Spring 2008 Sanibel Captiva Audubon Society Newsletter

8/9/2019 Spring 2008 Sanibel Captiva Audubon Society Newsletter

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The Pileated WoodpeckerThe Newsletter of the Sanibel-Captiva Audubon Society

Winter 2008, Volume 33, Number 2

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Our Mission: Promoting Interests in Wildlife on Sanibel and Captiva Islands, and fostering the Causeof Conservation with Emphasis on Birds and their Habitat.

Good evening and welcome to- - - oops the Winter Sanibel Captiva Audubon series onThursday evenings is over for 2008 but we are already prepping for next year. We covered alot of the planet from Alaska to Africa and our own backyard while also providing field tripseach Saturday morning and 2 fine birding classes. Your Audubon Board has represented youat Audubon of Florida Assembly, the Everglades Coalition meeting, numerous city councilmeetings, various planning meetings throughout Lee County, and at the Audubon Academy.Please join me in offering a special thank you to all who have volunteered time and expertiseas a representative of Sanibel-Captiva Audubon. See the side bar on this page for the list of

board members and add Jake Jacobson and Harold Johnstone for the Christmas Bird Countand Birding classes.

Regrettably not all of us can be winners in the Audubon book raffle; but let it be known thatnew Audubon member Marty Culverson walked away with the prize following the drawing atthe last meeting of the season. It was just a coincidence that Marty cruised around with meon a golf cart during the Christmas Bird Count As I enter my 8th year as president(hmmm) the challenges to SW Florida continue as you will note in the Conservation Report

by Chris Andrews. Also, if you have your March/April 2008 Audubon Magazine please readthe article on pg. 60 (Incite by Ted Williams) which explains why our endangered woodstorks are on Sanibel and not at Corkscrew reproducing the species. Audubon of Florida andthe regional councils are challenging these developments and violations but it requires time,effort and funding during difficult times. Please keep up your generous support of Audu-

bons efforts to keep Corkscrew Swamp viable as habitat for these magnificent creatures. Both storks andpanthers. Encourage friends and family to join an Audubon chapter here or away. What can you do? Add

your voice and funding to www.SaveOurSwamp.org.

May you all enjoy spring and summer here or away and we hope to see you safe, healthy and politically edu-cated come next November.

Sincerely,

Paul

BoardMembers

Paul Andrews,Pres.

Jim Griffith, VicePres.

Susan Harpham,Sec.

Tom Rothman,Treas.

Chris Andrews

Kevin Bowden

Malcolm Harpham

Elaine Jacobson

Dale McGinley

Brian Mishell

Dolores Mishell

Jean Reuther

Hugh Verry

On a National Audubon Society watch list released late last year, Florida ranks fourth in the United States - after Hawaii, Califor-

nia and Texas - for the number of species that have professional bird-watchers worried. "We think of extinction as something go-

ing on in the Brazilian rain forest or in Africa," said Ann Paul, Audubon of Florida's regional coordinator for Tampa Bay. "But, we

see extinction going on, in that species are getting rare ... right here in Florida." A total of 68 species of Florida birds are listed as

at risk of extinction or in serious decline on the national list, which stems from bird count surveys by Audubon and the American

Bird Conservancy. At least seven species that live in Florida, breed here or use the state as a rest stop during migration have

landed on Audubon's priority list of 20 imperiled birds that breed in the continental United States. They include the Florida scrub

jay, red-cockaded woodpecker and reddish egret, frequently seen in Ding Darling. Audubon of Florida's priority watch list, a state-

tailored version of key birds in trouble, includes the least tern, prothonotary warbler, swallow-tailed kite and red knot. Some orni-

thologists predict the red knot, a shorebird that winters in Florida, could be history as soon as 2010 if steps aren't taken to protect

PO Box 957

Sanibel, Florida

33957-0957

Distributed to all members

Non-members, 50

AUDUBONSOUNDSALARMOVER BIRD POPULATIONSINDECLINE From the Tampa Tribuneby Susan Green February 2, 2008


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Continued on page 3

The Pileated Woodpecker, spring 2008, page 2

JN Ding Darling NWRJim Griffith is coordinating volunteers for the NeotropicalMigrant Surveys being done on the refuge, working closelywith Joyce Mazourek, Refuge Biologist at Ding Darling.Birds that breed in North America but migrate to the new-world {neo} tropics are known as Neotropical migrants. Jimis coordinating the surveys at Legion Curve on Thursdays

and Bailey Tract on Fridays from April through June or July.It takes 2 to 2.5 hoursto complete eachsession.. Refuge staffand Audubon volun-teers (total 3-4 peo-ple) are walking alongthe trails in these ar-eas looking and lis-tening for birds. Alongthe way one memberof the refuge staffacts as recorder,completing a Migra-tion Monitoring Pro-gram Data Sheet,recording each spe-cies seen or heard as well as the number of each specieswhile all participants look everywhere: in bushes and trees,on dead snags, in grasses, overhead, on the ground, in thedistance, in ponds... as they listen carefully for chips, calls,songs, and pecking.

it. Experts say shrinking habitat is the No. 1 reason

most of the listed birds are in trouble. In Florida, the

scrub jay, least tern and sandhill crane are all losing

ground to development. In some cases, like the red

knot, the problem is a break in the food chain. Delaware

Bay provides a foraging area for red knots flying a 9,000

-mile migration path from the Arctic to Argentina. Sci-

entists say over-harvesting of horseshoe crab eggs that

provide fuel for the birds is threatening the species' sur-

vival. In Florida, the shorebirds stop to rest at places

such as Bunche Beach and on Sanibel beaches. For

more information, visit:

http://www.audubonofflorida.org.

BIRD POPULATION, continued from page 1

ROSEATESPOONBILL NESTINGNUMBERSIN

FLORIDA BAYLOWESTSINCE1960S

This year, Dr. Jerry Lorenz and his staff observedthe worst nesting season in Florida Bay for roseatespoonbills, an important indicator species of Ever-

glades restoration success, since the 1960's. Only292 nests have been identified, indicating a 37 per-cent drop in just one year. This comes at a timewhen the bay is also suffering from algae bloomswhich have persisted since 2006. These two factsare serious signals that the ecosystem is sufferingsigns of ecological collapse. Following the publicrelease of Audubon of Florida fact sheet on FloridaBay, the momentum surrounding this issue contin-ues to grow. And, sadly, so does the persistent al-gae bloom that is plaguing the bay. See the mostrecent imaging from Audubon Scientist PeteFrezza, based in our Audubon Tavernier Science

Center. Audubon is very concerned about the stateof the Bay and continues to work hard on our sci-entific research, as well as in the pursuit of policygoals and state and federal funding to implementincremental restoration plans that would bring im-mediate ecological benefits to the bay and its wild-life, such as the Roseate Spoonbill. For more in-formation and a copy of a detailed fact sheet visit:http://www.audubonofflorida.org/pdfs/florida_bay_report_main.pdf.

FLORIDA BAY

SURVEY IS THE WORD FOR SPRING

For centuries of ecclesiastical history theprothonotary, who is legal advisor to the

pope, has worn yellow vestments, just as thecardinals have worn red. The story goes that

early Catholic settlers in the southeast namedthis bird. Photo by Steven Bullock

Lillian sent us this stunning photo of a mangrove cuckoo,reminding us of the Stokes talent, dedication and artistry.

Lillian Stokes
http://www.audubonofflorida.org/http://www.audubonofflorida.org/https://fgcu-piranha.fgcu.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.audubonofflorida.org/pdfs/florida_bay_report_main.pdfhttps://fgcu-piranha.fgcu.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.audubonofflorida.org/pdfs/florida_bay_report_main.pdfhttps://fgcu-piranha.fgcu.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.audubonofflorida.org/pdfs/florida_bay_report_main.pdfhttps://fgcu-piranha.fgcu.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.audubonofflorida.org/pdfs/florida_bay_report_main.pdfhttps://fgcu-piranha.fgcu.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.audubonofflorida.org/pdfs/florida_bay_report_main.pdfhttp://www.audubonofflorida.org/


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The Pileated Woodpecker, spring 2008, page 3

Joyce will be organizing surveys looking for mangroveforest birds (mangrove cuckoos, black- whiskered vireo, and graykingbirds) Several Audubon members are working together withRefuge staff to carry out these surveys.

Refuge staff are also monitoring the colonial nesting wad-ing bird rookeries in Matlacha Pass and Pine Island Sound in co-operation with the Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserve.

SCCF PLOVER PROJECTCara Faillance, Biologist at SCCF reportsthat so far this season they have seen a totalof 13 snowy plovers, with several of thempaired off. There is potential for more birdsto arrive as the season progresses, espe-cially with the excellent fledge rates from2006 and 2007. Although all snowies thisseason have been seen on the east end ofthe island, they are still covering the westend as well. She feels that it is entirely pos-sible that this year or next they will see areturn to nesting on the west end, as theinvertebrate community recovers from thebeach renourishment that took place a few years ago. A total of6 Wilson's plovers were also seen so far on the west end thisyear.

Additionally, the project has received funding to start acomparative study between Sanibel and Cayo Costa. Cara willbe collecting field data on both islands as part of a Master's pro-gram at Rutgers University. She says that she is especially ex-cited about the project this year, and hopes volunteers will shareher enthusiasm, as well as to remain active volunteers on theproject.

ESTERO BAY AQUATIC PRESERVE PROJECTCheryl Parrott, an Environmental Specialist with the Department

of Environmental Protections Office of Coastal and Aquatic Man-aged Areas (CAMA), is conducting the rookery monitoring andprotection program within the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve, andis encouraging volunteers to get involved. The project is a coop-erative effort between the Estero Bay and Charlotte HarborAquatic Preserves, Florida Audubon and Lee County. Cheryl willbe monitoring rookeries once a month from March through June,using the direct count method. A Boston whaler will be used andwill be on the water for the entire day. Surveys require a mini-mum of three people; one person driving the boat and at leasttwo people conducting the counts. Rookery location is recordedand mapped each year,to track movement, andthe number of nestingpairs on each island isrecorded by species.The program also in-cludes monofilamentremoval and rookeryprotection. Prior to nest-ing season volunteersand aquatic preserve staff removed trash and monofilament fromnesting islands. This year, islands identified as rookeries will beposted with signs informing people about rookeries and the stateand federal laws that protect them.

Books and PaperMacIntosh Books and Papers is honored

To support

The Sanibel-Captiva Audubon Society.

Best Sellers Local Interest books:

Birding, Gardening, ShellingFishing, Boating

Fine Custom Stationery, Boxed Notecards

Greeting Cards, Gifts

2365 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel, FL 33957

239-472-1447

www.macintoshbooks.com

Photo byDave Furseth

Volunteer Opportunities:

Estero Bay needs volunteers to assist with moni-toring in June.

Charlotte Harbor needs advanced birders to as-sist with monitoring in Pine Island Sound andMatlacha Pass Aquatic Preserves.

Estero Bay and Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Pre-serves need volunteers to assist posting signs.

Estero Bay and Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Pre-serves need volunteers to help with monofila-ment cleanup.

If you know of an active rookery island in any of theaquatic preserves please contact AP staff withthe location coordinates or the channel andmarker number. Contacts:

Estero Bay Aquatic PreserveCheryl [email protected] 463 3240fax-239 463 3634

Charlotte Harbor Aquatic PreservesJason [email protected]

phone-941-575-5861fax-941-575-5863
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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The Pileated Woodpecker, spring 2008. page 5

Recently at the refuge there has been an unusually large number of wading and shore birds observable close to WildlifeDrive. The reason: twice a year, in October and March the reuge manipulates the water levels in the impoundments tomaximize opportunities for migrating shorebirds to feed. Her-ons, egrets, pelicans, wood storks, and roseate spoonbillshave also been finding lots of food available as they congre-

gate in the East Impoundment. 50 spoonbills were observablat the second opening on Tuesday morning.

Signs of Spring are everywhere: extra long plumes aappearing on herons and egrets along with vividly colored biland legs,white peli-cans havebumps ontheir bills,brown peli-cans aresporting cin-namon

brown feath-ers on theback of theirnecks, os-prey babiesare hatch-ing, the prai-rie warbler issinging,laughinggulls haveblack headsand reddish black bills and legs, royal terns have black headsand vivid orange bills, snowy plovers are pairing up on theEast End Sanibel beaches.

SIGNS OF SPRING Sue Harpham

White morph of the reddish egret showingegret feeding behavior and the bicolor pinkand black bill of breeding plumage (in DingDarling NWR on the pond by the observationtower).Photo and comment by Bill Heyd

Open 7 days a Week, 7AM to 9 PMCorner of Tarpon Bay Road and

Periwinkle Way

Complete supermarket GiftsTrue Value Hardware Propane

Delivery Services Beach Items

Deli & Bakery Housewares

Party Trays Online Orders

Fine Meats Fishing Tackle

Gift Baskets Gift Fruit Shipping

Western Union Organic/Natural Foods

Homemade Fudge

472-1516/472-8073

www.baileys-sanibel.com

LGISLATIVE AGENDA: AUDUBONOF FLORIDA

1. Audubon of Floridas legislative agenda is based on Audubons 2008 statewide priorities approved at the AudubonAssembly. Audubon Deputy Director for Policy Eric Draper and his team are working in the current session on thisyears agenda including:

Land Conservation advocating for a doubling of Florida Forever funding and increasing recognition of the eco-logical value of land bought for conservation.

Environmental Funding for Everglades, Florida Keys wastewater treatment, and environmental trust funds. Water Policy support for the Northern Everglades Plan, Wastewater Ocean Outfalls and Reuse, springs protec-

tion, managing freshwater flows into Florida Bay, water conservation, water policy, and of special interest to Sani-

bel residents, to stop potential legislative actions that would reverse legal decisions and or the SFWMD vote onwater supply backpumping from the EAA.

Growth management and Ecosystem planning includes focus on planning in Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands, Ev-erglades growth management plans, mining, fertilizer and wetlands preemption opposing State preemption of lo-cal government ordinances, and support for Dept. of Community Affairs Secretary Tom Pelhams proposal to in-crease citizen participation in land use decisions.

Climate Change initiatives focus on energy policy and green house gas emissions. Wildlife Policy includes advocacy for protection of sea grasses, aquatic preserves, rooftop nesting seabirds, inlet

management among other issues.Visit http://www.audubonofflorida.orgLegislative Action for full agenda and updates.
http://www.audubonofflorida.org/http://www.audubonofflorida.org/http://www.audubonofflorida.org/


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The Pileated Woodpecker, spring2008. page 6

Finding Your

Wings, A Workbook for Beginning Bird Watch-

ers by Burton Guttman , 2008: Houghton Mifflin CompanyFinding Your Wings is a step-by step activity guide tobecoming a better birdwatcher by really seeing the

critical features of a bird when one looks at it. Al-though designed for beginning birders, this book couldbe useful for intermediate birders as well. ID exercisesinclude learning major categories of birds; seeing birds

surface features, feathers, shapes, and beaks; learningfamilies of passerines by their key characteristics; iden-tifying birds in flight as well as through their vocaliza-tions; diagnosing differences in similar birds; differen-tiating male and female species; identifying hawks;

sorting out shorebirds; getting acquainted with gulls;and learning differences between sparrows.

Designed to be used as a supplement to aPe-

terson Field Guide to Birds, this workbook is filledwith questions to be answered and exercises that help

the reader learn how to really see birds, discover howto sort birds by category, and how to identify the easi-

est birds first. The reader is encouraged to write anddraw in the book and to check responses with the an-swer key in the Appendix.

Do you have an hour to spend enjoying nature at theEast End of Sanibel Island? If so, park your car in theChamber of Commerce parking lot on CausewayBoulevard and walk to the left hand back corner of thelot to the beginning of the new city owned and main-tained Pond Apple Walking/Biking Trail. Along the wayyou will likely see many kinds of different song birds aswell as woodpeckers, eagles, and wading birds. On arecent Sunday morning we saw or heard palm war-blers, catbirds, cardinals, a great crested flycatcher,common grackles, fish crows, a red bellied and pileatedwoodpecker, an anhinga, mottled ducks, little blue her-ons, ibis, great blue heron, cormorants, great egret, aswell as one adult and two young eagles. We enjoyedreally good looks at all of these birds.

The habitat is a mixture of forest edge, urban/suburban, and wetlands. The trail crosses over BaileyRoad and then extends around three reclaimed waterstorage ponds, looping back to the Chamber parkinglot. Along the way there are a few picnic tables, onewith a tiki hut to provide shelter from the sun or rain, aswell as a number of park benches. Some parts of thetrail run parallel to Causeway Boulevard while othersare close to Periwinkle Way, ending near Matzalunasand across from Huxters Market. Walking and biking iseasy along this eight foot wide trail which seems to belittle used.

POND APPLE PARK TRAIL,

A New Sanibel Walking/Biking Trail

by Sue HarphamOSPREYS ON SANIBELThis year there are 87 active osprey nests on the island.Many pairs are raising young now. Tim Gardner, presidentof the International Osprey Society and island resident, pre-dicts that 110 young osprey will fledge this year. Jim Griffith,vice-president of San Cap Audubon Society and active os-prey volunteer, has built or rebuilt more than 70 osprey plat-forms during the past two years. To learn more about ospreybehavior go to www.ospreywatch.org

The ospreys seem to be doing better this year thanlast, although it is too early to tell how many chicks we willhave on the island. There seem to be more active nests. Inseveral the babies have recently hatched. As stated in theInternational Osprey Foundation's March 2008 newsletter, in2007 only 45 chicks survived to leave the nest, about half asmany as in 2006 and a third as many as in 2003. No oneknows the exact cause of the big drop in chicks fledged.Hopefully this year will be better.

Off Island, also, ospreys are watched and enjoyed.There is a pair of ospreys who for the second year are tryingto start a family atop a very tall light pole at the corner of

Gladiolus and Winkler. The fixture is in an X shape so thatmost nesting material falls between the cross bars. Thisseems to confound the birds and there is much commotionbut little productive activity by the couple who seem to havemore enthusiasm than savvy. The busy intersection is notconducive to observation, but there are several parking lotswhere they can be seen from several different angles..

EAGLES ON SANIBELThe nest near the Dairy Queen on Periwinkle Way was re-cently destroyed by the elements, but there are 2 fledgedbirds hanging around with the parents. Another nest con-tains young, and Jim Griffith just today (March 24) confirmedthat he saw at least 2 flexing their wings This is near theintersection of San-Cap Road and Gulf Pines/Gulf Shores.

WHOOPING CRANES IN NORTH AMERICAWild Populations

Adult Young Total Adult PairsAransas/Wood Buffalo 227 39 266A 69

Rocky Mountains 0 0 0 0

Florida non-migratory 40B 1 41B 17

Wisconsin/FloridaMigratory 51 24C 75 4

Total Wild Population 318 64 382 90A A record 84 chicks hatched from 65 nests in 2007. Forty chicksfledged. Winter 07-08, 266 cranes were accounted for in Texas, includ-ing 39 juveniles. The peak flock size of the A/WB population is esti-mated at 266.B This number reflects the birds regularly monitored in Florida. A fewadditional cranes could be present. One chick fledged in the wild in2007.C 28 chicks were raised in captivity and shipped to Necedah NWR in

Wisconsin for reintroduction. 17 were led by ultralight to Florida, and 10released with other wild cranes in Wisconsin. Three of the 10 have died.

Totals:

382 Wild + 147 Captive = 529 whooping cranes in the world.

Notgreat, but better than 20 in 1941
http://c/Documents%20and%20Settings/Jean/My%20Documents/Audubon%20potential/www.ospreywatch.orghttp://c/Documents%20and%20Settings/Jean/My%20Documents/Audubon%20potential/www.ospreywatch.orghttp://c/Documents%20and%20Settings/Jean/My%20Documents/Audubon%20potential/www.ospreywatch.org


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The Newsletter of the Sanibel-CaptivaAudubon Society

P.O. Box 957 Sanibel, Florida 33957

Newsletter reply only:14720 Lake Olive DrFort Myers, FL 33919

[email protected] 239-415-0935

Non subscribers50

Sponsored by

Were proud togive back to the community

we call home

In This Issue.

.Audubon Sounds Alarm

.Roseate Spoonbills in Florida Bay

.Area Bird Surveys

.Greenwashing by Candice

.Book Reviews

.Ospreys, Eagles, and Whooping

Cranes

.GBBC Results

Spring 2008