Cape Coral’s Burrowing Owls: A local gem with a growing population

By Bella Line

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    CAPE CORAL, Florida (WFTX) — The little white sticks all over Cape Coral mark the homes of one of the city’s gems.

“I didn’t know anybody in town, so I kind of rode around to see where I lived and I happened to go past this lot, and there was a bird standing on this cross, and I’m wondering, what in the world is that,” said Beverly Saltonstall, Author of Burrowing Owls Don’t Hoot.

Burrowing owls, standing at about nine inches tall, sit on their perch right at hip level for us.

People like Pascha Donaldson and Beverly Saltonstall love them.

“Once you get involved, you get hooked,” said Donaldson, with the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife.

Saltonstall is one of the founding members of the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife that started more than 20 years ago. She was a part of the first official owl count in 2018 when they counted 2,500 burrows in the city.

“The first one was a little rocky because people didn’t know, you know how to do it,” said Saltonstall.

She says they have worked out some of the kinks and have more than 500 members helping them out.

Donaldson says Cape Coral has more burrowing owls than any other city in the state. From 2023 to 2024, they counted nearly 900 more owls.

“People need to know what’s going on and whether our population, for the state the state population, is based basically on Cape Coral’s population,” said Donaldson.

The numbers still vary because of the weather and bird deaths, so they rely on the community to help them out.

“Cape Coral’s 100 square miles, so there’s no way we could monitor all of the burrowing owls in town. So, you know, we have to rely on people calling us,” said Saltonstall.

They say even with the educational work they do, their biggest threat is development.

“We GPS every burrow that we mark and put it in the city records, so if anybody pulls a permit, they know that there’s a burrowing owl living on there,” said Saltonstall.

“As the city gets built out and their lots get destroyed and their habitat gets destroyed, we’re begging people to have their little front yard owl,” said Donaldson.

They say the count has stayed pretty steady over the last decade. Currently, Cape Coral has about 5,000 burrowing owls.

“If you don’t want rats, you don’t want roaches, you don’t want lizards in your yard, these are your natural pest control. You don’t have to pay them either,” said Donaldson.

If you want a burrowing owl as your front yard neighbor, the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife will come dig you your very own burrow, and within a year, you may have a family of burrowing owls moving onto your street.

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