December-January 2005-06 Shorelines Newsletter Choctawhatchee Audubon Society

8/9/2019 December-January 2005-06 Shorelines Newsletter Choctawhatchee Audubon Society

1/4Dedicated to the protection of bird and wildlife habitat and a greater appreciation of Northwest Floridas natural beauty.

Shorelines The newsletter of the Choctawhatchee Audubon Society Volume XXXIV Number 10 December 2005

CAS monthly meetings

First Thursday of each month at 6:30PM at OWC Learning ResourcesCenter (LRC), Room 131.December 1: Dr. Bobby Harrison ofOakwood College in Huntsville,Alabama reports on seeing an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker .January 5: Lisa Miller, WildlifeRehabilitators Partnership will be pre-senting "When wildlife truly need ourhelp". Sometimes well meaning people"kill with kindness" not knowing whenan animal is in need of human interfer-ence.February 2 : Dr. Jonathan Bryan,Professor of Earth Science at OWCCwill address the possible relationship ofdinosaurs and birds, laying out some ofthe information and myth-informationon the subject.

Chapter WalksDecember 10 : Beginner's Bird Walk inFort Walton Beach at Okaloosa Countyspray fields and holding ponds. Meet at7:30 am, at Coach & Four parking lot.Leader: Don Ware, 862-6582December 19 : Christmas Bird Count,all day event, multiple locations. Pleasecall Don Ware to participate, 862-6582January 14 : Bird Walk, Destin and FortWalton Beach coastal areas. Meet at

7:30am Uptown Station or 7:50amDestin Bridge to carpool.February 4 : FWB spray fields andholding ponds. Meet at 7:30 am, atCoach & Four parking lot.

For Chapter Walk information,please call

Bob Penhollow, 729-2602

Ca le nd ar o f Eve nt s

Obsessed with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker

For more than 60 years, every potential sight-ing of an ivory-billed woodpecker was met withridicule and scorn. Respected researchers and natu-ralists were branded as quacks just for having thetemerity to say that the ivory-bill still exists. But BobbyHarrison and Tim Gallagher refused accept the grim

conclusion of most scientists that the ivory-bill wasextinct. Together they traveled through the South,interviewing people who claimed to have seen thisghost bird of the shadowy swamp. And if a sightingseemed credible, they hit the swamp, wading throughhip-deep, boot-sucking mud and canoeing throughturgid, mud brown bayous where deadly cotton-mouths abound. On one of these trips, checking arecent sighting by an Arkansas kayaker, an unmistak-able ivory-bill flew past at close range in front of theircanoe. This sighting-the first time since 1944 that twoqualified observers had positively identified an ivory-billed woodpecker in the United States-quickly led tothe largest search ever launched to find a rare birdand ultimately to the announcement this past April ofthe rediscovery of the species. In Decembers CASmonthly meeting, Bobby will tell the story of the ivory-bill's near demise and miraculous resurrection anddiscuss how the Grail Bird was rediscovered.

GUEST SPEAKER:DR. BOBBY HARRISON


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Mark your calendars for theChoctawhatchee Audubon Annual Retreat , February 17-20th, 2006

The Rally for the Rivers will be held at theRavine Gardens State Park in Palatka, Florida

Field trips include Birding, Hiking, Biking, Canoeing/Kayaking, Pontoon

Boat tours, Native Plant tours, Mushroom ID Walks...The Rally for the Rivers Festival will feature Arts & Crafts, Live Music,Story Telling, and much more! There is surely something for everyone!

Come on a trip with CAS and get to know your fellow members!For more information visit:

www.ChoctawhatcheeAudubon.org

December 2005.......Page 2

The goal of our research project is to investigate the level of genetic variation of burrowing owlsfrom around the state. We are doing this by capturing owls and collecting blood from 10 individuals ineach location. We are using 2 classes of molecular markers to do this.

The 1st class is known as microsatellite markers (aka microsatellites). In sexually reproducingspecies microsatellite genotypes are reshuffled at each generation, thus making them powerful toolsfor investigating fine-scale population processes including individual identification, paternity, gene flowamong populations, and demographic history.

The second class of markers is known as mitochondiral DNA markers. Because the mito-chondrion exhibits maternal inheritance we can investigate potential differences in movements, popu-lation history, and dispersal of males and females by comparing mtDNA and microsatellite data.

We also hope to gain more understanding about burrowing owls by tracking their movementsusing radio-telemetry in which each owl is fitted with a small transmitter on its back and we home inon their location by using a receiver and antenna.

By Ronald J. Sarno, Ph.D.,Assistant Professor, University of South Florida

SOUTH FLORIDA BIOLOGISTS RESEARCH BURROWING OWLS

This is the time to be keeping a sharp lookout for any strays or unusual birds, as birds streamdown from the North to wintering grounds. Some years a south Texas species, the groove-billed anistrays over here. This is one of those years and it has been seen. An even more unusual one, ablack-throated gray warbler, was spotted--unusual indeed! But mostly it is a chance to see the morecommon migrants. By late December flocks of Robins stream down here for the winter, along eithnumerous waterfowl and also the little goldfinches; drab-colored now, not bright summer yellow, sobarely recognizable, but their black and white wings are diagnostic. Several northern sparrows alsospend the winter--white-throats, chippies and possibly a less common white-crowned or fox, a large,rusty-striped sparrow. Enjoy the fall weather, study with binocs any flocks for possibly somethingunusual!

A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME...

By Gee Oakman


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December 2005.......Page 3

A LASTING MEMORIAL FOR CHARLIE PARKELBy Pat Baker, CAS Corresponding Secretary

As most of you know we lost a true southern gentleman in October. Charlie Parkel was taken fromus in a tragic auto accident while he was in Birmingham, AL attending his Alma Mater (Alabama) footballgame against Florida.

What most of you may not know is that Charlie spent hours every week for three years inFred Gannon State Park compiling a check list of the birds he observed there. Rain, wind, cold, ticks, orunbearable heat, Charlie would show up and record the birds seen so that future birders of the park wouldknow what to look for. Choctawhatchee Audubon Society wants to place a permanent memorial in FredGannon State Park so that visitors will know what Charlie had done. Friends of the Emerald Coast StateParks, heard of our desire to do this and have said that they will match the funds we are able to raise forthis purpose. Ben Faure (the park manager), the rangers, and the CSO Board are all very enthusiasticabout honoring Charlie with an enduring memorial.

Some of the ideas we have for this memorial include a memorial bench, an interpretive kiosk withinformation on the park and its flora and fauna. A display board for ongoing reports on bird sightings, aplaque with information about Charlie and boxes for the placement of brochures, trail guides, and birdcheck lists. So now CAS needs your help, we are asking for your monetary memorial donations to thisproject. All donations should be earmarked "Charlie Parkel Memorial", and mailed to:

CASP.O. Box 1014

Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32549

Before I end this request for your donations, just let me add a few little stories about the Charlie Iknew. Just a week before his death he and I were sitting next to each other at a CAS Board meeting, andas usual I was snapping out a few funny lines to him, and I can hear his laugh right now, with a few of hisJimmy Stewart, "Yes, yes, oh yes's" thrown in.

Charlie, Hud Huddleston and I headed for St. Georges Island when the Snowy Owl was spottedthere. We walked in the rain for four hours before we finally got to see it. I was able to get some good

pictures of it and Charlie never stopped reminding me, "I sure would like a copy of the Owl picture." I final-ly remembered and had a copy framed and presented it to him at a chapter meeting. He loved it! Heoften spoke of that trip and how we persevered.in the rain..until we got to see it.

Hud and Charlie, Lois Gilman, Bev Christiansen and I took another trip to the Dry Tortugas out ofKey West along with the Miami Audubon Chapter. On the first night out to the Islands we all slept on theship. I was miserable, not seasick, I have sea legs, it was the tiny little bunks we had. If I turned over mynose hit the bunk above. (true!) The next night Lois, Bev and I camped in our tents on the beach whileHud and Charlie slept on the ship. I kidded Charlie the whole trip about what he must have looked likefolded up (Charlie was at least 6'3" tall) in his bunk. He said he had been fine, he was never one to com-plain.

Speaking of height, my last little story took place on Dauphin Island at one of our weekends withAOS. A group of birders had gathered at the Shell Mound where an "important" sighting had taken place.Of course I ran to see what everybody was looking at. I know it was of the warbler family but to this dayI can't remember what it was. I got in front of Charlie and he did his best to point it out to me"there,there-right in front of us," I still couldn't see it. Then I heard Charlie say, in about the sternest voice hecould muster, "well it would be better if you stood up!" Of course I was standing up, all 5' 3" of me. I wasby then laughing so hard that the bird was forgotten. I never saw the bird, but I had that wonderful momentwith Charlie.


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Donations are welcome, please contact CAS treasurer Karen Newhouse at 678-0440.All contributions are tax-deductible. Feel free to

specify a particular fund/event that you wish to sponsor.

Introductory Audubon Society Membership (E-11):This form is to be used for new memberships only.

Name:__________________________________________Address:________________________________________City:____________________________ State:__________Zip:_____________ Phone: _______________________E-mail: _________________________________________

Introductory membership is $20/individual or $15/studentor senior citizen to join national, state, and local Audubongroups and receive Audubon magazine and the Shorelinesnewsletter. To join, mail this form and a check, payable toNational Audubon Society, to NAS Membership DataCenter, P.O. Box 51005, Boulder, CO 80323-1005.

Chapter Code: E-11 7XCH

2005 by Choctawhatchee Audubon Society. All rights reserved.

Nonprofit OrganizatioU.S. Postage PAID

Fort Walton Beach, FLPermit No. 110

Printed on recycled paper

Choctawhatchee Audubon Society Shorelines, December 2005 P.O. Box 1014 Fort Walton Beach, Florida 32549

President: Nonie Maines: 862-9588, [email protected] Pres.: Bill Burke: 678-0440, [email protected]: Karen Newhouse: 897-3745, [email protected]. Sec.: Carole Goodyear: 897-2666, [email protected] secretary: Pat Baker: 678-2953, [email protected] coord.: Donald M. Ware: 862-6582, [email protected]: Josh Barbee: 218-0573, [email protected]

Education: Nonie Maines: 862-9588, [email protected] trips: Bob Penhollow: 729-2602Hospitality: Gertrude Oakman: 664-0312Membership: Theresa Dennis: [email protected]: Linda Daugherty : 269-0665, [email protected]: Thelma Phillips: 651-0508, [email protected]: Karin Barbee : [email protected]

CHAPTER

REPRESENTATIVES

All memorial donations for Charlie should be marked: "Charlie Parkel Memorial"

and mailed to: CAS

P.O. Box 1014 Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32549

If you have any questions about this special project

please contact Pat Baker or Robin Stiles.

Pat Baker: (850) 678-2953 [email protected]

Robin Stiles: (850) 897-2823 [email protected]

A great big THANK YOU to the followingCAS sponsors:ALYS BEACH

ALLSTATE FOUNDATIONDON & CAROL WARE

RICHTER FAMILY

Documents

December-January 2005-06 Shorelines Newsletter Choctawhatchee Audubon Society