Volunteers digging a trench for the tunnel and nest of a burrowing owl Oct. 15, 2016.
Image Credit: Contributed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada
November 02, 2016 - 1:35 PM
KAMLOOPS - Volunteers often build homes for people, but during a mid-October weekend, a group of volunteers built homes for birds.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada, the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of B.C. and the group of hardy volunteers dug tunnels and homes for burrowing owls, a species of bird just starting to return to the region, near Napier Lake south of Kamloops on Oct. 15.
The 50 participants were able to dig 22 homes for the owls with entrances, tunnels made of tubing for strength and nesting areas inside plastic structures.
Captively bred owls will be released into the area in the spring of next year.
A similar project completed near Osoyoos is already inhabited by the owls.
Shovels and tubes being carried to the site of a new owl housing development Oct. 15, 2016. The tubing is used for the tunnel from the hole's entrance to the owls' nesting area.
Image Credit: Contributed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada
Volunteers of all ages were on hand to help build the burrowing owls homes on Oct. 15, 2016.
Image Credit: Contributed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada
Volunteers working on three different burrows for owls Oct. 15, 2016.
Image Credit: Contributed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada
The trench's lead from the burrow entrance to a nesting area where the owls can raise their young. Plastic structures were used to create the nesting area on Oct. 15, 2016.
Image Credit: Contributed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada
A horse skull adorns the entrance to one of the new burrowing owl homes built Oct. 15, 2016.
Image Credit: Contributed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada
FILE PHOTO: Owls, like this one living near Osoyoos, will be released into the new burrow area near Napier Lake in spring of 2017.
Image Credit: Contributed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada
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News from © iNFOnews, 2016