Friends of the Burrowing Owl
In response to the decline in local burrowing owls, Drs. Janet Foley and Lisa Tell at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine organized a group of UC Davis and high school students in order to promote awareness and address the decline in the burrowing owl population. These students decided to name the group Friends of the Burrowing Owl (FOBO). The organization is made up of different teams lead by student captains who monitor work over the different actions the organization. The current teams are Vegetation Monitoring, Burrow Monitoring, Outreach, Fundraising, and Road kill Collection.
It is a goal of the Friends of The Burrowing Owl and the Burrowing Owl Preservation Society to eventually have breeding pairs of owls at the Yolo County Grasslands Park, restored in number at the Wildhorse gold course, and any other suitable areas of Yolo County.
FOBO would also like to contribute to research on the owls including what they’re eating, how their numbers are doing, and how artificial burrows and vegetation management helps protect the owls.
If the owls near target are evicted or relocated, FOBO students would like to be part of helping monitor them, including by radio-tracking if that is deemed appropriate and approved.
What Does Each Team do?
Vegetation and Burrowing Monitoring
The Vegetation Monitoring team is tasked with determining if the height of the vegetation at the current and future sites of burrowing owl activity is low enough for high quality burrowing owl habitat. The Burrow Monitoring team checks for burrows in known and future burrowing owl habitat to make sure that there are places for the owls to use as habitat. Both teams also report data to the City of Davis to help them focus resources at the right time to ensure best habitat for the owls.
Outreach, Fundraising, and Design
The Outreach team is responsible for getting the word out in the community about the plight of the owls through social media and advertising at the Davis Farmer’s Market or other venues. The fundraising team helps raise funds for all of the other teams’ activities, and works closely with the outreach team in order to help gain more support. Both teams work closely with the design team who create pamphlets, a website, and other materials to be used in fundraising and outreach.
Road Kill Team
The Road kill collection team looks for and collects road kill around Davis, especially near burrowing owl habitat. The road kill is then analyzed for traces of rodenticide and other poisons as well as West Nile virus. Road-killed barn owls are unfortunately common, and even burrowing owls have been found hit by car. Raptor testing is done in collaboration with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Wildlife Investigations Laboratory. The poisons are used on agricultural land and even near homes to control rodents and could also affect owls’ survival and reproduction.
Citizen Science Team
With the serious decline of the western burrowing owl population in California, it is more important than ever to have locals report sightings of them. The compiled data, called citizen science data, give us a general idea of migration trends and ideal habitat locations, and a rough census of western burrowing owls. Equally importantly, data show elected officials that we, the citizens, care about the protection and management of western burrowing owls in our state.