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Friday, December 1, 2000
Owl spotters' help sought for a study
Biologists seek burrowing owls, which winter here
By Cynthia Hodnett
Caller-Times
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| Contributed photo |
| The endangered Western burrowing owl spends its winters in South Texas. They frequently make their homes in roadside culverts. |
Calling all birdwatchers, farmers and landowners.
Biologists studying the endangered Western burrowing owl that spends winters in South Texas are asking for you to help locate them.
Jerry Batey, a graduate student at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and Geoffrey Holroyd and Helen Trefry, biologists from Canada, want to study as many burrowing owls as they can to learn how to help the animal survive better.
"Local landowners, farm workers and birdwatchers have spotted them sitting in an open grass area," Holroyd said. "If they see one, we would like them to contact us."
The researchers will band burrowing owls that they find with radio transmitters to track them.
Mary Kay Skoruppa, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said the office already has received calls from people who have spotted the bird.
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| David Pellerin/Caller-Times |
| Jerry Batey, a student from A&M-CC, places an owl trap northwest of the city. |
"We're looking hard and we expect to find more owls," Skoruppa said. "Every year we have volunteers who are looking for them and are calling them in."
Batey said there have been 11 sightings of the bird since October. On Thursday, he, Holroyd and Trefry set up traps to capture an owl that was spotted in a culvert on open land near the Corpus Christi International Airport.
"I've seen owls around before, but I didn't know this particular owl was here," said Larry McNair, who farms nearby. "I think it's interesting that they are studying this owl so people can find out more about it."
The biologists, along with other scientists from the Corpus Christi office of the U.S. Geological Survey, have researched the burrowing owl for the several years, trying to figure out its foraging habits, its flight patterns and why so many seem to be disappearing.
"Until we started this work, no one knew about the wintering burrowing owl," Trefry said. "Most of the research that we had was anecdotal stuff from birdwatchers."
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| David Pellerin/Caller-Times |
| Geoffrey Holroyd, a biologist from Canada, displays some of the bands used to tag the Western burrowing owl that winters in South Texas. |
Batey will use the research to write his thesis.
"Everything that we are finding out is new," he said. "There's not much on the wintering burrowing owl."
Many of the owls that they find may have migrated here from areas including Canada, Holroyd said. Scientists are also finding owls in other areas in the state including Austin and Lubbock.
The species, which is 9 inches tall and weighs about 150 grams, makes its home in culverts when it winters in South Texas. Because some culverts are near roads, the low-flying owls, are easy targets for motorists.
Last winter, more than 20 Western burrowing owls were counted in Nueces County and periodically monitored by researchers, Skoruppa said.
But, by February, several had died and researchers lost track of about six others.
In Canada, the species is listed as endangered and is declining by 16 percent each year, Holroyd said.
"In Canada, we have an cooperative approach to endangered species conservation," he said. "If a land owner has an endangered species on their land, then they are doing something right. We encourage other landowners to do the same thing."
Cynthia Hodnett can be reached at, 886-4334 or by e-mail at hodnettc@caller.com
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