Threatened burrowing owls number in the thousands in Cape Coral. Now they are being counted, protected
The Prius slow-rolls through the early morning quiet of Cape Coral, its occupants scanning nearby yards.
“Stop, stop, stop – there’s one right there,” Cheryl Anderson says to Jim Collier, who glides to a halt.
The couple’s search target appears in a streetside swale: a burrowing owl. Chocolate and cream-speckled, with wide golden eyes, the bird stands straight and still, head slowly swiveling to take in the visitors. Another perches nearby on a PVC T hammered into the ground.
On this Sunday morning, Anderson and Collier are helping with the sixth annual census of Cape Coral’s 3,000-plus burrowing owls, the largest population in Florida – and likely on the planet.
