Six yellow-eyed burrowing owls have been released onto the lands of the Upper Nicola First Nations reserve in the hopes they will call it home and return after migrating south for the winter.
The band has been working with the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of BC on a species-at-risk reintroduction program, which culminated in a ceremony this past Sunday, where three pint-sized male and three female owls were released into the wild.
The event marked the first time ever that burrowing owls have been reintroduced on to First Nations land in B.C.
These birds were raised in captive breeding facilities and will make their new home in artificially-created burrows on the reserve.
“These are quite social little birds and they choose to live in expanded colonies. They’re living fairly close to one another,” said Mike Mackintosh, president of the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of BC. He said the birds rely on each other to alert each other to any dangers.
It’s expected the three breeding pairs released will hatch young this spring before flying south in the fall.
“We’re hopeful that the birds that have been released on Sunday will choose to stay in the area in which they’ve been released and that they will be safe,” Mackintosh said.
The return rate for this bird is low across Canada, but those numbers are getting better, said Mackintosh.
The goal of the band and the society is to reverse the continuing decline of burrowing owls populations in Canada. The band also hopes to increase knowledge of culturally and ecologically important wildlife.
Bernadette Manual, Upper Nicola Band cultural heritage project manager, told the Herald that as Syilx people, the band sees the reintroduction of this bird on their lands as a responsibility given the cultural significance of the owl.
They are considered guardian spirits for hunters and warriors or guides to other worlds.
Mackintosh said that this area of the province is the most northern part of the burrowing owl’s range. They are found in the western half of North America, ranging through the U.S. and down to South America.
“A lot of times they will migrate south, but they don’t always come back,” Manual said.
Burrowing owls have been known to live on the Upper Nicola reserve lands, but a survey conducted by the band in 2014 found no sign of these tiny birds.
An endangered species, burrowing owls are disappearing from Canada as a result of habitat loss and environmental threats.
Upper Nicola Band chief Harvey McLeod places one of the burrowing owls in an artificially made burrow on the reserve where it will now call home.
“Pesticides have been implicated in some of the losses that have occurred over time,” Mackintosh said. “The other thing about the birds in particular in British Columbia that works against them has been migration.”
Unlike most birds of prey, burrowing owls are known for spending most of their time on or near the ground, taking up residence underground in burrows abandoned by badgers or marmots.
“Grassland habitat that are part of some of the First Nations reserves are areas that they would highly favour in terms of opportunities to survive and to raise their young,” Mackintosh said.
The owls will be monitored closely and fed supplements until they can survive on their own.
