Date: 12/22/25 7:53 am From: Jack Rogers <jack...> Subject: Re: Burrowing Owl in Asheville, NC, decades ago?
All,
I agree with the identification of the Florida subspecies (*A. c.
floridanum*) based on the weak eyebrow and heavily marked breast, however I
must say that the idea that Florida Burrowing Owls primarily relying on
human forms of transportation in order in order to vagrate is quite silly
to me.
While the Florida subspecies is indeed nonmigratory, the western birds are
highly migratory. One study of western birds in the southwestern part of
their range -- where food is likely present in decent quantities year round
and weather conditions are likely usually warm enough to support a decent
wintering population -- found that they exhibited a wide degree of
plasticity in whether they choose to migrate or not migrate each year,
depending on annual effects.
Plenty of "non-migratory" birds vagrate; look at SC's recent records of
things like Gray-headed Swamphen, and of course the massive explosion of
Limpkins across the continent within the last few years. Georgia even has
a record of Florida Scrub-Jay, and both Illinois and Michigan have records
of Red-cockaded Woodpecker from this century (2000 and 2022,
respectively). Regardless of migratory status, birds still have to
disperse after they hatch and mature. Florida Burrowing Owls seem like a
prime example of this dispersal -- limited habitat availability (habitat
which is continuing to be mowed down at an extremely alarming pace, mind
you...), precipitation totals well under average for the fall leading to
stress and higher dispersal (a tactic well-documented in many western
species), a relatively high survival rate of young (Birds of The World has
median fledge size at 3 individuals), and a relatively high survivorship of
adult birds (BoTW has Florida ssp at ~63.5% annual adult survival). Not to
mention that the western subspecies has a pretty wonderful track record of
vagrancy. A quick glance at eBird will show that almost every state in the
lower 48 and most Canadian provinces have records of Burrowing Owls. And
the notion that coastal vagrants are ship assists is even more
preposterous; the coast is always the best place to find rarities and
vagrants. Some of the largest Burrowing Owl colonies in Florida are along
the coast, such as the Ft Meyers area. Ft Moultrie is an absolutely
fantastic spot for a Burrowing Owl to show up -- besides having plenty of
nooks and crannies for a Burrowing Owl to hide in during the day, it has no
predators (no coyotes, no Great Horned Owls, etc) and plenty of food in the
form of small mammals and insects.
It's also worth noting that wintering Burrowing Owls are pretty difficult
to detect if you don't know exactly where to look. For example, I found a
Burrowing Owl in Louisiana that spent at least 2 winters in a row along one
road in SW LA. I searched the area with a fine tooth comb many times
during the day -- checking every tire, pile of rocks, general debris, under
abandoned trailer, etc., several dozen times during that time span, and
nobody was ever able to locate its day roosting spot -- it was only ever
seen at night when it was out foraging. Here
<https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/627484857> is a photo of one I took last
winter in coastal Texas, a bird that returned to that same culvert this
year. If you didn't know exactly which culvert it was in, there was
absolutely no way of finding it. Many North American owls have patterns of
vagrancy that are well documented -- look at Flammulated Owls showing up
along the Gulf Coast (or even in the Gulf of Mexico on fishing boats, oil
platforms, etc), Long-eared Owls doing...whatever total shotgun blast of a
vagrancy pattern they have, Boreal Owls showing up in the midcontinent,
Florida's 4 records of Northern Saw-Whet Owl, Antillean Short-eared Owl
records in Florida AND Georgia, Mottled Owl hanging out in the LRGV for
over 2 years now, etc etc.
Looking at previous records of Burrowing Owl in the Carolinas on the CBC
website, I think the previously denied records of Questionable Origin
(Asheville 2005, Charlotte 2005) absolutely should be re-reviewed. The
fact that the Mecklenburg County record, of a juvenile that was *banded* (!!!),
was denied, is utterly ridiculous, in my opinion. Burrowing Owls often
turn up in relatively urban places -- just off the top of my head, Corpus
Christi recently had one on the university campus, one was found in a
shopping center last year in Baton Rouge, Louisiana just to name a few.
Urban areas are wonderful places for Burrowing Owls to turn up -- lots of
culverts, holes, etc, for them to hide in during the day.
Thanks for reading my annual CarolinaBirds soapbox and hope everyone has a
happy holidays and Christmas Bird Count season,
Jack Rogers
On Mon, Dec 22, 2025 at 9:01 AM Harry LeGrand <carolinabirds...>
wrote:
> Thanks to Kent for reminding folks on the listserve how to see older
> reports in the *Chat database*. Most birders probably don't go to the
> Carolina Bird Club website to click on most or all of the green tabs to see
> the numerous functions that Kent (CBC webmaster) has provided Carolina
> birders over many years. Note that some of the tabs on the last row have
> very important dropdown sub-tabs/links. Important tabs I check often are
> *Sightings* (where all of the eBird write-in rarities are listed), *Photo
> Gallery*, and *Bird Records* (where the full state lists are found). The *Birds
> of North Carolina* link at the top takes you to that website, where you
> can also see the records for the rare species such as Burrowing Owl.
>
> In addition, at this Christmas Bird Count time of year, folks may want to
> click on the blue link for *Christmas Bird Counts in the Carolinas* near
> the top of the home page. All of the counts should be listed there, the
> dates, and all have a map link to the count circle!
>
> Harry LeGrand
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 22, 2025 at 9:29 AM Kent Fiala <carolinabirds...> wrote:
>
>> One way to look up old records like this is to go to the Chat database
>> page on the Carolina Bird Club website, like this:
>> https://www.carolinabirdclub.org/chat/db/3jX8q6 >>
>> Kent Fiala
>>
>> On 12/22/2025 9:15 AM, Steve wrote:
>>
>> Yep. I recall the same.
>>
>> And while the Florida birds may be sedentary from a migration
>> perspective, they certainly can and do get around using human derived
>> transportation. For example, they sometimes ride cruise ships.
>>
>> I suspect that with reports being coastal and in shipping ports, that may
>> be a reasonable explanation.
>>
>> Steve Shultz
>>
>>
>> On Dec 22, 2025, at 8:59 AM, Charlotte Goedsche <carolinabirds...>
>> <carolinabirds...> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Digging back into time, I vaguely recall that there was a Burrowing Owl
>> in east Asheville in the early 2000's, and that it was thought to have been
>> transported there by one of the trucks carrying construction materials for
>> some big project. But don't take my word on this!
>>
>> Charlotte Goedsche
>> Brainerd, MN (formerly of AVL and Weaverville, NC)
>>
>> --
>> Charlotte L. Goedsche (Pronouns: She - Her - Hers)
>>
>>
--
Jack Rogers
M.S. Student
Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute
Texas A&M University - Kingsville
*Kingsville, TX/Mt Pleasant, SC*
