Burrowing owl numbers appear to be down

SAGE JUNCTION — With the late spring, I did not locate a Burrowing owl until late April, almost three weeks later than what usually happens. It was located between Sage Junction and Hamer, along the Old Butte Highway; I did not see his mate show up until early May. I guessed that she did not want to get her tail feathers snowed on.

Last week, I took a morning to travel my “Burrowing Owl Route” created two years ago, where I had located 18 pairs of owls, 16 of which had raised families in 2021. The route starts east of Sage Junction on Highway 33, heads west past Mud Lake, out through Monteview towards Salmon, then along State Highway 22 toward Dubois and back to Sage Junction.

At the 18 spots that had nesting owls previously, I only located seven active nests. It appeared one other nest had been destroyed by badgers earlier in the week. Six of the seven had the male on the lip of the burrow. On one, I caught both the male and the female outside, and she quickly disappeared down the burrow. It also appeared that one of the males was protecting two holes, indicating that he is a polygamist with two female partners.

Due to the late spring weather and recent storms in Southeastern Idaho, some of the birds may have started nesting further south or even into Utah. It will be interesting to watch what happens next spring to see if more burrowing owls show up. Each female can hatch out up to nine or 10 owlets, and I will watch these nests to see how many young ones appear in about three weeks.

If you have located a nest of these owls, I am not interested in knowing where they are, but I would love to hear from you about what you observe from those nests. Are you finding fewer nests, and how many owlets appear at each nest you are watching?

If you have put out oranges and hummingbird feeders, you should be seeing some interesting birds. Early this week, I had a pair of black-chinned and calliope hummingbirds show up at my feeders. It appears that the black-chinned pair have started building a nest in a copper rose thicket; I have watched them carrying grass to the thicket and have been buzzed by the male when I get close. It would be fun to have them nest among my flowers this year.

Also, more colorful birds have shown up at my sunflower feeders. Yesterday, I saw seven lazuli buntings, black-headed grosbeaks, a pair of red-naped sapsuckers and a downy woodpecker feeding on those seeds. Since I have had a rose-breasted grosbeak show up the last two seasons, it will be interesting to see if one will show up with the colorful evening grosbeaks this year again. That migration should begin in the next week.

Those of you who love to handle a lot of fish, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game are looking for you. The ice on Henry’s Lake is in the process of leaving right now, which has delayed the gill netting on the lake. They are looking for volunteers to help them with this operation to pick up the gillnets each morning from now until June 9. If you are interested in helping them, you are asked to contact Nathan Tillotson at (270)994-7102 or email him at: Nathan.Tillotson@idfg.idaho.gov.

With the weather starting to settle down, there are a ton of outdoor activities to be involved in. One of my favorites is hunting for Idaho’s gems and minerals. I have been out a few times, and the Idaho Falls Gem and Mineral Society is organizing field trips for the summer for collecting some of these materials. They hold monthly meetings on the second Monday of each month starting at 6 p.m., where attendees share information about where they are hunting. These meetings are held at the Fairbridge Inn and Suites in Idaho Falls. Information on the trips can be obtained by contacting Rita at: pastylady@live.com.

With summer coming and the kids getting out of school soon, it will be a great opportunity to get out and enjoy the real Wild Life. Be safe and enjoy the great outdoors of Idaho.