2024 Burrowing Owl Photo Contest

Enter Your Photos Starting Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Ready your lens for Cape Coral’s enchanting owl!

Support our Mission

We are a volunteer organization with no paid positions. There are a number of ways you can support our mission, including becoming a member, donating and volunteering for events and operations.

Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife

Our Mission

Dedicated to Protection, Preservation and Education

Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife is a volunteer organization whose purpose is to preserve and enhance the habitats of protected wildlife species and to educate the community about Cape Coral’s wildlife resources.

Founded in 2001, we now have approximately 500 members and an engaged group of  volunteers, board of directors and committees operating our unique events and programs.  | About Us

Volunteer hours in the last year

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Who to Contact

If you came here to report a wildlife or habitat issue, please start here.

Actions Speak Louder than Words!

Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife is a non-profit membership organization that relies on donations and fundraisers to help protect our wildlife in Cape Coral, Florida. All members are volunteers, with no paid positions.

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Join/Renew Membership

Help support wildlife in Cape Coral by becoming a member, or renewing your existing membership.

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Donate to CCFW

Make a tax deductible donation to support Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife and our mission to protect and educate.

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Shop CCFW Merchandise

Get some unique apparel, wear your support for Cape Coral's wildlife and help further our mission by shopping CCFW merchandise.

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Adopt an Owl

Adopt a Cape Coral Burrowing Owl to help fund burrow maintenance activities and other programs.

What’s at Stake

The Florida burrowing owl and gopher tortoise are designated a threatened species by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The designation of Threatened is given to species whose prospects of survival are in jeopardy—in this case due largely to habitat loss.

Research has shown that gopher tortoise populations in Cape Coral represent a self-sustaining viable conservation unit that call for preservation of the natural and vacant lands they currently occupy.

The gopher tortoise is considered a “keystone species” with more than 350 other species using their burrows for shelter. If the tortoise burrows disappear, the ecosystem of wildlife that relies on them, will collapse.

Cape Coral Wildlife Needs Our Help

Our sister organization, the Cape Coral Wildlife Trust is rushing to acquire land for habitat preservation.

Make a Difference

burrow maintenance

Join the Burrow Maintenance Crew

Here is an important way to help working directly with wildlife. Supplied with City maps, weed wackers, safety equipment, and lots of enthusiasm this group of dedicated volunteers trim burrow with high weeds, install PVC pipes and perches on newly found burrows, repair and clean up existing burrows. They also have obtained GPS coordinates for every known burrow and submitted this information to the City of Cape Coral to be put in the City data base.

Starter Burrow

Dig a Starter Burrow

As Cape Coral grows, there will be less and less empty lots for the Burrowing Owls to call home, and loss of habitat is a primary reason why Burrowing Owl populations decline. Fortunately there is a solution to habitat loss that is working quite well.  Homeowners are being encouraged to put "starter" burrows on their front lawns.

Zebra Longwing

Visit the Butterfly House

The Tom Allen Memorial Butterfly House is one of Cape Coral's top attractions and a labor of love for many CCFW volunteers.

public outreach

Request a Speaker

CCFW volunteers are available to speak to students and civic associations about protecting Cape Coral's wildlife and habitats.

In the News

2024 Burrowing Owl Festival Recap

2024 Burrowing Owl Festival Recap

Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife (CCFW) would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to all that made the 22nd Annual Burrowing Owl Festival, Wildlife and Environmental Expo on February 24, 2024 a resounding success. The event celebrated the city’s official bird,...

Cape ground owl sees her shadow

Cape ground owl sees her shadow

It has been an unusually cool winter here in Southwest Florida. And it may continue to be cool for some time to come. That is what Athene, the city’s official burrowing owl, told NBC2 meteorologist Rob Duns on Friday as…

Volunteer of the Month – February 2024

Volunteer of the Month – February 2024

Gigi Yarusso Approximately eleven years ago, Gigi met a woman from Switzerland, Maija Gadient. Both shared the love of wildlife, especially the Florida manatee and the monarch butterfly. Six years ago, Gigi involved herself in raising money for a Manateeum (museum...

Photographers Birding Bus Tour

Photographers Birding Bus Tour

As part of Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife’s 22nd Annual Burrowing Owl Festival, Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife will be offering a Photographers Birding Bus Tour. Join Master Birders Eary and Jennifer Warren, and David and Tammy McQuade in an air-conditioned bus for this fascinating four-hour trip.

2024 Ground Owl Day

2024 Ground Owl Day

The storm left the birds without a place to go back to, and many of them were injured. The owls are all over our community, and without a home, they’ll become scarce.