PHOENIX, AZ — A vast solar project west of Phoenix became an unexpected refuge for a small owl colony that needed a new place to live. Conservationists created artificial burrows, monitored the birds closely, and later watched 36 chicks hatch in the carefully managed habitat.
The effort began after nearby development pushed 19 adult burrowing owls from their original nesting area. Instead of simply moving the birds far away, the team helped establish a new home inside the Sun Streams solar complex, where the owls could stay in a landscape that still resembled the open ground they prefer.
How the owls were settled into the solar landscape
Wild At Heart, a nonprofit conservation group, led the relocation work with support from Longroad Energy. The team built 40 artificial burrows across about 250 acres between two sections of the solar site and brought in the adult owls after a housing project forced them out of their previous location in March 2025.
To help the birds adjust, staff placed food nearby, used cameras to track activity, and even turned on lights at night so insects would gather in the area. That gave the owls more opportunities to hunt while they settled in. The goal was not to turn the solar farm into a permanent wildlife park, but to give the birds a workable nesting space in land already set aside for energy production…