 November 14 Meeting:
Alex Chevarria of Aventuras
Naturales:
An interesting look at the Mayan culture of ancient Belize, and wildlife too.
Social hour at 7 pm followed by our business meeting and the presentation.
First Congregational Church Fellowship Hall
1031 South Euclid Ave., Sarasota
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Trail Mapping at the Celery Fields
On Sunday, October 16, 2011, eleven students from Sarasota Military Academy gathered at the Celery Fields to begin trail mapping. In three teams, they took GPS markings at 43 locations in the 300-acre site. Many thanks to the students and helpers listed below for giving up their Sunday morning to help Sarasota Audubon and Sarasota make the Fields even more user friendly. Look for interpretive signs and trail maps in the future.
 Students: Felicia Braun Jeff Burgess Chris Cardea Kaelyn Crissey Conor DiFabio Juston Jones Ben LeBoutillier
Kayla Moreau Graham Reinhart Tyler Rowlands Brittany Zwerver 
Organizers/drivers: Rebecca Shopfer Tanya Wilkers
Julie Byrne Karen Jensen Jeanne Dubi
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Caracara Concerns
Photo: Rick Greenspun
Recently, Lisa Wedin (one of the County's Celery Fields managers) alerted Jeanne Dubi to the fact that there were 2 Caracaras sitting on power poles on Palmer Blvd, east of the Celery Fields, just beyond Debrecen Road.
These birds have been reported here for a number of months and may have bred in the area. Lisa and Tom Medel (the other manager) were concerned that the birds were at risk for being on electrical poles. They asked for help and Jeanne was able to connect them to Michelle Van Deventer, an SAS member and FWC staffer, charged with reviewing all Bald Eagle regulations for the State of Florida. Michelle lives on Siesta Key and was heavily involved in our Snowy Plover project until she took this FWC job last winter.
Michelle pointed us to Jim Lindsay of Florida Power & Light who then referred the alert onward. The latest from Jim is as follows:
"FPL personnel will be out early next week to evaluate the equipment and schedule a retrofit to make the equipment avian safe.Thank you for bringing this to our attention."
To which, Lisa replied: "That's wonderful! Thank you so much!" Indeed it is. We wish all agencies could be as responsive as this one.
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Celery Fields Clean Up
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John Hegener is one of our faithful volunteers. Thank you, John!
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Our first Celery Fields Clean Up was Tuesday, Oct. 11. We had five volunteers who managed to collect seven bags of garbage and one bag of recyclables. Just think about what we could accomplish with more helping hands.Thanks to: John Hegener, Penney Rist, Bruce Higgins, Judy Amores and Jeanne Dubi.
Our coming clean up days are Dec. 13, Feb. 14, and April 10. Make a note on your calendars to join us. It's a great way to meet fellow Auduboners.
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Overnight Bus Trip to Wakulla Springs & Tallahassee
January 18, 19, & 20 2012
Join Jeanne Dubi and me on this ever popular trip to the Tallahassee area in north Florida. We are staying at historic Wakulla Lodge south of Tallahassee and timing it to get our best chance of getting the ducks and other wintering birds in the beautiful St Marks NWR. On the way north we'll visit Payne's Prairie to try and get another look at the Whooping Cranes and on our return, visit Suwannee River SP and a bird research station for more elusive birds.
From the lodge we'll visit an open air museum in Tallahassee where we can bird, take a tour, attend a special program and have lunch.
$350 pp/dbl & $435 pp/single. Includes all transportation, food, fees and lodging.
Bring lunch the first day.
Karen Jensen, 924-2446; [email protected]
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Conservation News
Letter to Sarasota Herald-Tribune
T he state of Florida is considering selling thousands of acres of land bought largely by the state water management districts (locally SWFWMD) to protect our water supply and to prevent flooding, often also with conservation and recreational use. Once sold, we will never get the land back. We citizens paid for this land, some at relatively high prices during the boom. It is a really bad business decision to sell now because land prices are so low, but it is also a long-range disaster at any time to sell land that protects our water supply and prevents flooding.We cannot predict when the next weather-related disaster will happen. Will Florida have record high temperatures and drought like Texas had this summer? Remember the calamity of weather events across the United States in this past year alone. Long-range, will we end up paying high retail prices to import water for drinking and household use or have our homes flooded because some are short-sighted now? Don't just take our word for it. Recent articles in the Herald Tribune have voiced objections also. Read Eric Ernst's September 30th column, for example, at heraldtribune.com/ ericernst.
SWFWMD Project Director Ray Mansuer says they will initially review 279,000 acres owned solely by the agency and subsequently review the remaining 160,000 acres. The land committee will have several public meetings to consider the proposal and they will have a website up soon with a link from SWFWMD's home page. The committee will:
* "identify lands which no longer meet the original acquisition purpose"
* "identify lands which do not provide conservation benefit..."
Some conservation lands bought with bonds from Preservation 2000 or Florida Forever funds must remain in conservation or be sold to reduce the cost of the bonds.We hope this whole process is not solely to reduce the budget but to honestly review the conservation value of the holdings. We would like to suggest that those parcels slated to be sold, after final review, and DEP refusal, should then be offered free to local communities. We should not let this be a land grab for developers.
Let's watch the process by SWFWMD and any other agencies following Gov. Scott's land sale edict, read the website, attend and testify at public meetings and, if the outcome ignores the public good, work jointly to prevent it. Julie Byrne Sarasota Audubon Society Wet Lands Chair (Also a member of: SWFWMD Environmental Advisory Committee, Environmentally Sensitive Lands Oversight Committee, and Science & Education Council of Sarasota) Wade Matthews Sarasota Audubon Society Conservation Chair
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Upcoming Events
Thursdays, Nov 3, 10, 17, 24: OSCAR SCHERER STATE PARK See SAS website for details. YES, we will have a walk on Thanksgiving!!
Saturday, Nov 5: LIDO KEY SHOREBIRDS with Dan Irizarry (305-585-5786). Meet at the N. Lido Beach Parking area at 8am.
Sunday, Nov 6: BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY
Rick Greenspun (284-2055) will share his tips on getting those great bird photography shots. Meet at the Celery Fields gazebo on Palmer Ave. at 8 am.
Saturday, Nov 12: CELERY FIELDS BIRD WALK Meet at the gazebo (Palmer & Raymond) at 8am.
Tuesday, Nov 15: ANNA MARIA ISLAND
SHOREBIRDS with Dan Irizarry (305- 585-5786). Meet at Holmes Beach parking area (where 64 ends) at 8am.
Saturday, Nov 19: SIESTA KEY SHOREBIRDS Find resident and migrant shorebirds on Siesta Key. Meet at SK Public Beach parking lot (near pavilion) at 7:30am. Leaders Rick Greenspun and Kathryn Young (612-760-1771).
Saturday, Nov 26: N. LIDO BEACH & LIDO WOODS Leaders Jeanne Dubi (355- 1709) and Marc Hayman. Meet at the N. Lido Beach parking area at 8am.
Saturday, Dec. 3: LAUREL LANDFILL "PINELAND" with Barry Rossheim (387-5044). Meet at the gas station on the corner of Laurel Road and Knights Trail Road at 8am. This is on the way to the Landfill.
Wednesday, Dec 7: MYAKKA RIVER SP
This wildlife preserve always provides great birding. Meet at 8:15am in the first parking lot on your right just inside the park (fee). Note: park opens at 8am. Leader Owen Comora, 378-5166. BRING LUNCH.
Saturday, Dec 10: CELERY FIELDS BIRD WALK Meet at the gazebo (Palmer & Raymond) at 8am.
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Local Membership
It's time to renew your local Sarasota Audubon membership. Now it's even easier: you can renew online! Just go to our website and follow the membership tab to renew. You can also renew by mail or at our monthly meetings.
Remember your $20 annual dues stay right here in Sarasota to help pay for our publications and activities.
We truly value our local members!
Go to www.sarasotaaudubon.org or [email protected] to register
for electronic newsletter.
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In the Field
4 October -Sarasota Audubon held it's first bird walk of the season at Leffis Key this morning as leader John Ginaven lead 5 early birders on a quest to see the Magnificent Frigatebird roost across the bay at Cortez.
Unfortunately, ALL the Frigates have left for the breeding grounds already!!!! Instead we scoured the Coquina boardwalk for migrants, and again had a tough time digging any out. Sharp eyed Karen Jensen spotted the first one, a first year male Baltimore Oriole.
Later, we managed to see Palm Warblers and a few Yellow-throated Warblers along with one Swainson's Thrush and two Catbirds, Belted Kingfisher, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. On a nautical note, the bay was thick with jumping mullet and we had a brief look at a Manatee just off shore.
Rick Greenspun
8 October - At our first of the year Celery Fields walk, we saw 4 juvenile Purple Gallinules and two adults, right off the new boardwalk. Later on, Valeri Ponzo and her group found 2 Stilt Sandpipers, among several yellowlegs, along Raymond Road towards the second curve going south. We also saw 2 Wilson's Snipes, as well as the usual suspects at this time of year.
Jeanne Dubi
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Holiday Lunch
Wed., Dec. 14 at University Park Country Club
Celebrate the season with good food and good friends; table prizes too.
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
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Select from Chicken Chausseur with mushrooms & plum tomatoes or Seared Atlantic Salmon with dill sauce.
Cost $25. Contact Julie Byrne at [email protected] or 379-3882 for more details.
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Martin House Madness
What has one zillion parts, comes unassembled, and requires 3 people to assemble? Oh yes, it also requires lotsssss of patience and just a few tools. A Purple Martin house!
Lynda Eppinger, a parks and recreation manager for Sarasota County, and I took on the task of assembling the 16 room Purple Martin house that SAS purchased with the monthly Raffle money. I asked Rick Greenspun to stop by and take a picture of our efforts, but when he arrived with camera in hand he saw us 2 ladies sitting there with this plethora of tiny metal things and small metal sheets and decided to wade in. Thank goodness he did. This was a job meant for people who have done dastardly deeds sometime in their lives and I guess I must have done something awful at sometime. We were working in the entrance of the storage shed at Urfer Park when the wind came up and started blowing our little pieces everywhere. Lynda and Rick where yelling where's the "cowling", the number 2, etc. I didn't have a clue about what that stuff was. If it was made of metal and small I figured it was ours and picked it up. After 2 ! hours we finished, found a tool in the box we could have used to tighten the miniscule nuts and bolts and even had parts left over. We'll save them.
All in all, we had a good time and have a handsome Purple Martin house that will be erected in a few months at Rothenback Park. Would I do it again? Probably not. From now on I am buying gourds for the Purple Martins. If it worked for the native Americans, it can work for us.
Karen Jensen
Raffle Hassler
See www.sarasotaaudubon.org for photos.
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Apology...
To the family of Lenore Benderly for misspelling her name in last month's obituary.
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Be a Volunteer
One of the reasons we are a growing and successful organization is our volunt eers. SAS is non-profit and volunteer driven. You could be a part of our exciting future. Please share your talents.
Contact:
VolunteerCoordinator, Marcy Packert
[email protected] or 360-0808
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A Carolina Chickadee was spotted at Pinecraft Park this Fall - a first for Sarasota County.
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Subscribe to Bird Alerts!
Need the latest birding info for our area? To subscribe, just send an e-mail. Thanks to Peter Rice for providing this service.
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