With plants sprouting from the ground and farmers confidently finished with seeding, tractors in the field might find some new friends popping up in their farmland this summer. Burrowing owls can be found in the Saskatchewan prairies during the summer, having returned from their trip down south over the winter.
They're now moving into their namesake burrows in prairie meadows, grasslands, and even farmers' fields.
Habitat Stewardship Coordinator for Operation Burrowing Owl at Nature Saskatchewan, Grace Pidborchynski, talks about why they like to pop up on farmers' properties.
"Their ideal habitat would be grazed native or tame grassland pastures. But they've adapted to the changing prairie landscape. So we've been finding or just been hearing of other observations where they'll be in crop fields or adjacent to crop fields because that stubble, especially early in the spring, when the crops haven't grown tall yet, they like that short vegetation to detect and capture prey."
Nature Saskatchewan says that having owls on cropland can actually be a benefit, as they tend to serve as free pest control. Burrowing Owls' main diet consists of notable pests such as mice, voles, and grasshoppers. Nature Saskatchewan says that over a summer, a family of burrowing owls can eat up to 7,000 grasshoppers and 1,800 rodents.
With such potential to help out cropland, Pidborchynski says farmers should keep an eye out to make sure those owls remain safe.
"We usually just suggest to keep a nice distance just around the active burrows, especially during this time. They're kind of at their most vulnerable stage because the females are incubating underground. And so, usually in the middle of July is when the babies are hatched and are able to kind of move around a little bit, so just being considerate of the burrow and just giving them some space."
Pidborchynski also hopes that any farmers who spot burrowing owls in their fields will give her a call so that they can keep track of the burrowing owl population.
"They can report it to us at my number, 306-780-9833. What we do with those sightings is we keep track of them, and they help us determine any fluctuations in populations, where exactly they're nesting, and their distribution across the province. And of course, any reports that we get, personal information is kept completely confidential, and it's never shared without permission."
Pidborchynski appreciates every call they get as the Burrowing Owl is currently listed as endangered in Canada.