My Life’s Birds: #221

June 17, 1994 – Cape Coral, Fl – I assume that most of us keep a yard list, right? Even if you’re not a hard-core twitching lister, it’s nice to keep a tally of the species that visit your personal corner of the world. Because unlike a life list, which often can be seen as at least party a competitive venture (even if the competitor is just yourself), a yard list is limited by the habitat in your yard and many times this is out of our control. So this list, more than others, is intensely personal. Other birders may travel to the exact same hotspot to get the same birds you may have on your lifelist, but they won’t have a list of your yard.

That is, of course, unless your yard is a hotspot, or home to a particularly interesting or unusual bird. Which might be expected if you live in the boonies, but an apparently unexceptional housing development in the sprawling burbs of Florida? Not likely, unless it’s Cape Coral, and unless the bird you’re looking for is a Burrowing Owl who has taken up residence in a sandy vacant lot.

The Owls of Cape Coral are relatively famous, even among Florida’s already pretty famous birdlife. We were helped in our quest by the incredibly useful Lane Guide to Birds of Florida, which directed us to the exact neighborhood where we found the birds in no time at all, and I’m hardly the first birder who’s taken advantage of the drive-thru lifer. It’s sort of odd to be in a position of slowly cruising down city streets with binoculars at the ready. In other places such behavior would likely draw unwanted attention from law enforcement. But the citizens of Cape Coral are fairly used to such situations, and the city has ordinances specific to the birds and even suggestions for attracting them to your yard.

It would be a pretty cool addition to your yard list should you be so lucky.

photo from wikipedia