Burrowing Owls: Adopt an Owl Today!

Adopt a Hoot Pet Owl

He's cute, fun and free. If your desktop pet owl is hungry, sad or grumpy, select activities to change his mood and make him happy again. And here's exciting news - New Line Cinema will make a donation to the National Wildlife Federation for every downloaded virtual burrowing owl. Adopt your owl today!

About Burrowing Owls

Most owls are nocturnal. They do their hunting at night and sleep during the day. Burrowing owls, though, aren't just night owls. They're often out and about during the daytime.

Burrowing owls are only a little bigger than a robin. But they're tough! Young owls will hiss like a snake to scare predators away from their burrows.

Like most birds, owls have hollow bones. A lightweight skeleton and very large wings make them powerful fliers. Soft, fringed edges on their wing feathers muffle the whooshing sounds that most birds' wings make, so they can fly almost silently.

An owl can't really turn its head all the way around. But it can rotate it an amazing three-quarters of the way (270 degrees). That means it can see in every direction - even straight backwards!

Big eyes collect more light than small ones, and owls' eyes are huge! They have some of the best night vision in the animal kingdom.

Owls have incredible hearing. From its perch in a tree, an owl can hear a tiny mouse scurrying on the ground beneath a thick blanket of snow.

Your ears are straight across from each other. In an owl, one ear opening is higher than the other. Why? It helps the owl pinpoint the exact location of a sound, which could be the difference between a good dinner or going hungry.

Does an owl's face remind you of a satellite dish? The circular shape gathers and focuses sound and light to make the owl an even more effective hunter. [This isn't very apparent in burrowing owls, so it would be best to use this fact only if including a photo of another species such as a barn owl or great gray where it's easy to see.]

Favorite items on the owl menu include mice and other small mammals, birds, lizards, insects, and snakes. Great horned owls even eat skunks! (It's a good thing they have a poor sense of smell.)

What passes for polite table manners at your house wouldn't "fly" in an owl family! Owls don't chew their food. They swallow it whole or tear it into pieces with their sharp beaks. Then all the parts they can't digest - bones, claws, teeth, fur, and feathers - are compacted into a pellet and coughed up. Scientists dissect these pellets and identify what's inside to learn about owls' diets.

• Burrowing owl info on eNature.com