Results of 2012 Breeding Season Surveys for Burrowing Owls along established Point-Count Routes within the BLM Shoshone Field Office

Pollack, Jessica; Carlisle, Jay

The Idaho Bird Observatory conducted breeding season surveys for Burrowing Owls along previously-established survey routes across the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Shoshone Field Office (SFO) in south-central Idaho from late-April to mid-July 2012. Survey routes were established and surveyed by Belthoff and Boves (2005) in response to concerns that the number of Burrowing Owls breeding within the study area had declined markedly since 1976-1983 (Rich 1985, Red Willow Research 2004). We used a standardized survey protocol consisting of silent listening and call playback at 32 survey routes consisting of 10 survey points each. We surveyed each route three times during the 2012 season. In addition, we attempted to find occupied nest burrows whenever possible. We also recorded incidental observations of Burrowing Owls and other species of concern to the BLM. In this report, we present 2012 findings and also compare results to historic 2005 and 2008 results. During 2012 surveys, we detected a total of 36 adult Burrowing Owls and also observed 19 juvenile (young-of-the-year) owls. We detected Burrowing Owls on 14 of the 32 routes (43.8%), including 40% (10 of 25) of systematic routes and 57.1% (4 of 7) of supplemental routes. We located a total 12 occupied nest burrows during 2012. Survey efforts in 2008 and 2012 have resulted in relatively comparable numbers of owl detections and nesting owls, although fewer owls were detected during 2012 surveys. Also, we detected owls on fewer transects in 2012 (14) than were detected in 2008 (20).