Staff at the Calgary Zoo are celebrating the triumphant return of a burrowing owl who had a rough start to life.
The bird, nicknamed Green48, has become the first burrowing owl in the zoo’s ‘head-starting’ conservation program to successfully migrate to and from Mexico.
Green48 was first brought into the program in 2022 and wasn’t expected to live past one-year-old. But after spending last winter getting stronger under the care of zoo staff, the owl was released into an artificial burrow in May, and began her journey down south that fall.
She recently landed in the prairies which marks a significant milestone for the zoo’s head-start program that first launched in 2016. The owl was equipped with a transmitter which helps staff study the routes the bird is taking.
“We’ve had other owls survive the trip before, but not with one of these transmitters,” says Wilder Institute spokesperson Graham Dixon-MacCallum. “It’s really great to be able to see the route and understand where she spent the winter.”
Dixon-MacCallum says one of the key findings is they now know that owls who spend the winter in human care can still migrate successfully the following year.
“Only about 6 per cent of owls that leave a next in Alberta will return the following the year,” he says. “Many are dying and some are potentially settling elsewhere.”
“We are holding them in human care to keep them alive through that period of high mortality.”
Green48 has already found a male partner and built a nest in the same area she was released into, according to the zoo.
“They both seem to be doing really well,” says Dixon-MacCallum, adding that Green48 now has a whole brood of owlets that will leave in migration as well over the next couple of months.