Tampa Audubon Society

By Jonathan Hoiles, Photo Club Leader The Tampa Audubon Society is thrilled to announce the 2022 Tampa Audubon Photography Contest. The competition will begin accepting submissions in November through the contest’s deadline of Dec. 31, 2022. Past winning photographs have celebrated the breathtaking beauty and critical importance of Florida’s birds and ecosystems. This year, the contest has three categories: Birds, Native Plants, and General Wildlife and Nature Photography. To increase knowledge and appreciation of native Florida birds, plants, landscapes, and other wildlife, submissions are limited to native Florida species. The 2022 contest has several exciting changes for entrants. This year, the photo contest is open to the public to encourage maximum participation. A modest entry fee is required for each photo submission to fund prizes for the winners. Winning photographs will be selected by an expert panel of photographers and naturalists. Photographers of all skill levels are enc

By Jim McGinity, Florida Young Birders/Florida Aviation Conservation The activity level for the club is really picking up. Our activities include: young birders leading bird walks ( Wonders of Wildlife Festival , Nov. 5 at Medard Reservoir), Jay Chat  series, monthly outings, and a joint bird walk in Orlando between all three chapters.   One of the goals of the club is to give the young birders leadership opportunities. This includes mentoring them on how to lead bird walks. Charles Law will lead a walk at the Wonders of Wildlife Festival .  He is a very good birder and has a lot to share with beginning birders. Later this winter, I will co-lead a bird walk at Raptor Fest with one of our younger - young birders.   The Jay Chat monthly Zoom series had programs in September and October.  We had a representative from the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, and this month the young birders heard from Adam Kent from Gainesville.   The next Jay Chat is on Saturday, November 19, at 4 pm with

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 program at 7:30 pm.  To participate: • NEW : Upload your photos to SmugMug here . Send 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@yahoo.com Upload Photos  Here

By Jim McGinity, Florida Young Birders/Florida Aviation Conservation The young birders club is doing very well.  We had our first monthly outing of the 2022/2023 year with a field trip to John Chestnut County Park in Palm Harbor.  We had 13 kids and 12 adults for the walk.   The group saw a handful of warblers, some waterbirds and close looks at seed-eating birds along the boardwalk since park visitors have been leaving seeds on the railings.   At the end of the walk, we gathered at one of the shelters to go over the list and examine a Veery that was brought in by one of the fathers after the bird hit a window at his office. Over the next several months, we will be giving some of the young birders leadership opportunities.  Charles Law will be leading his first bird walk at the Wonders of Wildlife Festival in Plant City on Saturday, November 5.   One of our younger members will be co-leading a bird walk with me at the Raptor Fest in St. Petersburg in early February.  Our next outing is

Former long-time Florida winter resident Dr. Frank M. Chapman, the originator of the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) and the legendary bird man of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City for 54 years, is profiled in a recently released biography.  THE MAN WHO LOVED BIRDS: Pioneer Ornithologist Dr. Frank M. Chapman, 1864-1945 (September 2022) by James Huffstodt, is the first full-length Chapman biography. The author tells the life-story of a pivotal figure in the early history of conservation, bird study, museum innovation, and bird photography. The 400-page paperback with vintage photographs is published by Bird Love Unlimited Publishers, Tallahassee and may be purchased on Amazon.books.com After sailing in Tampa Bay in 1892, Chapman wrote this in his journal: “There were more water-birds in Tampa Bay than I have seen elsewhere; Laughing Gulls in adult plumage were common, up to two hundred being observed…All the buoys and stakes were crowned with either Brown Pelicans or Co

By Wild Birds Unlimited, Tampa What did you do during the pandemic?  This is a question we are likely to hear for decades, and each of us has our own unique answer as to how we endured the seemingly endless months of social isolation.  Some became experts at baking sour dough bread, others binge-watched old movies, and of course, we all learned how to hold video calls with our friends and relatives. But if you are reading this article, the odds are that your backyard birds played a big role in your life during the pandemic.  Feeling overwhelmed by the events of the past few years, many of us simply retreated to the comfort and serenity of our own backyards to regain a feeling of well-being and some semblance of control.  It makes sense. Birds are like our own personal support group! Their behavior and beauty brings us joy when it can be hard to find elsewhere. They provide a much needed respite from daily monotony and a distraction from disturbing events. And they create moments of tru

E very year Hillsborough County hosts the Hiking Spree, a five-month long hiking event that gets people to try new trails throughout the county. The county creates a list of trails using neighborhood recreation parks, conservation parks, nature preserves, and even partners with Florida state parks in the county to give a wide array of hikes for all abilities and interests. Participants hike a series of their own choosing from these trails and are rewarded with things like patches and medallions – and even dog bandana’s for four legged hikers!   The Hiking Spree is November 1 st   to March 31 st .   To start off the Hiking Spree this year, the county is having limited kickoff events at two different locations. These are invite-only events open to local hiking and interest groups like yours – and we’d love to see you there!   Both of these events are at the same time,   Saturday, October 29 ,   8:30am.   In the south of the county in Riverview the hike will be at Wortham park at 8:30-11a

Story and photo by Mary Miller, Bluebird Box Trail Coordinator John Miller, Sherry Keller and Flatwoods Ranger Clint Perigard install the first bat house. Flatwoods Park Bluebird Trail has 56 Eastern Bluebird boxes, and we occasionally have a few bats that will roost in them. Several years ago, we even had a maternity colony of Evening Bats that had 11 pups in one of our boxes during their nesting season (April 15 – August 15), which is similar to the bluebird's (March 1 – August 15). For the past few years, the number of bats occupying our bluebird boxes has been increasing. This year, we had six bluebird boxes taken over by Evening Bats. So, we thought it was time to build a few bat houses in hopes of getting our bluebird boxes back for the birds. Florida has 13 species of bats, including the Evening Bat, and they are all protected under Federal Law. Bats eat more insect pests than any other animal and are especially beneficial to farmers for that reason. Mothers and pups are lik

By Jonathan Hoiles, Photo Club Leader The Photo Club will be introducing themes to each month's meeting in 2023. Each meeting will kick off with a brief 10 to 15-minute presentation on these themes, followed by our normal photo sharing time where club members can present their own photos. The themes support the Photo Club's goals to Inspire , Educate , and Conserve . The theme for each month is in the table below. Also note the types of photos that can be shared during each meeting will be more focused to support the meeting's theme. For example, the March theme is "Butterflies, Dragonflies, and Snakes. Oh my!" During this meeting, only photos that support this theme should be shared. While some months will be tightly focused on the theme, there are other months where general "Florida nature photographs" can be shared as we do now. Club members are welcome to give the presentations during the Club Meeting. If you are interested in giving one of the short

Over the years, people have asked me, "Why do Audubon members focus on birds?"  It's a good question, but I always feel a little put out when I'm asked this, because the reasons are so obvious to me. I wonder why people don't know the answer.  Here are the reasons I focus on birds: - Because most birds are active in the day, and that's when we can see best and watch them easily. In comparison, reptiles and mammals are a lot harder to observe. - Because when we use binoculars and scopes, we can see the birds from a distance without interfering in their lives, if we follow some basic guidelines. That means we can actually watch their behaviors, which are truly fascinating. We can watch them forage for their prey, using their specially adapted body shapes and foraging behaviors. We can watch them mate and raise their young. We can see birds of all sorts from all over the world, simply by going where they are expected. This is so interesting! - Because birds of

Presented by John Lampkin Photographer, composer and author of crossword puzzles Thursday, Nov. 3  Tampa Garden Club, 2629 Bayshore Blvd, Tampa, FL 33629  6 pm Photo Club click here to see how to participate.  7 pm Potluck (bring a covered dish)  7:30 pm announcements and program Zoom Link:   https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89199353499 Join by Zoom any time! Do butterflies drink tears from crocodile eyeballs? Why doesn't a male butterfly fall out when dangling mid-air when flying coupled to a female? John's photographs grace the pages of field guides, websites and magazines. He won the American Butterflies magazine 2020 photo contest. As a neo-classical composer, he won international prizes for his Piano Concerto and woodwind quintets. He has constructed many crossword puzzles, often with nature themes, for the NY Times, LA Times and Wall Street Journal. Inquiring minds want to know, and John Lampkin has the answers to these and other compelling questions with photographic proof! Jo