PRAS MEETINGS HAVE MOVED

OUR NEW MEETING PLACE

FIRST ALLIANCE CHURCH

MIDWAY BLVD & GREEN ST – PORT CHARLOTTE

Next Meeting, Thursday, April 18, 2013

Speaker: Betty Straugler

Economic and Biological Indicators of Estuary Health

Betty Staugler, MS, has been employed by the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences since 2004 where she serves as a Sea Grant Extension Agent for the Florida Sea Grant Program in Charlotte County. As an extension agent, she develops comprehensive marine and natural resource educational programs that focus on sustainable coastal communities, boating and waterways management, marine recreational fisheries; commercial fisheries and habitat/water quality issues. Her current efforts include bay scallop restoration, derelict trap recovery, waterway access planning activities, deep water fisheries barotrauma descending gear field trials and teaching the Florida Master Naturalist Program.

Doors open at 6:30 and the meeting begins at 7PM.

DIRECTIONS TO MEETING SITE

From Highway 41, drive to Midway Blvd., then east on Midway for less than ¼ mile, turning left (north) for a short distance on Green St., then right into the church's main parking lot. Our meetings will be held in the Church's Cafe which is located at the far end of the main parking lot. Parking is also available near the main entrance to the Café.

From I-75 , exit onto King's Highway, south to Midway Blvd., then west a few miles to the last church (First Alliance) on the right just before the junction of Midway and Highway 41.

THANK YOU

Our 36th Annual Banquet & Fundraiser was held on March 21st at King's Gate Country Club. Thanks to everyone who worked on the committees to successfully manage this event. A special thanks to the following for their generous donations. Proceeds from this fundraiser benefit the PRAS Youth Environmental Education Fund.

2013 BIRDATHON

Saturday 6 th April is the date for the 2013 Birdathon fund raiser. Get a team together and see if you can find and see the most birds in Charlotte County while raising money for PRAS projects.

You can start anytime after midnight, great for owling, and the fund raiser will end at 5 PM at Bayshore Live Oak Park to compare notes and collect pledges. It is always fun to see which team has the most birds and pledges. We are planning on having pizza again (dutch treat), so bring a drink for the wrap up. Click here for more information.

The Amazing Life of a Tiny Shorebird, Sanderling # VM0

by Bill Dunson

One of the most remarkable things that a naturalist can learn is how individual animals live their lives. We often see birds in large flocks or alone, yet we cannot know anything about them as individuals. Yet through banding programs using markers which are visible, it is possible to follow the lives of birds without capturing and damaging them, except for the initial capture. I have always opposed the capture and marking of birds unless there is a very specific need for the information which justifies the adverse impact of the capture process. However there is a very strong justification for marking shorebirds which are often undergoing population declines. If we know exactly where they spend their time, there is a greater likelihood of success in protecting these habitats.

On Christmas day I was out doing what I enjoy most, hiking and observing nature, specifically on the beach at Knight/Palm Island. Over a two hour period I observed about 640 individuals of 34 species of birds, feeding and resting along the shore. One of the most interesting observations I made was finding a banded sanderling, a small shorebird about 8 inches long and weighing only 2 ounces. You will see in the photos I took that there was a metal band on the lower right leg and a green flag engraved with a code, VM0, on the upper right leg. The bird was healthy and feeding in the surf zone as is their habit. Since I was fortunate enough to get a decent photo of the flag, I was able to enter the information into a web site ( www.bandedbirds.org ) and determine where it was originally banded and whether it had been seen since then.

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To my amazement this tiny waif is at least 5 1/2 years old since it was banded originally on 5/15/2007 at Cooks Beach-North, New Jersey. It has been subsequently been re`sighted eight times in two locations during the fall, winter and spring. It apparently spends the winter on Knight Island, Florida, and migrates through Mispillion Harbor, Delaware (see map) on the way to its breeding grounds in the high Arctic. I find several aspects of this quite incredible. First that a tiny bird can live this long and survive five years of round trips between the Arctic, Delaware/New Jersey and Florida, and be spotted and identified repeatedly. The chances of this seem quite implausible yet there are photos to document three of these sightings. It is also impressive that this individual has chosen to return to the same locations during the winter and its long distance spring migration. In other words it is a "snow-bird" with a specific known location in two places. This tiny bird presumably knows the surroundings well and is able to return exactly to them year after year. We can only surmise that it also has specific breeding grounds somewhere along the coastal tundra of the high Arctic that it returns to year after year.

There are many things about nature that evoke wonder, but just thinking about this tiny shorebird surviving the many hazards of its life and completing this perilous journey up and down the eastern coast of North America leaves me absolutely amazed. There is something about knowing this bird (#VM0) personally that makes a big difference in the appreciation of its remarkable life journey and I hope will help we humans to provide better protection for these tiny specks of life. Let's be better stewards of the beaches, shores and mudflats for all of these life forms that share the planet with us.


Bill Dunson is a biologist and professor emeritus of Penn State University. He lives in the Englewood, FL area part-time, and leads walks at Wildflower Preserve and often joins our PRAS walks.

PRAS NEWSLETTER IS NOW ELECTRONIC

Beginning last season, the PRAS White Bird newsletter is all electronic. Costs for printing and mailing have become too burdensome and we are doing our part to reduce unnecessary resource use when possible. Click here to get a monthly reminder of the publishing of the newsletter by signing up for our newsletter email group.

Attend Meetings and Learn

Pennington Park Wednesday Workdays

• Did you know that the Audubon Pennington Park in Port Charlotte is maintained by PRAS?
• Did you know that Brazilian pepper, carrotweed and air potatoes have been invading the beautiful habitat?
• Did you know that every Wednesday at 8AM our volunteers meet to maintain the park?

Well, if the above is news to you - you're missing out on a wonderful opportunity to enjoy birding AND make a diference in our community.

If you'd like to help maintain the park, please meet at the park entrance on Wednesdays mornings at 8 AM. The entrance is off Alton between Peachland and Midway Blvds - approx. 1 1/2 miles west of Kings Highway.

PRAS College Scholarship Fund

The Peace River Audubon Society College Scholarship Fund is an endowed fund to support an advanced college undergraduate environmental studies major residing in Charlotte or Desoto Counties. Our goal for the fund is $30,000 and we are making progress with every fundraising effort to meet that goal. Once the goal is attained, the interest earned will support yearly scholarships. If you would like to donate to this fund please contact our Treasurer, Dave Lancaster, at (586) 214-0203.

If you would like to take advantage of the tax benefits for planned giving options by leaving a legacy through a bequest in your Will or through a gift annuity in yours or someone else's memory please contact your attorney or financial advisor. Your gift will support our work while meeting your own personal needs for income, retirement planning, and tax savings.

We need your help and expertise - Get involved in PRAS today