Great Plains Natural Science Society

 

The Prairie Naturalist

Date of this Version

6-2007

Document Type

Article

Citation

Prairie Naturalist (June 2007) 39(2): 69-75.

Comments

Copyright © 2007, Great Plains Natural Science Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

We quantified the use of black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies as habitat for the burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) in southwestern Kansas and southeastern Colorado. We used incidental sightings and breeding season avifauna surveys to document the presence of the burrowing owl on black-tailed prairie dog colonies, non-colonized rangeland, and cropland during the spring and early summer. Burrowing owl rarely was observed on noncolonized rangeland and cropland sites, and black-tailed prairie dog colonies appear to be used substantially as a habitat type for the burrowing owl in the region encompassing Cimarron and Commanche National Grasslands in Morton County, Kansas, and Baca County, Colorado, respectively.

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