When Did The Owls Arrive in Cape Coral?

The first recorded sighting of a Burrowing Owl in Cape Coral was documented by the Caloosa Bird Club in 1968.  During their annual Christmas Bird Count, members of the club canvassed Cape Coral counting all the birds they could see in the course of a day.  There must have been quite a bit of excitement in the group to discover a bird that had never been seen on the annual count in previous years.

Prior to this, Cape Coral was not suitable habitat for Burrowing Owls. The 100 square miles of land was mostly covered on the outskirts with mangrove trees, and the interior was wooded areas with meandering streams.  The thick lush foliage that was found here was not suitable habitat for Burrowing Owls

In the early 1960's the Rosen Brothers, two business men from New York City "discovered" a plot of land that, because of the location between Pine Island Sound, the Caloosahatchee River and with quick access to the Gulf of Mexico, was an absolute "Water Wonderland". They moved in with the largest collection of earth moving equipment that had ever been seen in Florida and leveled nearly 100 square miles of land and dug 400 miles of canals.

As you can figure, this completely changed the landscape and many of animals that lived here were gone, never to be seen again. 

For all the wildlife Cape Coral lost due to habitat destruction, they did gain a City treasure, the Burrowing Owl.  Scattered throughout the State of Florida were pockets of Burrowing Owls.  They are not known to be migratory birds here in Florida, since the weather is so nice all year round, but Burrowing Owls must have strayed down to Cape Coral, then went back to tell their friends what ideal habit this booming city would be for them to live.

This is the reason Burrowing Owls were not seen prior to that 1968 Christmas Bird Count.  Burrowing Owls like prairie like conditions.  Out west they live in abandoned prairie dog burrows, but here in Florida, since the soil is so soft, they dig their own burrows. With the vast miles of empty, flat, sandy soil lot that were created, this area was like going to  a Hilton resort.  The birds quickly adapted to the habitat and began digging burrows and reproducing.

In the Spring of 2009 the City of Cape Coral rode down every street in town (not an easy task if you have ever driven in Cape Coral) and counted the burrows.   Together with GPS coordinates provided by a local volunteer group that watches over the Burrowing Owls, the final count was 2800 burrows. Certainly not all of them are occupied, but it gives you a idea just how large a population of the owls are in Cape Coral.

So in a nutshell, that is how the Burrowing Owl arrived in Cape Coral.