Owl Watch Decade Celebration

This past weekend, Audubon Western Everglades was extremely grateful to host a Decade Owl Watch Celebration at the Wesley United Methodist Church on Marco Island. We were not only celebrating Owl Watch, but the extended history of those who originally began protections and education for burrowing owls on Marco Island. Nancy Richie, who we call an "Owl Legend", is the number one reason why burrowing owls exist on the island. She worked for the city as their environmentalist from 1999-2015. As land was being cleared for development, owls found that this easy digging sand/soil was an alternative habitat to their native grassland area also being lost. She began "Owl Prowl," which consisted of three other ladies: Carol Patterson, Lori Fredericks, and Eva Schliesser. They spent every week posting new owl burrows, collecting data on nesting, spreading education, and testing out starter burrows. From starting with just a couple of pairs in the beginning grew to 27 pairs in 2010 and 73 pairs in 2013.

Other volunteers joined Nancy in 2012, including Dan Flaherty, Jean Hall, and Karol Tenace. As the owl population began to rapidly grow, Jean Hall and Karol Tenace went to Audubon Western Everglades and begged them to take over the program and help with monitoring and management. Owl Watch officially began in 2016 under AWE. Lori Beall, our program director, has been with AWE for 20 years and Brad Cornell our policy director has been with AWE for 25 years!! We celebrated the volunteers who are still with the program today, who made it 10 years! These include Karol Tenace, Dan Flaherty, Sharon Epple, Maria Lamb, Fred and Nancy Adams, Dick and Barbara Scheerer, Lou and Bill Basch, and Ed and Karen Caster. Other biologists previous to me also expanded the program. Dr. Liz White pursued research on rural vs. urban burrowing owl populations under Dr. Raoul Boughton through banding, nesting success, and tracking movements with transmitters. Alli Smith was hired as the first biologist of AWE and she assisted Liz with her research and furthered monitoring of starter burrows under the newly established Safe Harbor Program. This was created in a partnership with AWE, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the City of Marco Island. The goal was to test out increased numbers of starter burrows in front yards of willing homeowners while ensuring that if the burrow was excavated by an owl, it could be legally removed under a free permit at any time, as long as there was no active nesting occurring. The city provided an incentive of $250 to anyone who drew an owl to their burrow and dug 18 inches. At this time, the burrowing owl was listed as a state threatened species with greater protections.

I transitioned from working part-time for AWE under shorebirds previously to a full-time wildlife biologist in 2020, leading our conservation programs and managing volunteers. This is my sixth year working with a growing army of incredible volunteers who assist with all of our monitoring and research. Under Owl Watch, the starter burrow program has blown up with success, with more owls living in front yards than ever before. Pam and Wayne Fawcett have dug the majority of these starters, and I appreciate all of their efforts. As owl mortality increased, I pursued further partnerships to ensure we could test owls for my suspicions of rat poison. After obtaining high results of owls with poison within their systems thanks to FWC and UGA SCWDS Lab, it became my mission to end the use of rat poison. From Raptors are the Solution, to Wisdom Good Works, to Seal Em Out, I was able to gain enough knowledge on who to work with to make this possible. Thanks to the City of Marco Island Beach Advisory and Coastal Resources Committee, especially Jim Scarpa, for presenting our ideas of changing rat control techniques, the City Council of Marco Island unanimously voted to remove rat poison from all city properties. They hired Paul Trapp from Seal Em Out to do a combination of exclusion, Good Bites fertility feed, and trapping as needed. We have presented to many condos and neighborhoods in Collier County as well as started conversations with Collier County staff. Our banding efforts under Dr. Raoul Boughton have increased to track survival, movements, and site fidelity. Although habitat loss and mortality are high, the owls are extremely resilient. If we all do our part in slowing down while driving, giving space to owls, avoiding parking on vacant lots, removing the use of rat poison, and providing starter burrows, it is possible to sustain the population on Marco Island.

Thank you to Joanna Metzger, Sharon Epple, and Lindsay Boehner for sponsoring the event. Thank you to Mangos for delivering the food. Paddy G provided us excellent music once again! Thank you to Frank Steiger for taking photos of the event. Check out our website soon for our new decade owl watch design by Elizabeth Bonert! (audubonwe.org).