#Taking care is a fact in Cape Coral, Florida; USA. By Roger Reynolds

As my neighbor said…”Everything is upside down in this country. Never seen like it in my life.” He was MP in Korea, was Leona Helmsy Chief of Security at her hotels in NYC. He’s 88 and still works 20+ hours at the local schools. Amazing.
Most of you know we are ardent supports of CCFW, (Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife).
For many years we have belonged and worked with the association in all aspects. The Burrowing Owl is native to this area. As vacant land becomes developed there are less and less areas that the Owls can nest. And yes…Cape Coral is a boomtown again. Building is everywhere and people are selling their homes in one day. Go figure…
Just like it was in 2008, right before the Great Recession. To support this, we have always had multiple burrows in our front yard. The Owls actually dig a burrow to go in and start a family. Over the years we’ve had several successful families of little Owls. They’re an endangered species protected by the Federal govt.
Here are some examples of past Owls…
Even Adella had made a great appearance on live broadcast for National Geographic TV. The videographer said she was a natural.
That is one of my photographs of 5 babies in the southern burrow of our front yard.
At the annual Friends of Wildlife festival.
This year, when I returned to the Cape, two Owls had made their own burrow under the driveway, ignoring the two we had prepared for them.
As you can see the male Owl is very protective of the female. She’s down there in the burrow hopefully laying eggs. Good nest is 3-6 siblings. As you can see in the right photo, the female is just peeking out. We were waiting…

About noon of the 23rd, I was sitting in my truck chatting with friends back in Denver, while charging my phone. A good view of the burrows in the driveway and the female was out enjoying the sunshine and watching for predators. It’s amazing as their heads seem to turn 360* watching for invaders. Unfortunately she wasn’t that fast.
From the telephone lines swooped down a Cooper Hawk. Attacking the female, faster than I could react. Thought it was the male, from the other burrow, bringing food. Instead the Hawk grabbed the female by the neck and off they went…in a blinding second.
Hardly realizing what had happened, I raced over to the Hawk who was still on top of the Owl. He immediately flew. There lay the limp body of the mother Owl. Her head wiggled around. I hesitated for a moment. Then laid her on my open hand trying to support her. Within a few seconds…the mother Owl died…right in my hand. So Sad…
Pasha, our president of the CCFW, confirmed that Hawks do indeed break the necks of their prey. So I wrapped up the lifeless body and carried it inside. Bury it? How about getting it stuffed? Pasha explained that as these Owls are endangered species and protected by Federal law, I could go to jail just having it in the house. Getting it stuffed requires a Federal permit, not easy to acquire. No taxidermist would even attempt it. Best is she will take the corpse out to a field where other birds will feast on it. Naturally. In the meantime, the poor thing sits in my freezer. As she requested, wrapped up in plastic bags. Pasha is militant about this. I’ve photographed several sites for her. Once a developer in north Lee Cty. plowed over two burrows, killing the owls. She had a Federal Marshall arrest the developers. They’re spending 5 years in a Federal hotel…aka prison. She means business.

Well, we kept a lookout for the male, the father. Next night he was in the other burrow. Sitting and watching. I wondered if there were any eggs down there. Could we get them out? A company called CORE would come and recover what they could.
Next day I took the body of the deceased mother Owl out and laid it beside the burrow where the male was perched. I watched as he stared at the lifeless body of his mate.
Hold on! The next morning I walked out just to see. There were 3 little furry Owls peeking into the world. Hold it…four. Hold it…how about 5 of the fur babies. Maybe 3-4 weeks old per Pasha. OMG…who is going to feed them? Pasha came by and brought a bag full of “crickets” and “worms” from the local pet store.
Guess what? I’m now the Owl Mama, feeding the Father Owl each day to give to the 5 babies. What a surprise. Crickets for breakfast and worms for dinners. What a feast.
What a trauma all during the holiday season. Most of you know about the house fire. Now we’ve engaged a legal firm to go after the insurance company as they refuse to pay the claim. Will take 2+ months out of the house for Smoke Restoration. Everything comes out into a storage unit. Anybody own a motel here?
Well, I’m off on a food run for the fur babies. Later…
Best to you all…