Tampa Audubon Society

Tampa Audubon presents a slide show of bird and nature photos during its Photo Club Meeting before each of its monthly programs. The meetings are open to any member. the Photo Club meeting starts at 6 pm, the potluck at 7 pm, and announcements/program at 7:30 pm.  To participate:  • Upload your photos to SmugMug here . Upload them at least 24 hours before the meeting. • Limit your photos to about eight, or what can be shown in five minutes.  • Photos must be JPGs. Do not include them in Word, PowerPoint or any other file format.   • Label the beginning of each photo file with your name, such as Smith_Spoonbill, Smith_Warbler  • Be ready to tell us about your photo during the meeting. If you have any questions, please contact Jonathan Hoiles, Photo Club Leader, at jonathan.hoiles@tampaaudubon.org.

It's an exciting time of the year – summer is ending and as fall approaches, kids are back in school and business people are back from vacation. We have a lot to look forward with as we approach September! Our in-person meetings will alternate between the Tampa Garden Club on Bayshore Boulevard and the County's Extension Office in Seffner. We hope that this way, Tampa members who have been reluctant to travel to Seffner will join us at the Garden Club, AND members who have enjoyed meeting at the Extension Office will participate as well. We are hoping, in effect, to "have our cake and eat it too!" Our first meeting – Thursday, September 1, will be at the Tampa Garden Club. The Photo Club will meet at 6 pm for an hour, followed by our meeting. We will start the Membership Meeting at 7 pm with short announcements.  We have two speakers, Kelly Holland and Kim Tapley, who will share their topic, "Wetlands Protection in Hillsborough County – the role of the Environmen

Best-selling author and world-renowned conservationist Carl Safina and woodpecker expert Stephen Shunk will be the keynote speakers at this year's Florida Birding and Nature Festival Oct. 20-23.  The festival will be headquartered at the Suncoast Youth Conservation Center, 6650 Dickman Road in Apollo Beach. The annual event coincides with the peak migration of more than 180 species and features expert-led field and boating trips to the best wildlife sites in West Central Florida.   Trips include the Cross Bar Ranch in Spring Hill; Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County; Egmont Key and Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve in Hillsborough County; and Honeymoon Island and Fort DeSoto Park in Pinellas County. A cross-Florida bus trip will offer participants the chance to see a wide variety of birds, including rarities such as the Crested Caracara and the Florida Scrub Jay. One outing will identify butterflies.  Some of the trips are to areas normally not open to the public.  Space is limited, s

Thursday, Sept. 1 6 pm Photo Club (click here to learn how to participate) 7 pm - Announcement and speaker In-Person Meeting at the Tampa Garden Club  2629 Bayshore Blvd, Tampa, FL 33629 Presented by: Kim Tapley and Kelly Holland  Wetlands Division of the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County (EPC) This presentation will outline what the EPC does and its history serving the residents of Hillsborough County. Topics will also include the history of wetlands in Florida and the wetland impact trends over the last century, the importance of wetlands and what the public can do to protect them. Environmental conservation is the practice of protecting the natural environment by governments, organizations and individuals. The objectives of the EPC are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair damage and reverse trends. Kim Tapley is a Senior Environmental Manager in the Wetlands Division of the Environmental Protecti

By Jim McGinity, Florida Young Birders/Florida Aviation Conservation This year, three Audubon chapters (Tampa, Orange County and St. Johns County) decided to join forces to organize and grow this new club for kids.   Each chapter had begun doing bird walks for kids in their area, but the organizers decided to join forces to create a new, statewide effort to reach young birders wherever they live.   Following the Black Swamp Bird Observatory model,  the group formed a teen advisory panel that includes members from each club.  The panel has met monthly with the three adult mentors to discuss topics including creating a logo (in process), monthly expert speaker series and joint field trips.   The club is for kids ages 9 – 17 years of age with an interest in birds.  The goal is to expand the number of chapters around the state and to build membership.  Organizers Jim McGinity, Tampa Audubon Society, Kathy Rigling, Orange Audubon and Kate Milutin, St. Johns County Audubon, each are coordina

By Mary Miller, TAS Bluebird Trail Coordinator Tampa Audubon Society (TAS) members monitor six Bluebird Trails that were very productive this year, with a total of 307 fledglings (267 Eastern Bluebirds, 28 Carolina Chickadees, 6 Tufted Titmice, and 6 Carolina Wrens). Better environmental conditions—a less severe dry season and moderate rainy season with less flooding—meant more insects for the chicks to eat, which helped more of them survive. Since our first bluebird trail at Flatwoods Park in the 1970s, our trails have expanded to now include Balm-Boyette Preserve, Lake Park, Lettuce Lake Park, Hunter's Green Park, and Sargeant's Park. This year, in addition to birds, several of our trails had a lot of Evening Bats ( Nycticeius humeralis ) occupying the bluebird boxes. Flatwoods had so many, that we are installing three bat boxes on our bluebird trail. Most bat species are endangered, so we like to promote bat conservation whenever possible. You might think that our job is ove

By Jim McGinity, Florida Young Birders/Florida Aviation Conservation Even thought I have been birding for ~ 50 years, I never really lived in a place where I got to know shorebirds.  In the Midwest, where I started birding, they typically passed through each spring and fall.   It wasn’t until I moved to Florida for work (first in Naples and now in Dunedin) that I lived close to the shoreline where shorebirds spend most of the winter and some even nest here.   Most long-time birders will advise new birders to get to know the more common birds in your area so that when something different shows up, you will notice it. That very thing happened to my wife and I during a walk at Honeymoon Island State Park June 18th.   We came across a small, mixed group of shorebirds that we took a look at.  Immediately, there was one that stood out.  The first thing we noticed were the yellow legs and the fact that it was larger than a Least Sandpiper.   After further examination, we noticed the primary p

  By Mic McCarty, Field Trip Coordinator During a Tampa Audubon field trip at Fort De Soto in April, we encountered a Wilson’s Plover with five bands on its legs. We photographed the bird and reported the find, with photos, to the U.S. Geological Survey www.reportband.gov .   We found out that our plover had been banded just last November in Tierra Verde area.  The service sent Mic McCarty, Tampa Audubon field trip coordinator, a certificate with the details. Bird banding has revealed information about migrations, longevity, breeding and much more. An example of the science gleamed can be found in this article,  Highlights from 2020: Bird Bandings and Encounters | U.S. Geological Survey (usgs.gov) .   Please Report Bands at www.reportband.gov   Bird banding is important for studying the movement, survival and behavior of birds. About 60 million birds representing hundreds of species have been banded in North America since 1904. About 4 million bands have been recovered and reported.  

The Florida Ornithological Society (FOS) is deeply concerned about the threat that free-roaming domestic cats pose to Florida's native birds, mammals, and other imperiled wildlife. Domestic cats are non-native carnivores introduced to North America in the 1600s. Outdoor cats negatively impact both rare and common species and even people throughout Florida. Cats kept indoors are great pets and lead considerably healthier and longer lives than cats allowed to roam outdoors. Accordingly, FOS takes the position that all cats should be kept indoors because of the reasons listed below which are supported by numerous scientific studies. FOS does not advocate the inhumane killing of cats by poisoning, shooting, or vigilante activities. Threats to Bird Populations   Outdoor cats kill millions of Florida birds annually (Lepczyk et al. 2003). In one estimate, free-ranging domestic cats killed 1.3-4.0 billion birds annually in the U.S. (Loss et al. 2013). The killing of birds continues even wh

Photos and text by Terri Simons, Lettuce Lake Volunteer Coordinator Allison Doty from MorgueMade Taxidermy, Inverness, completed the restoration work onsite at Lettuce Lake Park.  Visitors often observed the process. All the specimens are examples of wildlife from Lettuce Lake Park.  Allison cleaned and restored 18 mounted specimens. One specimen was this Pileated Woodpecker. An Osprey was among the collection. The work included birds, a squirrel, fish alligator and preserved wasp nest. The specimens were previously held in a small enclosures, and the alligator was on a high shelf. The displays were redesigned and redistributed among three display cases for better viewing. The specimens were 30+ years old and in good shape for their age.