It is estimated there are as few as 270 to 300 breeding burrowing owls in Canada, making them one of the most endangered bird species on the Canadian prairies.

These small owls nest underground and have been part of our grassland ecosystems for thousands of years, according to the Wilder Institute, a conservation group out of Calgary.

The Wilder Institute is hoping to restore burrowing owl numbers through a technique called head-starting. The young owls are taken in the summer and cared for until the following spring to give them a head start.

The Wilder Institute says by protecting young owls during a challenging stage of life and releasing them as potential breeders, it boosts their survival rates.

From this program, the 100th burrowing owl took its first steps back onto the prairies recently, after spending the winter under the care of Wilder Institute. Spokesperson, Graham Dixon-McCallum, says this is a big milestone because the estimation is without intervention, only six of the 100 would have returned to nest over the last seven years, and many wouldn’t have survived their first winter.