Nonprofit helps relocate Northwest Cape Coral owls, head of city water project

CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK)— Some burrowing owls in northwest Cape Coral will soon have to relocate as the city's water project moves forward. 

The Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife is helping homeowners create new homes for the owls before construction begins. 

Sandy Miller-Baker, a homeowner in north Cape Coral, enjoys photographing the owls near her property. "They're just so cool to photograph, and they're so funny to watch," Miller-Baker said. 

The City of Cape Coral says if the birds are in the city's right-of-way for the project, they will have to move. 

"They were here, like it's not fair to them to have to move," Miller-Baker said. "I've watched them down the street move them, and it's heartbreaking when they close their burrows, and they have nowhere to go."

Miller-Baker is opening up her yard away from where the city needs to dig by putting in a starter burrow with help from the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife. The organization works with homeowners to find suitable locations for new burrows. 

"We look at where the project is going to impact their yard, and we help them find a space or a place in their yard for the starter burrow," said Janet Windisch of the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife. 

Although Miller-Baker lives in an area where construction has not started yet, the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife encourage people to get a burrow now. 

Windisch says the birds could move into their new home just feet away within hours. 

"Allowing owls to live in developed land is the way that they're going to have a long-term viability," Windisch said.

If you want a starter burrow in your yard, contact them here.