POPULATION DENSITY OF WESTERN BURROWING OWL (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) IN HERMOSILLO, SONORA, MÉXICO

Abstract

The western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) is a nocturnal bird of prey distributed in North American grasslands, considered under risk and under special protection in the legislation of Canada and México. However, this species has adapted to urban areas of the municipality of Hermosillo, Sonora, México, and there is a need to understand the status of its population, in order to suggest measures for its conservation. The density of a population residing in the urban zone of Hermosillo, Sonora, was estimated during the seasons of April-May, 2012, and April-July, 2013, times that corresponded to the reproductive season. Thirty sampling units (SU) were selected based on the UTM polygon from the city of Hermosillo; the selection criteria for each of the SU corresponded to: areas with natural vegetation, urbanization, slope, areas without urbanization, agricultural fields without urbanization, and ?10% urbanization terrain, which were selected randomly. We estimated a density of 0.43 burrowing owls km^2-1 in average (IC95%(D)=0.19=0.66 individuals km^2-1) in 2012 and 0.33 burrowing owls km^2-1 (IC95 (D)=0.12=0.53 individuals km^2-1) in 2013, with a population size of 105.73