That's a great video, John. I can see that I need to do some reading about these owls that I've seen all my life and find out more about them. I still wonder at this point if they actually dig a burrow from scratch (Hmmm ... did I make a pun? LOL!) or if they are cleaning out an abandoned burrow made initially by a prairie dog. I'm sure that information is probably available somewhere.
I've always liked owls. Where I grew up and lived, I saw more of these little owls than any other. We occasionally had barn owls in the haybarn (boy did they make a mess there) and also occasionally had a pair of Great Horned Owls hanging around our place. I am told that these big birds of prey are among a very few that will actually kill and eat a skunk.
I recall one night I was awakened by a very strong skunk smell. As I lay there wondering what disturbed the skunk, I began to hear a definite loud crunching and cracking sound. I got up and looked out my window, and in the moonlight, I could see one of the big owls munching away on a skunk. Apparently, the bones of the skunk didn't pose any problem for the owl. I still don't know why it was doing that. Most birds will tear the meat off the bone, or will swallow whole the small critters they catch after which their strong digestive system will dissolve (mostly) what they have eaten. The area around where the barn owls roosted was covered with what was left of the mice and other rodents they ate. This stuff was mostly very white colored and you could see bits of undissolved bone fragments in the mess. I'm guessing that the bones of animals are an important part of the owls diet and since the skunk's bones were too large to swallow whole, the big Horned owl was able to break them up in small enough pieces to swallow along with the meat attached to the pieces. Very interesting, at least to me! The Horned owls were very big birds!
Thanks again for the video. I'm very glad to see it, as well as to get another look at the prairie dog owls again. There are several large dog towns withing the city limits of this pretty large city where we now live, and I have seen the little owls in some but not all of them, mostly where the towns are in a protected area (park) where fences keep folks from walking out among the mounds in the town. Several towns have been displaced by housing developments since construction has begun since we've been here. I'm sure the prairie dogs just move when they are forced out and begin a new construction of burrows for themselves. They are pretty hardy creatures until something like the plague wipes them out. I can't tell that the plague affects the burrowing owls, but I don't know that for sure!
