Yes, You Can Build! (In most cases)

YES! You can build a home with a Burrowing Owl nest located on the property, but there are some important things to consider.

 For many years there was a big misconception that once there was a Burrowing Owl living on a piece of property you couldn't build a home on that property.  This misconception led to a lot of clandestine burrow closures.  Home owners, and other interested parties, would sometimes go out after dark and fill in a burrow to keep the owls from returning to their burrows.  Often there were young or even adults still in the burrow and they died as a result.

The home building permitting process here in Cape Coral is such that one of the questions on the form, which is filled out by the builder, is whether or not a Burrow is located on the property.

While most of the builders in Cape Coral do care about the Burrowing Owls and were honest about answering this question, others were not.  In my mind it is like having the fox watch the hen house. It was real easy for the builders to over look burrows.

Enter Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife.  This organization looks after all the wildlife here in town, but especially the Burrowing Owls.  One of their projects is to take GPS coordinates of every known burrow in town, whether it be a Burrowing Owl burrow or an endangered Gopher Tortoise.  With over 2800 burrows in the City, this was/is a monumental project.  The data collected is then fed into the City database, and now, when a building permit is pulled, the City knows there is a burrow on the property and will go out and check the property for these species.

So what happens if there is a Burrowing Owl present?

Every effort is made to preserve the burrow.  If the house is in such a location that a 50-ft radius circle of protection with pipes, tape and signs, can be placed around the burrow, the home can be built.  If the house is to be located on top of the burrow, the construction is delayed until nesting season is over (15 February -July 10th) and a permit is obtained to "take" the burrow (as a last resort).  The burrow must be free of active Burrowing Owls and the young have already fledged. In other words, the nest must be empty or abandoned.

This information is in a nutshell, and final decisions come from the State of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) who issue the final permits.

More detailed information and how to file for a permit can be obtained by visiting the following page:

 BURROWING OWL NEST PROTECTION GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES IN URBAN AREAS