Owls? Here in Boca. Someone should have said something before we started digging a month ago… ;D


I guess I need to try and find the articles on the disposition regarding the owls. I don't remember if they allowed FAU to relocate them or they weren't nesting in the area of the proposed buildings.

Anyone remember?

O.G. said

Owls? Here in Boca. Someone should have said something before we started digging a month ago… ;D


I guess I need to try and find the articles on the disposition regarding the owls. I don't remember if they allowed FAU to relocate them or they weren't nesting in the area of the proposed buildings.

Anyone remember?

Well, ya'll could always move them to Fort Myers where all the other owls are. Isn't that pretty far north up the Florida coast line a good ways?

No its on the west coast of florida almost due west of FAU

It's about 3 hours away on the West Coast of Florida. Fort Myers is about 1 hr north of Naples and 2 hrs south of Tampa on I-75.

O.G. said

It's about 3 hours away on the West Coast of Florida. Fort Myers is about 1 hr north of Naples and 2 hrs south of Tampa on I-75.

Ahhh. So that's where Clint went to school. I was thinking it was around Fort Lauderdale.

I remember Clint from High School. Deion Sanders,Jevon Kearse,Rob Gillespe, Eggerin James are all from that Ft Myers area. Loaded with Talent.

BTW…Remember the name Noel Devine from Ft Myers next year. A stud senior RB who will make a name in the college ranks.

click at your own risk! :

http://www.hootmovie.com/

Here's an article that mentions your favorite movie of the year, fellas:

http://www.charter.net/news/read.php?ps=1016&id=12781798&_LT=HOME_LARSDCCLM_UNEWS

From the article:

New Line's family film "Hoot," adapted from Carl Hiaasen's novel about teenagers trying to save endangered owls, flopped with $3.4 million, tied for No. 9.

By the way, I went to see "An American Haunting" this weekend with my brother and his future wife. I liked it. It's not a scream your head off scary movie, but hey, it's about the Bell Witch of Tennessee. As a kid, my brothers, our friends, and myself were often told legends about the Bell Witch–often told tales of what one could do to summom the presence of the demon spirit. Of course to a 8-year old, the idea of seeing a demon spirit wasn't too appealing, and those tales as ridiculous as they seem now, we're very much believed then.

Shoot, I still have a book written by a Bell decendent that was passed through our family for generations. And to this day I've yet to read it. I guess you can say I'm kinda' scared to find out more about the Bell Witch. They say that those that strive to learn more about the Bell Witch become the next victims. 8-)

Its Hoot, the movie in real life.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pbocaowls10may10,0,2228545.story?coll=sfl-news-browardcomm&track =mostemailedlink




Burrowing owls hold up construction of building at Boca Raton High

By Marc Freeman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Education Writer
Posted May 10 2006


Boca Raton – Price hikes. Labor and materials in short supply. Hurricanes. Nothing has stopped school construction projects in Palm Beach County – until now.

Meet the burrowing owls of Boca Raton High School.


The protected birds nested in late March on land cleared for a $13 million science and career academy building. So construction, which was supposed to start May 1, is on hold for several months until the eggs hatch and the chicks leave the burrow.

"You have a choice of laughing or crying," said Clinton Glass, senior vice president of Centex Construction in West Palm Beach. "We choose laughter. It's just one of those things."

But it means the much-needed classrooms likely won't be ready until January 2008, rather than August 2007. The School Board approved the building in 2003, and it's the last major piece of the school's modernization.

"They're cute; they're beautiful creatures," Principal Geoff McKee said, familiar with the birds since they nested last summer on the football stadium's 5-yard line and threatened a pre-season game and band practices. "They are kind of like our mini-mascots."

Florida's burrowing owls are also sharing the cinematic spotlight these days with Tom Cruise and Mission: Impossible III. A feature comedy film called Hoot, released nationwide Friday, tells the story of three Florida kids trying to stop a pancake house from building on a nesting ground for the owls. The movie is based on a novel by author Carl Hiaasen.

Under the terms of the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, it is illegal to harm a burrowing owl, its nest or its eggs. State law requires a permit to build on owl grounds and forbids disturbing burrows while they house chicks or eggs, most likely from Feb. 15 to July 10.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission classifies the owls – numbering about 2,500 according to the most recent official survey six years ago – as a species of special concern. That means they have a high vulnerability to factors that may lead to their becoming a threatened species if they are left without protection or management.

The smallish ground-dwellers originally made their homes in grasslands and fields. As the state has developed, they've made their way to airports, ball fields and land cleared for construction.

Palm Beach County is ranked third in the state for burrowing owl population, trailing only Lee and Broward counties, said Ricardo Zambrano, a commission biologist. In 1971, Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton was declared a sanctuary for the owls, distinctive for their tunneled-out nests and day-and-night hours. The school also adopted the birds as its mascot.

In recent years, the burrowing owl has interrupted construction at Broward's South Plantation High School and a Florida Power & Light Co. substation in Lauderdale Lakes.

At Boca Raton High, a temporary fence surrounds the burrow on the south side of campus near the bus loop. A "Do Not Disturb" sign declares the area off limits to "people, dogs or vehicles."

Administrators are eager for the new building to ease a classroom crunch, which has resulted in part from the state's class-size reduction law, and popular science, technology, engineering and math academy programs. The campus peaked at about 2,070 students this year, and will welcome 300 more students this fall, McKee said.

"Right now, we could fill the building and then some," he said. For a temporary space fix, some larger classrooms will be divided in half next year.

But the principal doesn't hold a grudge against the birds.

"It was the perfect location for the owls to burrow," McKee said. "It's a nice little summer home for them."

Marc Freeman can be reached at [email protected] or 561-243-6642.

Two nights ago they brought this movie up on the Colbert Report, granted, they were making fun of it but you know what they say about press…

and in this case, any press for that movie is bad for FAU.