BUG OFF!

As their name implies, burrowing owls live underground. They're small, they're diurnal and they're also a natural insecticide. That's why farmers in Marana are so fond of them.

A PORTFOLIO BY JACK DYKINGA

Burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) aren't picky about what they have for lunch. "They're very opportunistic hunters," Bob Fox says, noting that the tiny owls prey on everything from insects and rodents to small birds and fish.

Fox is the co-founder and executive director of Wild at Heart, a Phoenix-based nonprofit organization that rescues and rehabilitates birds of prey. Since the 1990s, Wild at Heart has been relocating burrowing owls that have been displaced by development. That process includes getting a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to capture the owls, then creating artificial burrows in a safe location. Sometimes as in these photos from the Marana area, northwest of Tucson that location is near farmland, where the owls can showcase their predatory talents by feeding on insects and mice that might otherwise pose a threat to crops.

Unlike most owl species, burrowing owls are active while the sun is out, which means they're relatively easy to observe. "One of their saving graces is that people really enjoy watching them," Fox says. That's also a benefit for Wild at Heart, an all-volunteer group that relies on individual donations to support owl relocations and other projects. In the wild, an adult burrowing owl might eat one or two mice and a dozen or more insects per day; when they're in captivity, Wild at Heart spends about $650 per day to keep the owls and the group's other birds fed, Fox says.

To learn more about Wild at Heart, get involved with the group or make a donation, visit wildatheartraptors.org. - Noah Austin

An adult owl (right) presents an insect to its chick, which will lose the buff coloring on its wings and chest when it reaches adulthood. Male and female burrowing owls are similar in size and appearance.

"When the owls see activity, they're very curious," Fox says. "They'll move their heads back and forth to try to orient themselves. They do have a lot of fun behavior."