{"id":8013,"date":"2012-06-18T06:19:24","date_gmt":"2012-06-18T04:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=8013"},"modified":"2019-12-22T22:25:28","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T09:25:28","slug":"the-burrowing-owls-of-cape-coral-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/the-burrowing-owls-of-cape-coral-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"The Burrowing Owls of Cape Coral, Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

My first meeting with one of the Cape Coral Burrowing Owls was at a vacant lot on an early-spring afternoon. An adult owl stared up at me with lemon-yellow eyes just above the rim of a shallow depression in the dirt, which was decorated with the remains of a leather boot, a dirty white rag, and other bits of trash. After seeming to determine that there was no threat, the owl ambled out of the burrow to a “T” perch a few feet away to observe me from a higher perspective.<\/p>\n

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Adult Burrowing Owl<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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adult on “T” perch and with pellet<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

When the adult left the burrow, four youngsters crowded the entrance to get their own heavy-lidded looks at me.Eventually two of them must have felt safe enough to venture out on their own, although they did not stray far from the burrow.<\/p>\n

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Owlets in burrow<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

Trying not toencroach upon their territory as I photographed them, I made sure to stay on the sidewalk to minimize the stress of my presence on the owls.I realized later when I processed the images, that the initial behavior of at least one of the juveniles was defensive (vocalizing and wing displays). Eventually the owlet took a comfortable seat in the weeds, yawned, closed its eyes and appeared to nap.<\/p>\n

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juvenile vocalizing<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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juvenile yawning<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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owlet with droopy eyes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

It was not by accident that I had found Burrowing Owls in Cape Coral. Prior to my visit, I had discovered my tour guide, theOwl Lady, through her website.This friendly and knowledgeable womanactively monitors burrows, gives tours, and has a burrow in her own suburban yard, complete with custom perch and a web cam.<\/p>\n

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Adult on custom-made perch<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

In North America, the overall conservation status of the Burrowing Owl is “Bird of Conservation Concern” with the majority of threatened or endangered populations residing in thewestern states.Historically a bird of the prairiethe Florida subspecies ofBurrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia floridana)has been pushed out of its native habitat by development, but these diminutive owls have become well-adapted to human-environments. They prefer to nest in open areas with very short vegetation. However, if the vegetation is not kept short, the owls cannot see predators and will abandon the site.<\/p>\n

TheCity of Cape Coralis committed to a managed development plan that makes the welfare of the Burrowing Owl a high priority. Statistics show that nesting success rates are higher in areas of the city that are between 50 and 75% developed. With more than 1000 nesting pairs here, community leaders and volunteers have made a concerted effort to protect them. Residents interested in helping to maintain burrows in their neighborhood may participate in the “Adopt a Burrow” program.<\/p>\n

Visitors to Cape Coral are encouraged to schedule a guided tour to see the owls. Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife will also be having their 11th annual Burrowing Owl Festival on February 23, 2013.<\/p>\n

The time spent with these adorable little owls was a special experience for me. I feel fortunate that they allowed me to photograph them. To view the entire gallery of images from my visit with the Cape Coral Burrowing Owls, click here.<\/p>\n

Julie Brown<\/p>\n

juliebrown.aminus3.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My first meeting with one of the Cape Coral Burrowing Owls was at a vacant lot on an early-spring afternoon. An adult owl stared up at me with lemon-yellow eyes just above the rim of a shallow depression in the dirt, which was decorated with the remains of a leather boot, a dirty white rag, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":2192083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/burrowingowladulteburrowCapeCoral2012Lowres.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6984,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs","category-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2192083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}