October 2006 Shorelines Newsletter Choctawhatchee Audubon Society

8/9/2019 October 2006 Shorelines Newsletter Choctawhatchee Audubon Society

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CAS monthly meetings are heldthe first Thursday of each month(August to May) at 6:30 PM atOWC Nicev i l le Learn ingResources Center (LRC), Room131. Non members are welcome.

October Program:

Oct 5World of Bats. Cindiand George marks of the FloridaBat Conservancy. The programwill include a slide presentationon bats illustrating their unusualdiversity, unique behaviors andbenefits to humans. They will

also have live bats!Fieldtrips & More:

Eglin Debris Survey Oct 21st.Volunteer with Erica Schnarr at850-883-1177 for the NationalDebris Monitoring Program

October 4EcoTrek OWCPrimetime. Register with NonieMaines 862-9588

October 6-8Panhandle Birding& Wildflower Festival, Port St.Joe. Call 850-229-1797 or visitwww.birdfestival.info

October 7Bird Walk to Pt.Washington State Forest guided

by Thomas D. Beitzel. Meet atthe Publix on CR395 at 7:30 AM.October 13-15AlabamaOrnithological Society Fallmeeting, Dauphin Island, AL.Carpools can be arranged byBob 729-2602

October 20-22Walton CountyBack to Nature Festival. Call( 8 5 0 ) 3 1 4 - 3 7 4 9 o r v i s i twww.southwaltoncc.org

November 4Bird Walk toGlenwood and Ferry Parks.Meet at FWB Kmart Parking Lot.Call Thelma Phillips 218-9620

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

The Truth about Bats 2

The World of Bats 2

Coastal Clean-up Thank You 2

Environment - a Personal Issue 3

Glenwood Park Clean-up 3

Pdddling 3

CALENDAR OF EVENTS:

OCT 2006

The Newsletter of the Choctawhatchee Audubon Society

VOLUME XXXV, NUMBER 7

CAS is dedicated to the protection of bird and wildlife habitat, environmental education, and a greater appreciation of Northwest Floridas natural beauty.

Fall Migration Count Results, Okaloosa -2006Donald M. Ware, Bird Count CoordinatorThis report includes only Okaloosa Countyresults. Walton County results will be re-ported next month. Twenty-three people in 11

parties participated in our 12th Fall North

American Migration Count on September

16th. I assigned leaders to 7 of the 8 areas;

Trish Reynolds for Crestview, myself for North

FWB, Lenny Fenimore for the Base area, Bob

Penhollow for Niceville (after the beach

cleanup), Virginia Spisak for Central FWB,

Sandra Lefsted for South FWB, and Jim

Kowalski for Destin. Though Bob McKenney

was not feeling well enough for fieldwork, he

organized four other birding parties to cover

selected parts of the Niceville area. They

added 32 species to that area count. To-

gether we counted 9227 birds of 140 speciesin the county, and 50 species were migrantsnot breeding here.

With my wonderful recorder, Carol,

we found 102 species, a record for our fall

count in North FWB. Driving up Timberlake

Road at 0530 we flushed a Woodcock, and at

the first stop just past the power line we

heard a Whip-poor-will, Great Horned Owl,

and a Common Nighthawk overhead, and an

Eastern Screech Owl responded to the

screech owl tape. At Turtle Creek the BarredOwl pair were talking to each other, and a

flock of 15 Baltimore Orioles were feeding on

the wild grapes. As we departed, a Red-

cockaded Woodpecker pair was very active at

their colony NW of RR 150.

Our 11 groups found 21 species of

shorebirds, 17 of which were migrants. A

Wilsons Phalarope in the Okaloosa STF hold-

ing pond was rare. The 14 species of war-

blers found were; 1 Tennessee, 19 Yellow, 1

Magnolia, 2 Yellow-rumped, 3 Yellow-

throated, 67 Pine, 1 Prairie, 1 Palm, 9 Ameri-

can Redstarts, 2 Prothonotary, 3 Northern

Waterthrush, 2 Louisiana Waterthrush, 31

Common Yellowthroats, and 1 Hooded War-bler.

The most numerous species counted this

year were 1001 Mourning Doves, 811 Com-

mon Grackles, and 806 European Starlings.

However, at dusk Carol and I watched icterid

flocks come to their roost SW of Denton and

Bob Sikes Roads, and added another 1500

mixed grackles, blackbirds, starlings, and

cowbirds when it was too dark to separate

them. I thank all that participated and hope

that you will mark your calendar now for the

Christmas Bird Count on December 18th.

When I heard there was going to be a shark

tournament I was very sad but at the same

time furious. I could not believe that peo-

ple were going to go out and kill poor, inno-

cent sharks for the fun of it. I thought it

will take a long time for Destin's waves to

wash away that bloodbath. I want to stopthe killing of these amazing animals. I think

that next year, the same people who had

the shark tournament should have a shark

festival. I think that the Destin Museum

needs to sponsor a shark festival to teach

people why they should love sharks. Be-

casue like Steve Irwin taught us, humans

want to save what they love. We could

have the Gulfarium come out and let peo-

ple touch small, live sharks so people don't

think they're evil. We could have arts and

crafts to celebrate sharks and the fish they

live with. We could have a shark catch and

release contest. If you have any ideas

please contact my mom at tinkinnever-

l a n d @ y a h o o . c o m

Together we can make the world a better

place.

Taegan Dennis age 9

Are there Ivory Billed Woodpeckers

in Walton County???

In case youve managed to miss all the news, there is

mounting evidence that we may have Ivory Bills as

neighbors! Check out the information one (or all) of the

following websites:

National Public Radio (search for Ivory Bill)

NPR: Elusive Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Spotted Again

University of Windsor, Ontario Canada

http://www.uwindsor.ca/

Avian Conservation and Ecology

http://www.ace-eco.org/

Auburn University (follow link)

http://www.auburn.edu/

Check out the news and decide for yourself! I know Imkeeping my eyes and ears open when Im passing through

Walton County from now on!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6140000http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6140000http://www.uwindsor.ca/http://www.uwindsor.ca/http://www.ace-eco.org/http://www.ace-eco.org/http://www.auburn.edu/http://www.auburn.edu/http://www.ace-eco.org/http://www.uwindsor.ca/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6140000


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Page 2 VOLUME XXXV, NUMBER 7

The Truth About Bats

Due to folklore and because they are only active at night, bats are often feared and

misunderstood. And even though some are quite scary-looking, most bats are harmless. They

are not blind or dirty; they do not get caught in peoples hair or infest homes with bedbugs.

They will usually only bite in self defense. And much like other mammals, less than one half of

one percent of all bats contracts rabies.

North American bats are invaluable natural resources. As primary predators of night-flying insects, such as mosquitoes, bats play a vital role in maintaining the balance of nature. A

single Little Brown bat can catch up to a thousand insects in an hour. Bats that frequent bat

houses eat insects that can damage crops, such as cucumber and June beetles, stink bugs,

leafhoppers and corn worm moths. They pollinate fruit flowers, disperse seeds in tropical rain-

forests (aiding in reforestation) and are an important source of fertilizer (bat guano is actually

mined from caves where bats live). Bats are also valuable in medical research, contributing to

the development of navigational aids for the blind. Almost 40 percent of American bat species

are threatened or endangered. The loss of bats contributes to an imbalance in nature that can

cause increased use of toxic pesticides that threaten our health and environment.

North American bats use a fascinating technique called echolocation to find food at

night. The bat emits a high frequency sound (too high for us to hear) usually through its

mouth, and sound travels until it hits an object. The sound waves then bounce back to the bats

ears providing a mental picture of its surroundings. Bats are so adept at using this process that

they can detect a single strand of hair in total darkness.

Little Brown bats, Big Brown bats, Eastern Pipistrelle bats and Northern Long-eared

bats are all found in Florida and are the most likely to live in bat houses. Bats use houses in

most areas as nursery colonies. In some areas, they use houses for roosting. Bats find bat

houses just like birds find birdhouses. If a house is in the proper location, meets the bats re-

quirements and is needed, bats will move in on their own.

Bats like a source of water (streams, marshes and lakes) and an area plentiful with

insects. They will travel up to a mile or more to water sources. A good bat house has the fol-

lowing: a slanted roof and long narrow design at least 2 feet long and no less that 1-foot wide.

The house should have ventilation in the bottom third, but cracks and spaces should be caulked

in the upper two-thirds of the box. Mesh should cover the interior to help bats cling to the walls.

The chambers inside should be no more that 1-inch wide.

Bat houses can be hung anytime. Fall, winter or early spring is preferred. It may take

a year to a year-and-a-half to attract bats, although some people report occupancy in only a few

hours. Locate houses near a permanent water source and hang them at least 15 above the

ground where they are sheltered from the wind. The higher you can hang the house, the better.

Research shows that bat houses are more successful if they have at least eight hours of sun,

and morning sun is most important. Bat houses should face south or southeast. Here in the

South, you can paint the box white if there is too much direct sun. Bats inhabit houses mounted

20 feet away from trees twice as quickly as those in wooded areas. Houses in trees tend to

take longer to become occupied than those on poles or buildings.It is safe to observe bats roosting in a bat house. The longer they reside in your bat

house, the more tolerant they are. If you think you have a nursery colony, you can shine a

flashlight inside soon after the mothers leave at dusk in June or early July. Do this only at short

intervals and not more than once a week. Young are left behind in the roost for the first three to

four weeks. If you disturb the roost too much, they may abandon the house.

Even to the casual observer, watching and learning about bats can be both fascinat-ing and educational. By providing a bat house, you may be able to bring these beneficial mam-mals to your yard.

By Linda Daugherty

The World of Bats

Bats are probably the most misunderstood of all

the mammals. They became entangled in the

Dracula legend centuries ago and have played

frightening roles in myths and tales of horror

ever since. Yet bats are shy, gentle animals and

fill a vital role in maintaining balanced ecosys-

tems throughout the world. In Florida, bats are the most important natural controller of night

flying insects. In other parts of the world, bats

disperse seeds, pollinate plants, provide guano

for fertilizer and even vampire bats have made

important contributions to science and medi-

cine. Come and join us for an interesting and

informative presentation on The World of Batsby Cyndi and George Marks of the Florida Bat

Conservancy. The program will include a slide

presentation on bats around the world, illustrat-

ing their unusual diversity, unique behaviors

and benefits to humans. They will also be bring-

ing live bats so you will be able to see some of

our native Florida species up close.

Brief biography of presentersCynthia and George Marks have been working

with bats since 1989. In 1994, they founded

the Florida Bat Center (now the Florida Bat Con-

servancy), a nonprofit organization dedicated to

bat conservation in Florida. They, along with

volunteers of the organization, have presented

hundreds of educational programs on bats,

worked with state and local agencies on bat

conservation projects, rescued and cared for

injured and orphaned bats, helped home and

business owners with bats in their buildings,

and studied bat distributions and behaviors

throughout Florida. The Marks have coauthored the first book totally dedicated to bats

in Florida. It is titled, Bats of Florida and wasjust released in 2006. They will be selling auto-

graphed copies at a 20% discount off the retail

price.

The Florida Bat ConservancyThe Florida Bat Conservancy is a private non-

profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to pro-

tecting and preserving Floridas native bats

Y o u c a n v i s i t t h e i r w e b s i t e a t

www.floridabats.org, or contact them by email

at [email protected], or phone them at (727)

710-BATS (2287).

Thank you Okaloosa County Environmental Coun-cil and OWCs Ameri-Corps volunteers for makingthis years International Coastal Clean-Up so muchfun! Not only did participants pick up trash, theyplayed games too! With the help of CASs Educa-tion team we taught over 100 kids and their fami-lies more about our environment with activitiesabout storm water run-off, litter life spans andcycles. Those families were given tote bags madefrom recycled soda bottles! Nonie even rescuedan injured laughing gull! If you missed us, noworries, well do it again in the spring! See youthen!


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Shorel ines Page 3

Wake up: The environment is a personal issue

Alan Farago | Special to the Orlando Sentinel September 19, 2006

You don't know whether to laugh or cry, reading in newspapers that the public ranks the environment asa low order of concern.

Let me tell you when the environment is the No. 1 concern: When you discover your cancer could havebeen caused by contaminants in drinking water or that your child's learning disability was due to overex-posure to mercury.

Most public opinion polls don't ask the question this way: If you had a serious illness and knew yourbreast or prostate cancer was due to decisions by legislators on the environment, would you be more orless inclined to cast your vote for the environment?

In that case, every single voter in America is an environmentalist.

These days, in Florida, if you are a real-estate agent near coastal estuaries, or a homeowner wheresinkholes are popping up around you, if you work near a beach where algae blooms made your eyeswater or make you feel like puking, you should vote the environment. Right?

What if your child had asthma? The worst hours of my life were spent walking the hallway with my infantson hacking and wheezing on my shoulder -- wondering if he would breathe through the night -- thisfeeling of helplessness, of powerlessness, all traced to the harm we do the environment and to our-selves.

Ah, you ask: Where's the proof?

On a "1 percent chance" that a threat will be realized, the United States is charging in a trillion-dollarinvestment to hunt for terrorists like needles in a haystack. So much for proof.

Why do naysayers on the environment demand more evidence than polar ice caps melting inGreenland, or the effect of endocrine disrupters on life in its developmental stages, or poorly regulatedchemicals in new construction materials that can trigger severe respiratory illness?

Better to run, now, like a bat out of hell to vote out politicians and Legislatures that support special-interests fudging data, controllinggovernment agencies or writing legislation to their own benefit.

You can always wait to vote for the environment until you or someone you love gets a terminal illness.

You can always wait until you are curious enough to do a little research and discover there are toomany causes to attribute cancer to a single reason, and then dig deeper and discover how little fundingthere is from government to search for causes traceable to the environment. And then you can further

find that the government charged with protecting your health, safety and welfare has erected barriersthat allow no one in or out except those with the special pass to rotate between government agenciesand jobs with special interests.

I try to breathe calmly when I read news reports that say, "Environmentalists seek relevance in cam-paign."

Is the link between poorly regulated pesticides and Parkinson's relevant to you? Or is it relevant to youthat Florida doesn't have enough agency staff to keep up with development in coastal wetlands -- evenwhen there is evidence that sea-level rise will make the equity in those investments vanish like sandpoured on a beach by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers?

If that is too abstract, imagine yourself cradling a child whose skull has gone soft from leukemia or aninfant deformed by toxics ingested by mom or dad, and imagine that the people you elect to federaloffice are in the process, right now, of tearing down our most important laws protecting your health, thediversity of species, the clean air and clean water you need to survive.

They go from place to place with public meetings and catch-phrases like "cooperative conservation" todrum up public support for policies that are putting your health and environment at accelerating risk.

In the Florida Legislature, they claim to support sustainable energy while moving forward to allow new,polluting coal-fired power plants with old technology.

Asked that way, not only am I going to vote for the political candidate who fully funds research to findproblems before they explode in our faces, I'm going to vote out of office every politician who allowedmy drinking-water supply to be contaminated or my springs, rivers and aquifers to be ruined.

Imagine, for a moment, that what you see on the impaired surface of our waters is a perfect reflection ofour government.

And vote accordingly. Above all else, do vote.

Alan Farago of Coral Gables, who writes about the environment, can be reached at [email protected].

A few brave souls showed upfor a clean-up at Glenwood Parkon September 9th. Bob Penhol-low, Kevin & Theresa Dennisand Nonie carried out approxi-mately 400 pounds of litter fromthe park. THANK YOU!!!

Audubon Members Sharon &JVO Weaver joined Nonieand friends for an im-promptu paddle on Rocky

Creek. If you are a paddlerplease keep in touch withNonie so she can includeyou in her adventures! Justask the Weavers how muchfun they had! ;-) We sawbaby gators, hawks, snakes,turtles, herons and variousspecies of birds. All in a 3hour tour!


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SAVE THE DATE!

Audubon Assembly 2006October 19-21

Chapter Representatives

President: Nonie [email protected]

Vice President: Thelma [email protected]

Treasurer: Karen [email protected]

Recording Secretary:Carole Goodyear.897.2666

[email protected]

Corresponding Secretary: Pat [email protected]

Bird Count Coordinator:Donald M. Ware.....862.6582

[email protected]

Conservation:(position open)

Education: Nonie [email protected]

Field trips Coordinator:Bob Penhollow....729.2602

Hospitality:(position open)

Membership: Theresa [email protected]

Publicity: Linda [email protected]

Programs: Thelma [email protected]

Shorelines Editor: Jean [email protected]

Choctawhatchee Audubon Society Membership

Name:_____________________________________ Address:________________________________________

City:____________________________________________________ State:______ Zip:___________________

Phone: ___________________________ E-mail: __________________________________________________

Introductory New Member- $20.00 Individual Member Renewal- $35.00

Introductory Student/Senior- $15.00 Renewal Student/Senior-$15.00

When you join you will be part of national, state, and local Audubon groups and will receive...

Audubon magazine

Florida Naturalist Magazine

Our local Shorelines newsletter

Inclusion in Audubon of Florida's advocacy network

Discounts at Audubon Sanctuaries and Nature Centers

Opportunities for Audubon Ecology Camps and specially priced travel adventures

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.

CAS ONLY memberships are available and include SHORELINES NEWSLETTER ONLY.

To join CAS ONLY mail this form and a check payable to CAS to; P.O. Box 1014 Fort Walton Beach, FL 32549.

New Member Newsletter Only- $10.00 Renewal Member Newsletter Only- $10.00

Chapter Code: E-11 7XCHFL Dept of Agriculture Reg #CH4619

A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE

DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGIS

TRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.

Nonprofit Organization

U.S. Postage PAID

Fort Walton Beach, FL

Permit No. 110

Were on the Web!CHOCTAWHATCHEEAUDUBON.ORG

Thanks to Buffalo Stampede for providing the refreshments for last months meeting

Donations are welcome, and all contributions are tax-deductible. Feel free to specify a par-ticular fund/event that youd wish to sponsor.

Contact Theresa Dennis If you

would like to receive Shorelines

in color with links via e-mail.

P.O. Box 1014

Fort Walton Beach, FL 32549

Printed on Recycled Paper

2006 by Choctawhatchee Audubon Society. All rights reserved.

Due to the cancellation last fall, we are gearing up for a great event this October! Plan on joiningus for a weekend of networking, education, advocacy and birding!

Location: Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach Oceanfront Resort - Special rate: $89.99/night.Reserve rooms now at800-206-2724. Special Audubon rate good through September 27 only. Don't miss it! Plan to attendFloridas largest gathering of conservation-minded citizens. Details including Assembly registration informa-tion, programs, exhibits and field trips will appear in the summer Naturalist, and available online atwww.audubonofflorida.orgin July.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.audubonofflorida.org/http://www.audubonofflorida.org/http://www.audubonofflorida.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

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October 2006 Shorelines Newsletter Choctawhatchee Audubon Society