Burrowing owl, Athene cunicularia (formerly; Speotyto cunicularia), sometimes known as the ground owl, Billy owl, long-legged owl, prairie owl, and prairie dog owl. This individual was photographed at the Main Battery at Fort Travis on Port Bolivar near Galveston, Texas, USA.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 6 February 2007 [velociraptorize].
Nikon D200 1/200s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso200
Question: This iconic North American mystery bird species has several unusual characters, one of which gave it its scientific and common names. Can you tell me more about this?
Response: This is a burrowing owl, Athene cunicularia, a small species that is known by a wide variety of interesting regional names. This species is unusual among owls because the male has longer wings and is slightly larger than the female. These small birds live mainly on shortgrass prairies and consume insects and small mammals -- farmland pests.
The burrowing owl got its scientific name in honour of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom whose favorite bird was an owl, and the Latin word cunicularia, meaning a miner or burrower. As this name suggests, they nest in abandoned burrows made by mammals. Interestingly, these birds frequently redistribute their chicks into more than one burrow after they hatch so predators cannot kill their entire family.
Embedded below is a 2 minute radio programme about the burrowing owl, thanks to my friends at BirdNote Radio:
You are invited to review all of the daily mystery birds by going to their dedicated graphic index page.
If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and (mostly) appreciative audience, feel free to email them to me for consideration.