Solar farms in Arizona forces owls to relocate

PHOENIX (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Arizona's solar farms are forcing relocation of burrowing owls.

Volunteers are constructing 25 underground burrows in an isolated field near Paulden, Arizona. The future tenants are dozens of Western Burrowing Owls.

"We try to give them something that has a long lifetime," said Greg Clark, a longtime burrow builder." They're part of integrated pest management. They eat all the stuff the farmers don't want."

These wide-eyes wonders are important for the ecosystem.

Clark also admits, "I try to keep as impassionate as I can, but they're adorable. They have antics. They chase each other around."

Sadly, these icons of the west have been chased out of their homes. For decades, the culprit has been urban sprawl.

More recently, the construction of solar farms are driving them out. Climate change is also making life tough.

"As the drought has gone on for like 20 years, the normal grassland that produces food it's just almost gone," Clark shared.

At the Wild at Heart Rehabilitation Center in Cave Creek, it is where the burrowing owls will have a layover before they are sent to their next home.

A successful move is a process that takes several weeks.

Clark also shared, "We use a burrow camera to put it down inside and check to see if the owls laid eggs...If they migrate they can come back to that burrow."

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