Audubon of Florida News

BABY OWL SHOWER
Saturday, May 8th, 10AM-2PM
1101 Audubon Way, Maitland, FL

What is a “Baby Owl Shower,” you say?  This event started in the 1980’s after the birth of the first baby at the Center from one of our resident birds, a Red-tailed Hawk we named “Uno” (who was later released back to the wild). It has now become our special day to celebrate spring and the many babies received at the Center and to focus our education program on the ways that Audubon rehabilitates orphaned birds of prey. Instead of admission, we ask for “baby shower gifts” of items used in bird care at the Center.  Spring is our busiest season so we are in great need of items to offset increased expenses of caring for these young birds.

Top Ten Reasons to Attend

1. A great family event for kids, thought adults seem to enjoy themselves just as much!
2. A day to celebrate Mother’s Day and spring!  Bring your mom, she will love it!
3. Admission that day is free with a “baby gift”.
4. Awesome prizes for Raffle!  Raffle items donated by Wild Birds Unlimited, Audubon, Gatorland and more!
5. You can view more than 20 species of raptors in one day!
6. You can participate in numerous enviro activities offered by groups including: The Orlando Science Center, Orange Audubon Society, Kissimmee Valley Audubon Society, Orange County Environmental Protection Department, South Florida Water Management District and Pine Lily the Osceola County native plant society.
7. You can play games seen on TV (Minute to win it)!  Light as a Feather and Feed Me!
8. You can view non releasable baby raptors (if available).
9. Get a caricature done by Audubon volunteer and artist Maria Bolton-Jouber.
10. And the number ten reason to attend would be to support Audubon Center for Birds of Prey and bring your friends for a great day of fun!

Please contact us with questions 407-644-0190 or visit us online.

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For more than twenty years, Florida has reaffirmed its commitment annually to conservation land preservation and Everglades Restoration with appropriations to support state land buying programs, such as Preservation 2000, Save Our Everglades, and Florida Forever.

Write to your legislators, urging them to provide bridge funding for Florida Forever and Everglades Restoration in this year’s budget. Tell them why wildlands and local parks are important to you and their constituents. Encourage them to attend Florida Forever Day at the Capitol’s Waller Park tomorrow at 11:30.

In recent years, Florida Forever has been appropriated $300 million annually for conservation and recreation land acquisitions, and Everglades Restoration has received annual appropriations of as much as $200 million.

Due to the economy and declines in documentary stamp revenues, last year’s funding for Everglades Restoration was much reduced, and Florida Forever received no appropriation. With the State of Florida currently strapped for cash and struggling with limited bonding capacity, we recognize a return to full funding for these programs is unlikely this year. Nevertheless, it is crucial that these keystone conservation programs receive some bridge funding.

DEP Division of State Lands Director Deborah Poppell reported earlier this Session before the Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee that many previously unwilling sellers have approached the Division in the last year, now willing to sell their environmentally sensitive lands at bargain prices. Continuation funding this year is an important signal to landowners that the state remains committed to working with willing sellers to protect Florida’s remaining special places.

Currently, the Senate budget includes $15 million in cash for Florida Forever and $10 million in cash for the Everglades; the companion House budget appropriates no funding for either of these programs.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 7, is Florida Forever Day at the Capitol. We need your voice now, more than ever.

1) Be inspired by Carlton Ward’s breathtaking photos of Florida’s top ten proposed Florida Forever acquisitions in a countdown to Florida Forever Day tomorrow.

2) Write to your legislators, urging them to provide bridge funding for Florida Forever and Everglades Restoration in this year’s budget. Tell them why wildlands and local parks are important to you and their constituents. Encourage them to attend Florida Forever Day at the Capitol’s Waller Park tomorrow at 11:30.

3) Attend Florida Forever Day: Join us at the Capitol Wednesday to show your support for Florida Forever. Email us if you’d like help scheduling an appointment with your senator and representative, or just join us for the rally at 11:30 (to be followed by an ice cream social). Events will be located in Waller Park (the steps, fountain and plaza on the West side of the Capitol building).

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It’s that time of year again—Birdathon—when Audubon staff and friends put our binoculars where our mouths are (well, not literally) and get back to our birdwatching roots. For those not familiar with this traditional Audubon fundraiser, we spend the day—from before sun-up to after sundown—beating the bushes for every species of bird we can possibly identify. What we ask of you is to throw down a gauntlet for us: sponsor us at a set amount or for a bigger challenge, an amount per species—making us earn every penny in exchange for Hooded Warblers, Brown-headed Nuthatches, Bald Eagles and more.

This year, our whirlwind “Big Day” is planned for SATURDAY, APRIL 10, and here in Tallahassee we hope to see between 130 and 160 species (weather, migration and stamina willing!). Your pledge will not only egg us on (pun intended), but will help support core Audubon of Florida policy work.

Whether it’s 2 cents or $2 a bird, every pledge can help make a difference for Florida’s natural resources (and is tax-deductible to boot). Pledge now via email, and we’ll let you know the week of April 12th how our team fared, with all the juicy details!

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Royal Tern © Linda Martino and Least Tern © Dave Macri

Thanks to Audubon this Royal Tern chick at Huguenot and this Least Tern chick at Fort Matanzas had a better chance of fledging this year. Let’s celebrate!

Join us on Saturday, April 10th for the
First Annual Northeast Florida Bird-a-thon
Our Goal – find at least 150 bird species.
Let’s celebrate our accomplishments in the region and
Audubon of Florida for their support in NE FL.

Your $20 donation includes:
•    participation in the Bird-a-thon (see The Rules below)
•    picnic hamburger/hot dog lunch (by Chef Ned)
•    entry into the prizes drawing (one free ticket)
and will benefit bird conservation in Northeast Florida!

The day will start with Birding Teams finding as many species as possible. Teams will head out at or before sunrise and meet at the picnic by 1:30 to have their checklists included in the totals.

For those not inclined to the birding at sunrise, you can still join us for the picnic! For more information on the birdathon and picnic, please see the flyer.

To participate, please RSVP to Monique (904.813.5115).

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April 16 & 17, 2010
RiverCamps Riverhouse

Northwest Florida’s Gulf Coast provides important resting and feeding habitat for many species of migratory and rare resident birds. In celebration of International Migratory Bird Day, we invite you to attend this spectacular birding festival that highlights some of the most beautiful areas and rarest birds of the region. The festival includes guest speakers, a wildlife photographer, education and recreation activities for all ages and numerous guided birding tours. Please join us for the Northwest Florida Birding Festival at RiverCamps on Crooked Creek and experience the wonders of migratory birds. View the festival’s poster for more information on activities and events.

If you would like more information, please call 850.231.6433. Map of festival can be found here.

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Kids can make a real difference for conservation projects across America.

Camouflaged shorebirds along California’s coast need your help. So do the coastal marshes of Louisiana and wetland habitat near the Gulf Coast of Florida. What can you do to help? Join Pennies for the Planet!

Pennies for the Planet is a successful nationwide campaign to help critical conservation projects. It’s powered by kids collecting pennies (and nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollars, too!) to help save wild places and wildlife in the United States. Working in classrooms, clubs, Scout troops, other groups, with their families, and on their own, kids have turned pennies into a gold mine for wild spaces and wild species needing protection.

By raising thousands of dollars for conservation, kids have proven that they care about making the planet cleaner, greener, and wilder. Get started now by downloading a Pennies for the Planet kit!

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The Big “O” Birding Extravaganza is a Glades/ Hendry County cooperative event in South Central Florida on the Southwest shores of Lake Okeechobee, the state’s largest lake and it’s happening from March 25th until March 28th.

Glades and Hendry counties are becoming a mecca for bird watching; they’ree home to more than 300 species of birds, including limpkins and migratory swallow-tailed kites, and painted buntings which pass through during October and April. Five Great Florida Birding Trail sites are within the region: Dinner Island Ranch and Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest and Wildlife Management Areas, and Stormwater Treatment Area #5 (STA5) are in Hendry County, and Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area—East & West are in Glades County. You can expect to see ducks such as the Fulvous Whistling-Duck and the Mottled Duck; shorebirds like Black-necked Stilt; waders such as Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork and Least Bittern; and specialty raptors including Crested Caracara, Snail Kite, Short-tailed Hawk and Barn Owl. Plus, they’re always on a quest for that elusive Smooth-billed Ani. Go help them look! More information on the festival here.

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Be in Tallahassee March 22nd and 23rd to voice your concerns about this urgent issue. See the invitation for all of the details.

Audubon of Florida is part of the Renewable Energy Alliance, REAL, that brings together environmental and clean business partners to achieve robust renewable energy policy for our state.

Together with our partners, we just launched a new fact sheet that outlines why we need robust renewable energy policy. Solar power, biomass and other renewable sources of energy are affordable, protect Floridians from price shocks, provide reliability to the transmission grid, and create jobs right here in Florida. Read the REAL fact sheet and share it to urge others to add their voices to the chorus of Floridians dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas pollution to protect the environment and ramping up new, sustainable job growth through the development of a renewable energy market.

To take your commitment a step further, join Audubon and its partners in Tallahassee for a lobby day on March 22nd and 23rd.

Clean Energy Advocates & Oil Drilling Opponents,
We Need You March 22 at the Capitol! Register Now

Help Pass Clean Energy Jobs Legislation This Session;
Jump-Start Florida’s Economy and Stop the Threat of Risky Offshore Drilling

Be in Tallahassee March 22nd and 23rd to voice your concerns about this urgent issue. See the invitation for all of the details.

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This Royal Tern chick was photographed by Linda Martino at Huguenot Memorial Park in Jacksonville in summer 2009. Audubon is working in Northeast Florida to protect these birds and others from human disturbance and to conserve their important beach habitat. Notice where the chick is standing: Young Royal Terns do not thermo-regulate well and so being able to sit undisturbed at the water’s edge helps them keep cool.

Statement of Audubon of Florida on the 2010 State of the Birds Report

The 2010 State of the Birds Report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Audubon and other leading conservation organizations shows that climate change will have an increasing impact on birds and their habitat—and the ecological and other benefits they provide to people. It issues an urgent call for sound energy policy that will reduce carbon emissions, and for strategic conservation investments that will help species adapt to a changing climate. If we can help the birds weather this unprecedented threat, we can help ourselves.

In Florida, some of the most threatened birds include coastal species, such as the red knot and royal tern. The Florida scrub-jay, our state’s only endemic species, as well as the ruby-throated hummingbird, prothonotary warbler and roseate spoonbill, are all at risk from climate-induced habitat changes.

“The report makes it clear that these birds will not survive the human-caused changes to our global climate,” said Eric Draper, Executive Director of Audubon of Florida. “Like canaries in a coal mine, the dangers they face warn of dangers to us as well. It’s up to us to reduce the threat.”

Everglades restoration that achieves ecological benefits, protection of our important beaches and coastal habitats, and putting meaningful renewable energy and energy and water conservation policies into place are all winning strategies that Audubon of Florida is working hard to achieve.

What Florida Audubon is doing complements innovative federal efforts to help species adapt; efforts that come with new investments that will create jobs and protect beautiful and sensitive habitats across America. And we’re part of ongoing Audubon efforts to pass ground-breaking climate and energy legislation to control the emissions that cause climate change while there’s still time to make a difference.”

As Glenn Olson of the National Audubon Society said at the news conference announcing the findings, “If you love nature and care about the health of our planet, there is no time to lose. This isn’t just about birds; it’s about our chance to shape our future.”

• View Audubon’s factsheet on Florida at-risk species.
• Read the 2010 State of the Birds Report.

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