trefry arrived in Corpus Christi on November 21, along with Miles. The release took place early on the morning of November 22 at the artificial burrows at NALF Orange Grove.
Miles’ release was attended by staff from the USGS, the Canadian Wildlife Service, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Department of Defense “Partners in Flight” Program Director, Chris Eberly, was also in attendance.
“This was a great opportunity to show that multiple agencies can work together to benefit this declining species and to get a message on burrowing owl conservation to the public,” Eberly said.
A local television station as well as several local and regional newspapers witnessed the event and allowed Miles to hold his first “news conference” there at NALF Orange Grove.
The hope is that Miles will be strengthened over the winter on his diet of crickets, beetles, grasshoppers, spiders and mice, which are all in ready supply in the subtropical climate of South Texas. After spending the winter as a guest of the Navy, he will fly the 1400 miles back to Montana on his own power.
Several artificial burrows were placed on Navy property in Kingsville and Orange Grove in August 2001, for the purpose of studying winter migration of burrowing owls. Since then, the burrows have been home to several burrowing owls that have traveled from as far away as Canada.
“Since the artificial burrows have been used successfully for the past two years, we are hopeful that Miles will take up residence here for most of the rest of the winter,” Dr. Marc Woodin, USGS wildlife biologist, said.
The burrowing owl, a declining prairie bird, uses animal burrows in open prairies to survive. The burrows allow the owls to hide and avoid larger birds of prey. These “Little Winter Texans” winter-over in South Texas, but because of extensive development and cultivation, few natural burrows remain. Instead, in South Texas, burrowing owls use road culverts as roosts, which can be hazardous.
To increase the number of available roosts, the USGS and its partners placed artificial burrows at NAS Kingsville and NALF Orange Grove safely away from roads. Artificial burrows simulate prairie dog holes used for nest sites by burrowing owls during the summer in northern states and in Canada.
“Burrowing owls are already listed as endangered species in Canada, threatened in Mexico, and are declining in the United States,” Mary Kay Skoruppa, a USGS biologist, said. Banding and aerial surveys tracking the owls on migration led Canadian researchers to seek assistance from biologists in South Texas and Mexico, the winter habitat of the burrowing owls.
“Independent studies in Canada and in breeding areas in New Mexico indicate population declines at 16 percent per year, making it likely that without intervention, the species will become increasingly rare,” Skoruppa said.
Burrowing
owls are small – about nine and one-half inches tall, they have long legs with
yellow eyes and they are nocturnal, which means they hunt and forage at night.
They live in the open country from Canada to Mexico, and spend their winters in
warmer climates such as South Texas. Burrowing owls are declining at an alarming
rate, primarily due to the lack of protected burrows. The burrowing owl is one
of only 11 species of birds identified for joint protection by an international
environmental agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
“Despite 10 years of intensive recovery efforts focusing on breeding populations in Canada and extensive cooperation by private landowners in Canada, biologists have been unable to stabilize the population or reverse the declining trend, Woodin said.
The importance of South Texas to borrowing owls was not formerly known because the owls disperse widely over this large region of Texas, and they inhabit highly altered or disturbed habitats normally not considered good wildlife habitat.
South Texas historically featured coastal prairie and native brush, but with the conversion of much of this region to agriculture, native grasslands containing animal burrows have also been lost. As a result, burrowing owls wintering in South Texas use road culverts (usually along roads adjacent to cultivated fields) instead of natural burrows. Vehicles pose a serious threat for burrowing owls roosting along the roadways.
With the help of our friends at USGS, NAS Kingsville and NALF Orange Grove have rolled out the welcome mat for some new visitors from the north. These “Little Winter Texans” have now found out what many people in South Texas already know … It’s a great place to live and it is indeed the birding capital of the world!
-NASK-
** Through a no-cost cooperative agreement between several agencies, NAS Kingsville is one of several sites participating in a research project to study the wintering habits of burrowing owls. In August 2001, Naval Air Station Kingsville began the study program by partnering with the United States Geological Survey (Texas Gulf Coast Field Research Station), the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and the Coastal Bend Ambassadors.
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