December 2004 Shorelines Newsletter Choctawhatchee Audubon Society

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Volume XXXIII Number 10

December 2004

MONTHLY MEETINGS

Audubon meetings areheld at 7 p.m. on theOWCC Niceville campus,Student Union, Building K,

Room K-151.

December 2: DonWare, our bird countcoordinator, will showslides of birds in prepara-tion for the annual

Christmas Bird Count.

January 6: A district representative of the NorthwestWater Management District will talk about alternativedrinking water sources as well as other timely water issues inNorthwest Florida.

February 3: Dr. Robert Larson, a local lecturer andsculptor, will give a presentation, "Sculpting, Planting aVision." He will explain about the Shoal Sanctuary andSculpture Trail, land near the Shoal River he and his wifepurchased to preserve the natural environment. He mayshare some of its interesting history.

CHAPTER WALKS & FIELD TRIPS

December 4: Don Ware leads a beginner's bird walkto FWB/Okaloosa County spray fields and holding pondsMeet in the Coach-N-Four Restaurant parking lot at 7:30 a.mThis easy walk will last until about 10 or 11 a.m.

December 20: Christmas Bird Count - all day. CallDon Ware, 862-6582 to volunteer.

January 8, 2005: Beginner's bird walk to the Destin

west jetties and Coast Guard woods. Meet at the UptownStation at 7:30 a.m. to car pool or in the Destin Bridge park-ing lot at 7:45 a.m. This walk is moderately difficult andboots and water are recommended. We should finish by10:30 a.m. or 11:00 a.m.

February 5, 2005: Beginner's bird walk to the FortWalton Beach spray fields and holding ponds. Meet in theCoach-N-Four Restaurant parking lot at 7:30 a.m. This easywalk will last until about 10 or 11 a.m.

February 19-21, 2005: Choctawhatchee AudubonSociety Annual Retreat Weekend - Shell Island Fish Campmore details to follow.

The deadline for Shorelines is the 15th of each month. Articles, letters and notices of upcoming events from members are welcome.

E-mail newsletter input to Shorelines editor Kendra Addington at [email protected] or call (850) 862-1282.

Meet ings, Bi rd Walk s & Event s

Dedicated to the protection of bird and wildlife habitat and a greater appreciation of Northwest Floridas natural beauty.

SHORELINES

Least Ter n St udyLeast Terns nest in colonies. Their preferred sites are sandy

beaches where they lay their eggs directly on the ground in shallow

depressions. Due to disturbances encountered on beaches (human

activities, dogs and development), Least Terns have adapted to nest-

ing on large, flat, gravel rooftops.

Even on rooftops terns can encounter problems: baby terns fall

over the roof's edge or are washed into the gutters and downspouts.

And, because they are birds and do what birds do, some people

object to their presence. These fascinating little birds have fewer

and fewer locations in which to nest, and they need our help.

The Fort Walton Beach Kmart has already completed a Tern

Rescue Project. Choctawhatchee Audubon Society would like to

encourage many other local businesses to follow-suit and is looking

for volunteers for a Tern Rescue Study that will begin in January.

Many are needed to help with Tern rescue, education of local flat-

roofed businesses, and improving Tern habitats. PLEASE consider

donating just a little of your time and energy to this very worthwhile

project. To volunteer please contact Pat Baker at [email protected]

or (850) 678-2953.

Chapter News

Tern Family Feeding Young, Drawing by Ron Houser


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While Carolina Wrens are common year-round yardbirds, the smaller house wrens are northern, but may be seenhere in winter. They do not have the white eye-stripe. Nowis the time - by Christmas - for the influx of robins. They tendto stay in flocks and to "work" one yard after another. Youmay see tiny very active grey birds with wing bars and whiteeye rings which are kinglets; or small bluish-grey ones withlong tails which are gnatcatchers, or small brown-headednuthatches. Larger birds scratching in the leaves under ahedge - pretty ones, with white-spotted black wings androbin-redbreast-colored sides, are towhees. Or large brownbirds with heavily striped breast, also scratching, are brown

thrashers. Or you may have a junco or two - dark grey, whitebreast, light bill, white-edged tails, although these are morecommon farther north. You will probably see some black-birds: large, long tailed ones are grackles, chubbier ones withyellow bills are starlings, black ones showing red at tops ofwings are, understandably, red-winged blackbirds, thoughmany of these winter to the south of us.

An interesting bird you may see on your yard fence,though likely not at a feeder, may be an Eastern Phoebe. Heis a lighter breasted grey bird with a bushy head. He may bepumping his tail as he waits for an insect. If you see oneresembling a "mocker" but not quite, with a flatter head,

black wings and black heavy beak, you may be seeing aShrike. Although they have a bad rep of occasionally takingsmall birds, they mostly dive after crickets and insects. Theytoo may perch on fences, trees or wires waiting. If you arenear open fields, look for meadowlarks; dull striped brownyellow breast with black band, but most distinguishing, theshort white edged tail when flying. Occasionally a "myrtle"warbler, now called yellow-rumped warbler, usually feedingin trees, will hang around the yard and feeders. They can usu-ally be spotted by their habit of darting out after an insect andby the yellow spot above the tail.

If goldfinches have honored you, you may have a gang of

them! They lose their pretty yellow in winter and are gray-ish-toned, but retain the black and white wings. They are par-ticularly fond of sunflower seeds and will crowd your feedersso others may not get to them. A series of small feeders liketuna cans are a good idea or an open tray or screen. By nowyou may have various sparrows: chipping or white-throatsmainly. They like to feed on the ground, as do the towhees.

The stormy weather in mid-October, with the strongnorth winds, resulted in some unusual sightings next dayHowever, with continuing favorable north winds and clearnight skies it quickly hurried them on to winter quartersSightings even the following day were not as impressive.

Choctawhatchee Audubon Society ShorelinePage 2: December 2004

A Li t t le Bi rd Told Me...Bird Watching

By Gee Oakman

Specia l Thanks!

Membership Renewal:Kelli Parks of Niceville, FL

Donation:Blake Hardison of Niceville, FL

Our Field Tr ip in Valpar aiso , Flor ida

It was a chilly overcast day at 7:30 AM when the magnif-icent 7 met to see what we could find.

After we could tear ourselves away from the wonderful aro-ma of breakfasts being cooked at the Coffee Shop we set out.

Our first encounters in the marshes at Turkey Creek, south side,were Marsh Wrens, Chipping Sparrows, a Tennessee Warblerand Blue Headed Vireo (which is where I showed my amateurstanding, not knowing that it was no longer a Solitary Vireo - mytheory on the splits and changes is it's to keep the bird book writ-ers having something to write another book about!).

We were hoping to sneak up on the Wood Ducks that hangout there, and we managed to flush two, going east up the creek.Also a white Ibis flew by going towards the Turkey Creek Park.

The landfill gave us quite a variety, several NorthernFlickers, a Sharp-shinned and Red-shouldered HawkKingfishers being very noisy, and Redbellied, Pileated, and agorgeous Downey Woodpecker.

There were a lot of Ruby-crowned Kinglets seen and heardas well as Blue Gray Gnatcatchers, Indigo Bunting, and Robins.At my favorite spot for Ducks we could only come up with aPied-Billed Grebe and two Ring-necked Ducks.

So, along with the usual suspects we came up with 55species, not bad for a great cool morning with birding friends.

By the way, when we got back to the Coffee Shop the won-derful smell of coffee and lunch being fixed hit our noses and weall went home to chow down.

Pat Baker, Acting President & Corresponding Secretary

Bird Watching

Mar k Your Calendar!Audubon Academy 2005

When: March 18 - 20, 2005Where: Eckerd College in St. Petersburg just off of I-275Program: A selection of 11 participatory workshops plus fieldtrips and social eventsWho: Participation is open to Florida chapter officers and direc-tors, committee chairs, other volunteers and future leadersCost: $25 for all three daysRegistration: Information and forms will be posted onhttp://www.audubonofflorida.org by January


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Choctawhatchee Audubon Society Shorelines December 2004: Page

Conservation

Gini Simpson, Conservation Committee

Sometimes it gets very tiring fighting the same battles overand over again. Last year's senate vote narrowly defeated effortsto drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR),and it seemed like a big victory for environmentalists. In lightof the November election results, however, it seems a virtualcertainty that another attempt to open ANWR to drilling will bea legislative priority. In fact, it is the centerpiece of the admin-istration's energy proposal. Unfortunately, it has a better chanceof passing this time since several of the newly-elected senatorsfavor it. In addition, the Chairman of the Senate EnergyCommittee reportedly has worked out a strategy to attach thedrilling proposal as a "stealth" rider to the federal must-passOmnibus Appropriations bill. Estimated revenue from the saleof drilling leases in the refuge would be added to the budget.Other stealth riders would gut the Endangered Species Act andwaive environmental reviews for cattle grazing on public lands.

ANWR's nineteen million acres are far from the barren,lifeless lands that many believe them to be. Freelance photogra-pher, Subhankar Banerjee's photos of the region are a testimonyto the wonderful diversity of wildlife. His photos were dis-played in the Smithsonian and have been published in a book,"Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land." Itmight seem petty to oppose drilling that would occur in only2,000 acres of this huge area, but unfortunately, the oil compa-nies want to drill in Area 1002, a coastal plain where wildlife isparticularly abundant. Not only do most of the calving and post-

calving activities of the Porcupine caribou herd occur there, butit also supports a high density of land-denning polar bears aswell as arctic foxes, musk oxen, wolves, grizzlies and more thantwo dozen other land mammals. Over 180 species of birds canbe found there at different times of the year, and the offshorewaters harbor bowhead whales and three species of seals.Alaska's arctic coast is already open to drilling over 95% of it'slength; if Area 1002 is opened, only 45 miles of the refuge'scoastline would be protected from drilling. The irony here is thatit would take years before any oil from ANWR would becomeavailable, and the amount produced would be only a small frac-tion of the amount the U.S. consumes.

ANWR is not the only public land in jeopardy. The BushAdministration has plans for public lands in the Lower 48 --plans that will remove environmental protections against min-ing, excessive logging, and drilling for natural gas and oil. TheGreater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the Rocky Mountain Front,Grand Staircase-Escalante, and the California Coastal NationalMonument (that protects about 200,000 migratory birds) are just

a few of the trea-sures that are threat-ened. Our wonderfulnational parks arefalling into disrepairfrom lack of fundingfor basic upkeepand some are soshort-staffed thataccess hours for thepublic must be cutback.

Although theBush Administrationcan claim a majorityof both the popularand ElectoralCollege votes, itdoesn't mean thatthey won a mandateto turn our publiclands into a feast for

the energy compa-nies. The majority of the public does care about the environ-ment, but we must let our representatives know this. The realneed is to promote alternative sources of clean, renewable ener-

gy and provide incentives for conservation. Contact SenatorsNelson and Graham and urge them to protect our public lands,to vote against drilling in the ANWR, and to support proposalsfor an alternative national energy plan. Their addresses andphone numbers can be found on Page 2 of the Civic/Governmentsection of the phone book.

We can all do our part to conserve energy, even if only in aminor way. Just replacing incandescent light bulbs with fluores-cent ones can help. If all U.S. households replaced just four 100-watt incandescents with fluorescents, it would eliminate theneed for 30 new power plants! Every little bit helps to preservehabitat for our irreplaceable birds and wildlife. Remember, no

habitat equals no birds.

The following sources were used in writing this article: National Resources Defense Council; National Parks and

Conservation Association; Defenders of Wildlife; MSNBC

News, Nov 11 04; Associated Press Report, Sep 19 04.

RENEWED TH REATS TO ARCTIC NATIONAL

WILDLIFE REFUGE, OTHER PUBLIC LANDS

Opinions expressed through individually written articles do not necessarily reflect the opinion of

the Choctawhatchee Audubon Society as a whole.

Caribou


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Acting-President

Pat Baker : f labir der@cox .net

Vice president

Bi l l Burke: 678-0440, manat eeadvocate@hotm ai l .com

Treasurer

Pat Gross : 609-0059, dac hsie@cox .net

Recording secretary

Carole Goodyear : 8 97-2666, c [email protected] om

Corresponding secretary

Pat Baker : f labir der@cox .net

Bird count coordinator

Donald M. Ware: 862-6582, donw are@eart hl ink .net

Conservation committee chair

Math i lda Ravine: 243-2298, mat hi lda@cox .net

Education

Nonie Ma ines: 862-9588, nonie@noniesa rk .com

Field trips

Charl ie Parkel: 678-4728

Hospitality

Gertrude Oakman: 729-2656

Membership & newsletter circulation

Bob Mi l ler : 678-4278, bmil ler@gnt .net

Publicity

Scott Addington: 862-1282, 2shore l ines@ear t h l ink.net

Programs

Lois Gi lm an: 651-5408, lg i lm an22@cox .net

Shorelines editorKendra Addi ngton: 862-1282,

2shore l ines@ear th l ink .net

Shorelines is published 10 times a year by ChoctawhatcheeAudubon Society, Fort Walton Beach, Florida. It is sent to 500members and community leaders. To become a sponsor, callKendra Addington at 862-1282. Your contributions will be tax

deductible.

Nonprofit Organization

U.S. Postage PAID

Fort Walton Beach, FL

Permit No. 110

Choct aw hatc hee Audubon Societ yShorelines, Decem ber 2004P.O. Box 1014Fort Walton Beach, Flor ida 32549

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Introduc tor y Audubon Societ y Membership (E-11):

Current members: Please do not use this form for membership renewals.

Name:__________________________________________________

Address:________________________________________________

City:__________________ State:__________ Zip:_____________

Phone: ________________ E-mail: _________________________

Introductory membership is $20/individual or $15/student or senior

citizen to join national, state, and local Audubon groups and receive

Audubon magazine and the Shorelines newsletter. To join, mail this

form and a check, payable to National Audubon Society, to NAS

Membership Data Center, P.O. Box 51005, Boulder, CO 80323-1005.

Chapter Code: E-11 7XCH

2004 by Choctawhatchee Audubon Society. All rights reserved.

Make sure you renew your local CAS membership when yourenew your national Audubon membership. Please indicate thatyoure affiliated with Choctawhatchee Audubon Society when yourenew to ensure your subscription to Shorelines.

Newsletter sponsors:

Char l ie Parke l , Nicevi l le

In mem ory of Ken Proteau, Hamilit on and Renee Will iams

Pam McK enzie , Los Lunas, NM

Jul ia Suble t t , Shal imar

Business Wor ld , For t Wal ton Beach

El izabeth Mi lum, M.D., Dermat o log ist , Dest in /Nicevi l le

Wi ld B i rds Unl imi t ed, Dest in

Documents

December 2004 Shorelines Newsletter Choctawhatchee Audubon Society