Burrowing owls returning to a damaged habitat after Hurricane Ian

Hurricane Ian destroyed the habitats for animals in Southwest Florida, including the underground burrows for burrowing owls.

The storm left the birds without a place to go back to, and many of them were injured. The owls are all over our community, and without a home, they’ll become scarce.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, fixing homes is the top priority for many Southwest Florida residents.

The same mindset goes for burrowing owls. Just like people, their homes were impacted by the storm surge.

“An owl will not go into a wet burrow. So if it’s flooded and still wet, they will wait until it dries out. I have found this past week that people are pulling the PVC and on vacant lots running them over because they assume the owls are not going to come back, but that’s not true,” said Pascha Donaldson, with Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife.