The owl houses built Saturday are nicely situated in prime Canyon Lakes real estate, just off a fairway. He and other volunteers spent a few frigid hours digging trenches and holes into the side of a hill. That's the doorway. At the far end of the pipe, workers put a five-gallon bucket. It goes upside down and then is covered with dirt to create a small igloo.
Owls do their own decorating by dragging in manure.
With any luck, this spring several buckets will be home to a half-dozen baby owls. Luckily, burrowing owls put up with humans, though traditional hole diggers such as badgers typically don't stick around once people move near. With birds such as the sage grouse on the cusp of being listed as a state protected species, it's important to protect the habitat of creatures whose homes are threatened by development, Rockwell said. By catering to the owls now, the region might not have to curtail habitat-harming development later. The owl team wants to hear from more land owners who will allow a burrow or two to be dug on their property.