The Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife is now accepting entries for its third annual Burrowing Owl Photo Contest. Pictured is last year’s winning photo by Connie Hessler. Deadline to enter is May 22. The winner will be announced at Rotary Park after the Burrowing Owl Census completion on June 2. PHOTO PROVIDED

Enjoy capturing photos of wildlife or can’t get enough of the city’s official bird? The Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife is now accepting entries for its third annual Burrowing Owl Photo Contest.

The non-profit organization committed to protecting the city’s wildlife is looking for the best the public has to offer when it comes to pictures of the burrowing owl.

The photo contest ends on May 22, and the grand prize winner will have their photo used on CCFW’s 2024 official burrowing owl festival T-shirt.

“It’s going to be a good one this year, we’ve already got more than 50 entries,” said CCFW’s Cheryl Anderson. “It’s going to be really tough, which it always is.”

There are two division categories for the contest: amateur youth (7 to 17) and amateur adult. No professional photographer can enter the contest.

Participants may submit just one photo, and are permitted to the following: crop; make minor adjustments to color, white balance, lighting levels and curves, shadows and highlight, saturation, contrast, sharpness; moderate dodging and burning; removal of dust sports and moderate reduction of image noise.

Photographs that have been digitally or otherwise altered beyond standard optimization will be disqualified.

“We’ve got baby pictures, we’ve got adult owl pictures, we’ve flying owls, sitting owls, we’ve got a lot of different poses this year,” Anderson said.

Judging will be conducted by a CCFW-appointed panel that includes expert photographers. Judges will score eligible photographs on technical quality (30%), originality (30%), and artistic merit (40%).

A final group of pictures will be passed along to the final judges who are Cape Coral Mayor John Gunter, NBC2 Meteorologist Rob Duns, and last year’s photo contest winner, Connie Hessler.

There will be first, second, and third place prizes given to the highest-scoring photograph from the adult division and youth division. No entrant may win more than one prize.

“It’s something that everybody can be happy about,” Anderson said. “Entry is in the spirit of having a good time getting pictures of the owls.”

CCFW encourages every photographer to practice responsible bird photography. Prior to submitting any photograph, participants are strongly encouraged to read Audubon’s Guide to Ethical Bird Photography and Videography. A photograph that appears to the sponsor or judges to reflect a harmful situation is not eligible for submission, and if submitted, will be disqualified at CCFW’s sole discretion.

Winners will be announced at the Burrowing Owl Census on Saturday, June 3, at noon at Rotary Park, and on the CCFW website.

For full contest rules, prize details, more information on CCFW, to enter the photo contest and see current entries, visit ccfriendsofwildlife.org.

Those interested in taking part in the Burrowing Owl Census can contact Honey Phillips at Rotary Park by calling 239-549-4606.