News Release

July 3, 2002

Rescued Burrowing Owl Will Be Tenant at Power Plant

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NEWS MEDIA CONTACT Susan Sponar Telephone: (505) 241-2768

Albuquerque: A young burrowing owl, rescued from development more than a year ago, will take up residence today at PNM’s Reeves Generating Station on Albuquerque’s north side.

Hawks Aloft, a New Mexico nonprofit organization, will release the young owl into a transitional release cage at 2:30 p.m. Over the course of the next 30-45 days, the owl will transition out of the cage and eventually take up residence in the series of natural and artificial underground burrows already in place next to the plant. Hawks Aloft has also built a burrow inside the owl’s transitional space.

An estimated six burrowing owls already live in natural burrows on plant property. PNM and Hawks Aloft recently collaborated to install six additional burrows, using hollow concrete blocks to make tunnels, to attract additional owls to the facility. The new burrows include nesting boxes, with the hope of encouraging the owls to breed and hatch young owls onsite.

In the wild, burrowing owls often take up residence in holes dug by prairie dogs. Because of development, both prairie dogs and burrowing owls are being displaced in greater numbers, according to Hawks Aloft.