February 2005 Shorelines Newsletter Choctawhatchee Audubon Society

8/9/2019 February 2005 Shorelines Newsletter Choctawhatchee Audubon Society

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

Shorelineshe newsletter of the Choctawhatchee Audubon Society Volume XXXIV Number 1

February 2005

MONTHLY MEETINGS:

udubon meetings are held at 7 p.m. on theOWC Niceville campus, Student Union,

uilding K, Room K-151.

ebruary 3: Dr. Robert Larson, a localecturer and sculptor, will give a presentation,Sculpting, Planting a Vision." He will explainbout the Shoal Sanctuary and Sculpture Trail,

and near the Shoal River he and his wife pur-hased to preserve the natural environment.e may share some of its interesting history.

March 3: Paul Thorpe with the Northwestlorida Water Management District will talkbout timely water issues in Northwest Floridand alternative drinking water sources.

pril 7: Mr. M.C. Davis will give an updaten the environmental restoration work done onokuse Plantation and Mallory Swamp in Waltonounty.

HAPTER WALK:

ebruary 5: Beginner's bird walk to the FortWalton Beach spray fields and holding ponds.Meet in the Coach-N-Four Restaurant parking lott 7:30 a.m. This easy walk will last until about 10r 11 a.m.

NNUAL RETREAT:

ebruary 19-21, 2005: Choctawhatcheeudubon Society Annual Retreat Weekend

hell Island Fish Camp and Marina,t Marks, FL

UDUBON EVENTURES NIGHT WALK:

ebruary 25: Nonie's Ark Animal Encountersill lead a Discover Nature Night Walk. Meet at:30 pm at Turkey Creek Nature Trail in Niceville.

Calendar of Events Annual Retreat of t heChoc tawha tcheeAudubon Soc ie ty

Promising two days of great birding in the St. Mark

Wildlife Refuge and Wakulla Springs State Park areaSome of the best bird authorities in the area will bthere - you don't want to miss this opportunity!

When: February 19-21, 2005Where: Shell Island Fish Camp and Marina,State Road 363 - Riverside, St Marks, FLCabin/motel reservations: 1-800-925-6226 (make sure tomention Choctawhatchee Audubon Society)Motel - $51.00 per night for two peopleCabin - $62.00 per night for one to four people. Cabins havtwo bedrooms (two beds to a room), microwave, coffeemaker, stove and refrigerator. All linens are included, but yomust bring food, utensils etc.Agenda:Saturday the 19th: Meet at 12:00pm for lunch, then birdin

until Social Hour, (held in Charlie Parkel 's cabin). Everyonbrings snacks and favorite libation. Then, off to dinner. Sommight opt to go Owling that night.

Sunday the 20th: Birding at St. Marks all day. Dinner at thWakulla Lodge.

Monday the 21st: Tentative plans to take the boat rideat Wakulla where there are many water birds to see. Then,all meet for a compilation of species seen throughout tweekend. On the way home, all are invited to stop at a fin

restaurant called "That place on 98". Pat Baker is a personfriend of the owner and promises "great food"!

For more information, please contact:Charlie Parkel at 678-4728 orPat Baker at (850) 678-2953 [email protected]


2/4

2004 Christmas Bird CountDonald M. Ware, Bird Count Coordinator

On December 20th our 15 birding teamsfound 19,429 birds of 141 species on theChoctawhatchee Bay, FL CBC. Our weather wascold and clear with little wind inland. Temperaturesranged from 23 to 50 degrees F. Our most numerousspecies this year were 1689 Double-crestedCormorants, 1551 European Starlings, and 1523Laughing Gulls. There were eight species found dur-ing count week that were not found on the count day,those in bold face being quite unusual: GreaterScaup, Wild Turkey, Black Rail (NEW to our count),Sandhill Crane, Dunlin, Stilt Sandpiper (NEW), BlackSkimmer, and Western Kingbird. I flushed the railfrom the north side of the Okaloosa landfill pond, andit was number 4244 on my life list.

Our team leaders were John Duresky, Don Ware,Lois Gilman, Laura Catterton, Alan Knothe, CharlieParkel, Kathy/Patrick Gault, Carole/Phil Goodyear,Bob McKenney and Gene Estes, Bob/Betsy Reid,George/Judy Russell, Bob/Lucy Duncan, and JimKowalski with Bill Bremser as a rover. There were 34participants.

The biggest surprise was a very late Wood Thrush(NEW) found foraging in a yard at Cinco and Pelhamin Ft. Walton Beach by Jim Kowalski. We were alsofortunate to have Fred Bassett here on the count daybanding hummingbirds. He banded 1 Ruby-throated,1 Rufous and 2 Black-chinned Hummingbirds, all inNiceville. Kowalski found a second Ruby-throatedHummingbird in FWB. We were fortunate to find 16species of ducks: Wood Duck, Green-winged andBlue-winged Teal, Mallard, Northern Shoveler,Gadwall, American Wigeon, Canvasback, Redhead,Ring-necked Duck, Greater and Lesser Scaup,Bufflehead, Hooded and Red-breasted Merganser,and Ruddy Duck.

We found an amazing nine species of warblers:Orange-crowned, Nashville, Yellow, Yellow-rumped,Yellow-throated, Pine, Palm, Wilson's Warbler andCommon Yellowthroat. We also found a winteringSummer Tanager and nine species of sparrows:Chipping, Field, Vesper, Savannah, Le Conte's,Song, Lincoln's, Swamp, and White-throatedSparrow.

I thank all participants for a great job. The completedatabase can soon be accessed atwww.audubon.org/bird/cbc, and I usually have extrahard copies of the tally sheet at our monthly meet-ings. The count code is FLCB. Please mark yourcalendars for our next CBC on 19 Dec 05.

WAKULLA SPRING: A GIANT AMONG US

(extracted from The Florida Fish and Wildlife NewNovember/December 2004)Submitted by member Lenny Fenimore:

Wakulla Spring, one of Florida's most renowned watsheds, is now only a click away for virtual adventureThe Florida Department of Environmental Protecti(DEP) has launched Wakulla Spring: A Giant Among U

an enhanced interactive website that allows visitorsexplore Wakulla Spring and gain insight into the imptance of protecting this valuable watershed.

"This new website uses state-of-the-art design to brthis majestic Florida spring into homes across tglobe," said DEP's Florida Springs Initiative DirectMike Bascom. "Raising awareness about the imptance of Wakulla Spring and Florida's 'bowls of liqulight' protects water quality and promotes the recational value of these unique natural wonders."

At Wakulla Spring: A Giant Among Us, interactspringshed maps trace the flow of water from backyaracross North Florida into Wakulla Spring, demonstrathow personal pollution can impact water quality. Virttours with park rangers and scientists also take visitoon wildlife encounters and deep underwater dives inthe caves of Wakulla, while exploring the history adiversity of the spring and surrounding area.

One of the largest in the world, Wakulla Spring flofrom an underground river at 175,000 gallons pminute. The 6,000-acre Edward Ball Wakulla Spr

State Park is home to the popular swimming hole a1937 Wakulla Lodge.

The Florida Springs Initiative, established by GovernJeb Bush in 2001, is the first-ever comprehensive, codinated plan to restore and protect Florida's more th700 freshwater springs.

For more information about Florida's "bowls of liqulight," visit www.floridasprings.org.Visit the Wakulla Spring Website atwww.floridasprings.org/exploration/featured/wakulla/.

Audubon Academy 2005

March 18 - 20, 2005Eckerd College, St. Petersburg off of I-275A selection of 11 participatory workshops plus fietrips and social events$25 for all three days(plus travel and accommodations)Registration information and forms are posted

http://www.audubonofflorida.org


3/4

About 10 percent of all bird species face extinction by the end of the centuand 15 percent more are on the brink, according to researchers who say suextinctions would have a widespread impact on the environment, agricultuand human society.

"Important ecosystem processes, particularly decomposition, pollination aseed dispersal, will likely decline as a result of the loss of bird species, saCagan H. Sekercioglu of the Stanford University Center for Conservat

Biology.

The forecast of Sekercioglu and colleagues, published online Monday by Proceedings of the National AcademyScience, comes a month after the World Conservation Union reported a continuing loss of species, including an estimthat 12 percent of birds are threatened with extinction.

The Stanford estimate was based on a year of study and a computer calculation of three possible scenarios. The reswas a forecast that between 6 and 14 percent of all bird species will be extinct by 2100 and 700 to 2,500 species will critically endangered or extinct in the wild.

"Given the momentum of climate change, widespread habitat loss and increasing numbers of invasive species, avdeclines and extinctions are predicted to continue unabated in the near future," Sekercioglu said.

Such losses, the team said, could have a significant impact in many aspects of society. For example, birds pollinate ma

plant species and carry the seeds of others to new locations. "Declines in pollination and seed dispersal as a resultbird extinctions may lead to extinctions of dependent plant species," they concluded. This is particularly importantAustralia, New Zealand and oceanic areas where pollination and seed dispersal by birds is more common, they said

Another problem could occur with the loss of scavenging birds that help dispose of the bodies of large animals by cosuming the flesh and leading other scavengers to the bodies, a process that helps limit the spread of disease frodecomposing carcasses. As an example, they noted that a sharp drop in the vulture population in India in the 1990s wfollowed by a jump in the population of rats and wild dogs, some of which spread rabies.

Birds also eat millions of insects, and a decline in birds could lead to a dangerous increase in damaging pests, tresearchers said.

(The research was funded by Dr. Walter Loewenstern and the Koret and Winslow foundations.)

Mary A. Hood, CAS Member Recently Published!THE STRANGLER FIG AND OTHER TALES: FIELD NOTES OF A CONSERVATIONIST

Hood's travel memoir is a lyrical journey to places of great natural beauty and biological importance.As a poet and a scientist, she uses the language of both to recapture our human connection to naturHer stories of tropical rain forests, deserts and prairies reveal the vulnerability of natural places and thconsequences of unsustainable exploitation and urbanization. These essays are an act of conservatioto preserve places encountered and cared about, as part of our biological and historical heritage. Thinspiring and informative work will be valuable for those interested in nature or travel memoirs, creativ

writing, ethnographic writing, and for all who are concerned with our broader sense of place in theglobal environment. Published by: http://www.altamirapress.com/ISBN/0759106770

Bird Extinctions May Impact Environment

Reprinted from AP Newswire

Artwork by David Sibleyhttp://www.sibleyguides.com


4/4

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, cal

Kendra Addington at 862-1282. Your contributions will be tax-deductible.

Introduct ory Audubon Society 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.

Newsle t t e r sponsors :

Charlie Parkel, NicevilleIn memory of Ken Proteau, Hamiliton and Renee WilliamsPam McKenzie, Los Lunas, NM

Julia Sublett, ShalimarBusiness World, Fort Walton Beach

Elizabeth Milum, M.D., Dermatologist, Destin/NicevilleWild Birds Unlimited, Destin

Nonprofit Organizati

U.S. Postage PAID

Fort Walton Beach, F

Permit No. 110

Printed on recycled paper

Choctawhatchee Audubon Society

Shorelines, December 2004

P.O. Box 1014

Fort Walton Beach, Florida 32549

Acting-President: Pat Baker: 678-2953, [email protected]

Vice president: Bill Burke: 678-0440, [email protected]

Treasurer: Pat Gross: 609-0059, [email protected]

Recording secretary: Carole Goodyear: 897-2666, [email protected]

Corresponding secretary: Pat Baker: [email protected]

Bird count coordinator: Donald M. Ware: 862-6582, [email protected]

Conservation committee chair: Mathilda Ravine: 243-2298, [email protected]

Education: Nonie Maines: 862-9588, [email protected]

Field trips: Charlie Parkel: 678-4728

Hospitality: Gertrude Oakman: 729-2656

Membership & newsletter circulation: Bob Miller: 678-4278, [email protected]

Publicity: Scott Addington:862-1282, [email protected]

Programs: Lois Gilman: 651-5408, [email protected]

Shorelines editor: Kendra Addington: 862-1282, [email protected]

CHAPTER

REPRESENTATIVES

Every year community volunteers join with JacksonGuard to plant trees within our watersheds. The treesstabilize the soil and reduce the erosion that enters ourstreams and smothers fragile habitat. The trees alsohelp restore degraded areas to natural, forested condi-tions.

Most of the plantings will not last the entire time that hasbeen allotted. Help our environment and come join thenext planting:

Friday, February 4th, 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM

If interested in a day of rewarding outdoor work pleaserespond by email to sign up:

Erica SchnarrVolunteer CoordinatorEglin AFB Natural [email protected]

Tree Planting with Jackson Guard

Documents

February 2005 Shorelines Newsletter Choctawhatchee Audubon Society