The Story
I made this photo of a Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) at La Macarena, Meta, Colombia. Like many owls it hunts mostly around dawn and dusk. It is a year-round resident in most of its range. In parts of South America it is expanding its range as forests are cleared. It lives in grasslands, farmland, deserts and other open, dry areas with low vegetation. La Macarena is part of the Sierra de la Macarena and of the Macarena Special Management Area, which brings together several protected areas. The Sierra de la Macarena is home to about 420 bird species, along with eight species of primates.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200. IUCN lists the Burrowing Owl as Least Concern, with a stable population.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) belongs to the family Strigidae (Owls) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List