Rattlesnakes in the Owl Den!

One of the more interesting ideas that I came across over the years of observing the burrowing owl was the assertion that rattlesnakes often occupy the same burrow as the owl. At the time !

It took many field trips and long hours of observation to decide if this was fact or fiction. In fact without the help of a video camera, I may never have learned the truth!

I was fortunate enough to be able to locate the borrow of an owl and I spent a lot of time watching the pair as they came and went. At one point I stuck the camera down the burrow and stretched my arm out as far as it would go. To my delight when I later viewed the tape, I saw the female sitting on a clutch of eggs. I could not determine how many eggs, but knew I was in for a treat as I returned once a week to video tape them.

My intrusion into the burrow was extremely brief as I did not want to disrupt the owl family. I merely wanted to learn as much as I could about them but not at the expense of frightening them away from their den.

As the eggs hatched, and the three young owls grew, I was delighted to be a small part of it all.

One day, when the baby owls were still quite young I slid the camera in as usual. Instantly I heard the rattler and I jerked the camera out but quick! My heart was pounding! It was true that a rattler was in there with the young owls!

as I rewound my video tape then played it back I was able to clearly see what had occurred.

As the camera had been inserted into the burrow and moved closer to the young owls they had responded by "rattling" their throats in such a way as to sound exactly like a rattle snake! I was amazed and watched the tape quite a few times until I was certain what I was seeing and hearing. I still found it hard to believe even as I watched the evidence on my video player.

I had heard stories from farmers that said they "heard" rattle snakes shaking their rattles within the burrow where owls were living and they knew for certain what a rattle snake sounded like! Well, they did indeed hear the rattles all right! But not from a snake!

Now I knew how the legend came into being about rattle snakes and owls living in

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