You're owl I ever wanted

An ode to the Cape Coral burrowing owls

Welcome to Owl My Children, a monthly newsletter where I talk about owls! Again!

February was bursting with friends and birds. I went on trips to Florida and Las Vegas, where I got to spend time in some really cool parks and bird sanctuaries, including J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Corkscrew Swamp, Death Valley National Park, and Valley of Fire State Park. I saw enough birds in February to last me several newsletters. In Vegas, my friends and I even stumbled upon a Nevada state rarity: a yellow-billed loon, which you’re supposed to see in Alaska. My friend Sarah spotted it, and I got some photos (thankfully!), and it turns out that we were the first people in the area to report it. It was extremely nerve-racking, and we had to wait a few days for our report to be officially confirmed—but confirmed it is! I might write a newsletter about the whole thing one day, but I’m afraid it’s probably not very exciting to anyone who wasn’t there, panicking in the rental mini-van as we decided whether or not to eBird a rare loon and risk public humiliation.

For now, I’ll start at the beginning of the month, which is to say, I’ll start with the burrowing owls. They were the main reason my three birding friends and I wanted to go to Florida in the first place. We carefully planned out our itinerary so that, should we not see the owls on Day 1, we could try again, and again, and again until we saw them.

In the end, that wasn’t necessary. Because in Cape Coral, burrowing owls are EVERYWHERE. Literally everywhere. They’re in the medians as you drive down the road; they’re beside the parking lots at strip malls; they’re in people’s yards. They’re at the baseball fields; next to the library; on the side of the highway. They blend in well, because they’re brown and tiny and they like brown fields. (When I say tiny, I mean tiny: 7.5 inches to 9.8 inches tall and 5.3 ounces, according to the Cornell Lab.) But once we started seeing them, we couldn’t stop seeing them.

Before we understood how easy it would be to find a burrowing owl, we eagerly drove out to the eBird hotspot where they’d recently been reported. We were prepared to wait for as long as it took to find an owl (we’d wait owl day long if we had to!). But we were actually still in the car when we saw a photographer crouching down in the grass, her gigantic lens pointed at an owl sitting outside of his burrow. Just sitting for his portrait like a good Victorian lad.

(First burrowing owl of the trip! This might actually be a lady, not a lad; they’re hard to tell apart. Photo by me)

We screamed and parked the car. The owl stayed where he was, his head swiveling every few seconds as he watched for danger. Apparently he didn’t think we were dangerous. (Burrowing owls in Florida seem to be accustomed to excited humans.) He did not, however, enjoy the presence of the monk parakeets that were nesting nearby. Every time a parakeet screeched, his pupils shrank into tiny dots at the center of his giant yellow eyes.

We kept our distance, but as we continued walking around the baseball fields, we started noticing more owls. There was one hunched in a burrow, glaring at us. There were others perched next to their burrows, watching as a random stranger walked her dog nearby. (So many people walked their dogs by these burrows. So many.)

A man walked down his driveway across the street. In her owl-induced excitement, my friend called out, “How lucky are you, to live across from burrowing owls?”

He said nothing, just got in his car and drove away. Oops.

This is what we came to realize: Many people in Cape Coral don’t care about these owls. They’ve grown used to them, as if they’re house sparrows.

(The most perfect burrowing owl. Photo by me)

Burrowing Owl FAQ

We saw the owls every day of our trip, often by accident, and we stopped the car whenever we could for extra viewing time. On Superb Owl Sunday, we were driving out to a remote location to find a Florida scrub jay when we saw a Superb Owl perched outside of its burrow near an empty parking lot.

One of the reasons it’s so easy to find these owls is because every known burrow in Cape Coral is marked with PVC pipe. There are over 2,500 burrows within the city limits (though not all are in use). The pipes are meant to prevent people from mowing or walking over the area. They’re usually accompanied by wooden crosses, which make the owls seem religious, or like they’re hanging out in cemeteries, but the crosses are intended to provide them with a nice place to perch.

(The Superbest of all owls. Photo by me)

The more time we spent with these owls, the more questions we had. Here are the answers I found on the internet:

Q: Why are there so many burrowing owls in Cape Coral?

A: The lore I’ve found suggests that burrowing owls came to Cape Coral in the 1950s. A bunch of trees were cut down to make way for development, and the owls liked the wide open land. They used to enjoy Central Florida, but then that land was taken over by malls and houses and such. As Cape Coral develops, the city and other local wildlife groups are working to protect the owls.

Q: Can they fly?

A: Yes, but they seem to prefer being underground. The owls in Florida don’t migrate, though some of the ones out West do.

Q: Why do they like flat, treeless spaces?

A: Because this allows them to watch out for predators more easily. Lots of animals would love to eat a burrowing owl and/or burrowing owl eggs: cats, hawks, foxes, raccoons, skunks, etc.

I assume the flat spaces are also good for digging burrows. In Florida, burrowing owls dig their own burrows! But out West, burrowing owls re-use the abandoned burrows of other animals such as prairie dogs and ground squirrels.

(This owl dug his own burrow, and he won’t let you forget it. Photo by me)

Q: What do burrowing owls do all day?

A: Burrowing owls hunt anytime, day or night. During the day they hunt for bugs, and at night they hunt for rodents. But mostly they just sleep outside their burrows. They are monogamous, and they usually keep the same burrow year after year.

We saw a lot of burrowing owl couples hanging out together outside their burrows. We never saw any owls walking, flying, or moving from their preferred spots. In fact, they were often just sitting directly beside their mate, heads swiveling as they kept an eye out for potential threats. Sometimes they closed their eyes, nodding off for a moment before snapping to attention again. They reminded me of my grandparents sitting on the porch in the summer.

(Precious. Photo by me)

Q: Is there an elaborate tunnel system connecting all of the burrows?

A: No, but the burrows do get pretty deep (usually 3 feet, but some sources suggest they can be as deep as 8 feet). Burrowing owls prefer to live in “loose colonies,” which sound like suburban neighborhoods. They like their burrows to be close together, but not TOO close.

Q: Do they hoot?

A: According to Cornell, the males can do a two-note quail-like sound, and they do some weird chattery things too. Click “Song (Florida)” for an example. (I never really heard them make noise.)

Q: How do I attract a burrowing owl to my yard?

A: If you live in Cape Coral, you’re encouraged to do this! But probably not anywhere else. The Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife have a website that describes how to make a “starter burrow” in your yard. All you have to do is dig a hole 8-12 inches deep at a 45-degree angle, leave the dirt outside the hole, and make a wooden cross for them to sit on. It might look like you buried someone in the yard, but that’s fine.

Q: Should I plan a trip to Cape Coral to see the owls??

A: Why not?? The Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife say the best time for owls is between January and June; if you want to see baby burrowing owls, visit between April and June.

I have lots of other birding recommendations if you find yourself in Ft. Myers / Cape Coral for whatever reason. We ended up seeing 107 total species—22 of which were lifers for me! You can find more photos from my trip on Flickr.

(Don’t you want to visit this burrowing owl? Photo by me)

I hope owl your dreams come true this month!

Holly