Owl Watch Season Stats 2025

After a long Owl Watch season with many highs and lows, our staff, volunteers, and partners came together to celebrate all of their hard work and dedication in protecting and monitoring burrowing owls in Collier County. As development continues to grow in the area, owls are losing habitat at a rapid pace. We have lost 340 owl sites since 2010. The 2025 nesting season had the highest owl rescues and mortality we've ever documented, with 34 owls taken to the Von Arx Hospital and 34 owls found deceased - some fresh enough for testing. Car strikes and presumed toxins were among the highest percentage of influences on their survival. Eight of the 34 burrowing owls rescued were able to be treated and released back to their burrows which is an incredible number considering the state of most owls when found. As we enter the next nesting season, it is really important to slow down while driving and keep your eyes on the road. Additionally, we will continue our campaign to end rat poison and glue trap usage and move to safe and effective methods and products to reduce rat numbers. Using exclusion first and Good Bites fertility feed second is now available through Seal Em Out (239-722-8243).

But there is still hope! Our owl population is resilient, and without any tropical storms or hurricanes hitting our area, they were able to sustain their numbers and produce hundreds of fledglings! Without our Safe Harbor starter burrow program and willing homeowners, the results would have been very different. Starter burrows alone produced 97 fledglings! We are so grateful for the community engagement in helping us provide habitat for this state-threatened species. If you are interested in a starter burrow, email us at owlwatchmarco@gmail.com! We continued our efforts in banding research under state and federal permits. This season, we re-sighted 155 banded adults and 12 banded fledglings. We banded 101 adults and 47 chicks! Tracking movements, dispersal, and survival of owls is vital in our research, and we value any photos or reports of banded owls!

Our partners are paramount in the success of keeping owls safe. Thank you to the City of Marco Island, Marco PD Code Enforcement, Marco Fire Department, the Von Arx Hospital, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Conservation Collier, Dr. Raoul Boughton, Wisdom Good Works, Seal Em Out, Coastal Breeze News, Frank Steiger Photography, and the SCWDS Lab of the University of Georgia.