BURROWING OWLS TAKE FLIGHT: HEAD-STARTING SUPPORTS A NEW GENERATION

October 2, 2025

2 OCTOBER 2025 (Calgary, AB) – The small, sandy-coloured head of an owl peeks cautiously out of a burrow, eyes wide and alert as the prairie sun warms the grasslands. This tiny burrowing owl is one of 70 fledglings hatched this year—the next generation of owlets, born to adults released through the Wilder Institute’s head-starting program. 

This year, 26 adult burrowing owls from the Wilder Institute’s 2024/2025 head-starting cohort returned to the prairie as male-female pairs to nest, producing 70 fledglings across 13 nests. 

“Burrowing owls typically lay around nine eggs per nest, and while most hatch, only three to five owlets usually survive to fledge. The last-hatched nestlings face big challenges, even before they leave the nest. Being younger and smaller they’re less able to compete with their older siblings for food,” said Graham Dixon-MacCallum, Conservation Research Population Ecologist at the Wilder Institute. “Our head-starting program targets these last hatched nestlings, holding them in human care for their first winter and returning them to the prairie as adults in male-female pairs ensuring they have the chance to reproduce the following spring.” 

Head-Starting Makes a Difference 

Burrowing owls are small, long-legged birds that nest underground, relying on burrows dug by other prairie species such as badgers and ground squirrels. Once common across Western Canada, burrowing owl populations have declined by 90 percent since 1990 and are listed as Endangered under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. The fledging of 70 young owls this season is a remarkable success for prairie conservation. 

The Wilder Institute supports burrowing owl conservation efforts using a technique called head-starting, where young owls are cared for at the Wilder Institute’s Archibald Biodiversity Centre (ABC) during their most vulnerable months—their first winter—before returning them to the wild as adults. This approach increases survival rates, encourages reproductive success, and generates data to inform conservation planning. Since 2016, the Wilder Institute has led this program in collaboration with Alberta Environment and Protected Areas and the Canadian Wildlife Service. To date, the program has released 171 head-started owls back onto the Canadian prairies. 

Returning Owls and a Brighter Future 

Every year, burrowing owls from Canada embark on an incredible journey—traveling thousands of kilometres to spend the winter in the southern United States and Mexico. This journey can be challenging, as the owls must navigate landscapes that are very different from what they would have encountered decades ago. The Wilder Institute is seeing the program’s impact span generations, with owls from previous cohorts—or even their offspring—returning to the Alberta prairies to breed year after year. The 2025 field season brought particularly heartening news: nine owls from past years returned, including one from 2022 making its third return, and three offspring from the 2023/2024 release cohort returning for the second time. 

“It’s extremely rewarding to be part of this program,” said Dixon-MacCallum. “It is a major success that the owls we care for over winter pair up, nest, and fledge young. To see some of those owls also return from migration and nest again in subsequent years is even more cause for celebration. It shows that this approach is beneficial for burrowing owl conservation in Alberta.” 

This year’s new 2025/2026 cohort has already begun its journey. Among them is the young owlet seen peeking from the burrow—soon to be carefully transported to the ABC, where it will spend the winter receiving expert care—just as this owlet’s parents did last year—before being released back onto the prairies next spring to begin the cycle again. 

Of this year’s new cohort of 26 owls, most came from wild nests, but this young owl and one other are fledglings from last year’s release cohort. Owls that remain on the prairie are closely monitored, with leg bands used to track their return. 

By receiving support through head-starting, this young owl has a greater chance of survival until next spring, when it will contribute to the next generation and the long-term recovery of the species. Each returning owl is a reminder that conservation actions are working to rebuild endangered burrowing owl populations across the Canadian prairies. 

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For more information contact: 

Alison Archambault 

Director, Brand & Public Relations  

403.232.7766 | 403.919.9482 | mediarelations@calgaryzoo.com 

The Wilder Institute is a global authority on wildlife conservation, reintroducing threatened species to the wild and empowering communities to conserve their own natural resources to positively impact both nature and communities. The staff and volunteers of Wilder Institute are passionate about restoring balance to wildlife and human life, together. Using innovative science, our team is working to save threatened and endangered species and return them to the wild, where our planet needs them to be. We proudly own and operate the Archibald Biodiversity Centre, a one-of-a-kind conservation breeding and research facility. Our conservation expertise is in conservation breeding and community conservation, where we collaborate with community members to positively impact both nature and local communities. Learn more at WilderInstitute.org to join us in making the world a wilder place.