Western Burrowing Owls Secure Temporary Protection as Endangered Species in California

Burrowing owls stare at the side of the track during practice for the Formula One Grand Prix of Brazil at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Nov. 13, 2015. Clive Mason/Getty Images

Western burrowing owls are closer to receiving permanent protection in California as the California Fish and Game Commission has voted to give the species “candidate” status for the state’s endangered species list.

The commission unanimously voted on Oct. 10 to consider the western burrowing owl an endangered species to be protected under state law, following a petition filed by several conservation groups in March.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife will now conduct a status review of the species before the commission can decide whether to protect burrowing owls as endangered or threatened under state law.

The species will be protected during the review period, which will take between 12 and 18 months to complete, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that filed the petition.

Jeff Miller, a senior conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the commission’s decision gives “a glimmer of hope” for the species to receive permanent protection in California.

“Burrowing owls have dwindled and vanished at an alarming rate around the state as their homes are bulldozed for irresponsible sprawl development,” Miller said in a statement on Oct. 10.

“I’m thrilled they’re safeguarded for now and look forward to these adorable little owls getting permanent protection.”

The western burrowing owl is the only owl species that nests and roosts underground. It used to be widespread in California, commonly nesting in low-lying grasslands, but exurban sprawl, the conversion of grasslands to agricultural lands, and the development of wind and solar energy infrastructure have led to the species’s habitat loss.

Burrowing owls have been eliminated as a breeding species from most of the California coast and are facing localized extinction in the Bay Area, where only 25 breeding pairs remain, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

The center said that there are about 225 breeding pairs left in central-western and southwestern California, while the Central Valley has fewer than 1,500 breeding pairs.

Some burrowing owls have died from rodenticides and collisions with wind turbines and cars. The removal of ground squirrels has also led to their habitat loss, as they rely on burrowing mammals to excavate underground burrows for nesting and roosting, the center stated.

The petition has sought endangered status for burrowing owls in southwestern California, central-western California, and the San Francisco Bay Area; and threatened status for the species in the Central Valley and southern desert range.

The center said the state’s Endangered Species Act would prevent the removal of burrowing owls from lands designated for development and require the state to implement measures to mitigate the species’s habitat loss.