Students set up new digs for burrowing owls

WEST BOYNTON — Crystal Lakes Elementary School students made a new home Wednesday for some guests they have come to know and love: a family of Florida burrowing owls.

The owls, recently placed on the state’s list of threatened species, have not emerged from their burrow on the campus ball field for the past few weeks, Principal Diane CurcioGreaves said.

The owls are still nearby somewhere, as their burrow, protected by a makeshift fence, appears freshly dug. But the school wanted to make sure the birds remain comfortable on the field even with the constant incursions typical of life in Florida, such as nearby construction and on-field physical education classes.

“We are offering them an ideal habitat,” said teacher Deven Soto, who brought her students to a space on the tip of the field Wednesday to dig two new burrows. “They can leave their current habitat if the new ones work better for them.”

The Audubon Society of the Everglades, working through Project Perch created to nurture South Florida’s owls, offered the school a $250 grant for PVC pipe, shovels and fencing, said Susan Davis, an Audubon Society board mem- ber. The society worked on a similar project recently at Boca Raton Middle School, she said.

The Florida burrowing owl moved from classification as a “species of special concern” to “threatened” on Nov. 16, Davis said. The new designation by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission means the owl population is rapidly declining, she said.

The owls, preferring an unimpeded view to monitor predators, often choose ground-level burrows where they are easily imperiled, including on golf courses, football fields, farms, airports and vacant lots, according to the com9-inch

CARLINE JEAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Fourth-grader Camilla Palomino of Crystal Lakes Elementary School in Boynton Beach helps bury an artificial burrow system for burrowing owls. The Florida Audubon Society provided the system.