The Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre, located at the Moose Jaw Exhibition Company grounds, is back open to the public for another season. 

The Burrowing Owl Centre closes each year over the fall and winter and reopens to the public from the May long weekend to the Labour Day long weekend in September. 

Owl coordinator Lori Johnson described what people can find when they visit the centre. 

“Right now, we’re home to 16 burrowing owls, but we also have a short-eared owl, a small native Prairie garden to enjoy as well as an indoor display area,” Johnson said. 

One of the main goals of the interpretive centre is promoting the conservation of burrowing owls that are listed as endangered species. 

Burrowing owls have distinct features. They only stand about 23 centimetres tall and weight about 150 grams. They have no ear tufts, bright yellow eyes and long, featherless legs. Adults have speckled chests. 

Unlike your typical owl, burrowing owls are found on the ground and associate with ground squirrels, badgers and gophers for burrows. 

“The centre does its part by educating the public about the plight of the burrowing owls and some of the conservation efforts that are being undertaken to help them,” Johnson said. 

The centre is also continuing with its educational programming. This includes their Owls On Tour program that features their ambassador owls. 

“Our main focus with the Owls on Tour program, which is our outreach program, is the education part and normally we have a couple little ambassador owls to help us out with that. We travel to classrooms or various other community events with one of our ambassador owls and just give people some information about the burrowing owls,” Johnson explained. 

Exciting news out of the centre this season is that they have paired a couple of owls in the hopes of adding to the population. 

Johnson said it’s been a couple of years since they’ve successfully hatch owlets. 

“Our most recent hatch was just two years ago, so we’re hoping that this little pair that we’ve put together will be successful,” she said. 

The Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre is a non-profit organization that relies on donations and grants for funding. 

You can find out more about the Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre and its programming on their website.