Today is International Owl Awareness Day, a day that’s especially important because owls are fantastic at disguise — making awareness of them challenging. Fierce hunters, owls fly silently and have excellent hearing and eyesight. There are 19 species of owls found in North America and plenty of opportunities to spot these birds on public lands or in your backyard.
Burrowing owl (owl in the photo) awareness facts:
– They hiss when frightened to mimic a snake
– They will sometimes decorate their burrows with dung to attract their favorite food, dung beetles
– Sometimes they dig their own burrows and sometimes they’ll use the burrows dug by other animals like tortoises or prairie dogs.
Whoo has seen an owl on a national park, national wildlife refuge or any other public lands? We want to know!
Photo of a burrowing owl at Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge in California by Sarah Chan (www.sharetheexperience.org).