Wild at Heart fights to keep burrowing owls off Arizona endangered list
Development pushes burrowing owls out, Wild at Heart steps in
Rapid development across the Phoenix area is forcing burrowing owls from their homes, but one local nonprofit, Wild at Heart, is on a mission to ensure the creatures' survival. FOX 10's Irene Snyder has this story.
CAVE CREEK, Ariz. - Rapid development across the Phoenix area is forcing burrowing owls from their homes, but one local nonprofit is on a mission to ensure the creatures' survival.
What we know:
The Valley is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, but that growth comes at a cost for the wildlife who call the region home. Burrowing owls, whose Arizona population is steadily declining, are increasingly displaced by construction.
Wild at Heart rescue was recently featured by National Geographic for its efforts to relocate the small, wide-eyed birds. The organization, based in Cave Creek, works year-round on rehabilitation and relocation.
"Burrowing owls like to inhabit the agricultural lands where we have irrigated crop fields. That's where all the food is," said Greg Clark, the burrowing owl coordinator at Wild at Heart. "We've been building farms for a hundred years, and that's one of the best places for burrowing owls to live."
Now, much of that farmland is being converted into housing, freeways and industrial developments.
"Wild at Heart needs to go in there, get those owls out of trouble and relocate them someplace else," he said.
Clark’s job is to relocate the owls every time new developments, including solar farms, displace them. He began his work in 2000 after realizing he could make a difference with habitat and relocation.
"The owls would really like to stay at the burrow where they are. They really don't want to move, but there's no choice," Clark said. "The way to maintain biodiversity, keep the population stable is to try to move them to a habitat where they do want to live."
Burrowing owl caught on camera. Photo courtesy of Wild at Heart
Dig deeper:
Relocating the owls is a three-month process that starts with trapping the birds and temporarily moving them to the Wild at Heart facility. Here, volunteers are essential.
"The aviaries need to be cleaned, the owls need to be fed every day," Clark said. "One of the best things that people can do is volunteer to either put in habitat or someday become an owl feeder."
Since burrowing owls can’t create their own burrows, they rely on abandoned homes from animals like coyotes, foxes, skunks and badgers in the wild. Wild at Heart first scouts new locations and then creates several new burrows for the owls to move into.
Burrowing owls are already an endangered species in Canada and threatened in Mexico. Clark says the organization’s goal is to keep them off the endangered species list in Arizona.
"I never thought I would ever be in National Geographic," Clark said of the recent feature. "It was an honor to be featured like that, but really, the main part of the article for me is, it really demonstrates how people at the grassroots can get involved to solve problems that birds are having, not just owls, but all the birds."
The organization rescues hundreds of burrowing owls every year, hoping to secure the continued survival of the species with each case.