Solstice Summations

The Limpkin Times

Apalachee Audubon Society Mission Statement:

Protection of the environment through education,
appreciation and conservation.

July 2017

WEBSITE ABOUT CALENDAR CONSERVATION EVENTS PROGRAMS VOLUNTEER

July Field Trips

Saturday, July 15

Lake Elberta/Springhill Road Hotspots

Meet at 8 a.m. at Lake Elberta on Lake Bradford Road. We will be carpooling to other watering holes.

Please email Helen Jelks King at [email protected] if you plan to attend either trip.

Friday, July 28

Lake Seminole and 3 Rivers State Park

Meet at 7:30 a.m. at the Pilot gas station at the intersection of US90 West and I-10. We will be carpooling so please indicate if you are a willing driver.

Please email Helen Jelks King at [email protected] if you plan to attend.

Apalachee Audubon Board Retreat

By Kathleen Carr

First of all, thanks for letting me serve as your president. We have an AMAZING board of directors for this upcoming program year (July 2017 through June 2018) and we’re looking forward to launching a number of new initiatives and projects. As a chapter, we will be working with Audubon Florida to make the Apalachicola River system a national conservation issue on par with the Everglades. Conservation Chair Rob Williams, who is also the Regional Conservation Chairman for Audubon Florida, will be working on that. Sean McGlynn and Donna Legare are planning a general program theme around the Apalachicola River and its bay, estuary, floodplain forests, upland longleaf forest and the importance of fire in management.

This past spring, we helped to fund and create a pollinator garden in the South City neighborhood in Tallahassee. We hope to continue to support the garden and provide education opportunities with volunteers from the chapter this next year, and encourage other communities to establish gardens as well.

Helen King will continue to lead two field trips a month, which will be announced in the Limpkin Times and on our website. Speaking of the website, we are planning to launch a new site later this summer, which new board member Elizabeth Georges is developing. Stay tuned.

2017 Banquet Volunteer Awards

By Donna Legare

Tim Smith, pictured with his wife Heather (left), was awarded this great chef’s apron along with a gift certificate for planning and cooking our banquets for the last 10 years at Lafayette Presbyterian Church.

Secretary Donna Legare presented the Past President Award to outgoing President Budd Titlow.

The Dr. Huey B. Long Great Egret Award for over 20 years of service went to our Treasurer Harvey Goldman.

The Elizabeth J. Platt Meritorious Service Award was presented to Fran Rutkovsky (left).

Community Service Awards were presented to Jeff Hugo and Jackie Turner for their work at Wakulla Springs State Park and to Don Morrow who received this photo of a Vermillion Flycatcher.

In addition, Tammy Brown (right), who organizes the Wildlife Friendly Yard Tour, recognized two of this year’s yard hosts – Nona Dawson (left) and Fran Rutkovsky (middle).

The gorgeous photos that were presented to our volunteers were shot and selected by past board member Nick Baldwin, Chair of the Awards Committee. This last one was for Donna Legare– one of her favorite birds, American Oystercatcher.

Apalachee Audubon Society celebrated the work of several long term volunteers at its End-of-the-Year Banquet in May 2017.

Salineño Serenity

By Peter Kleinhenz

I'll tell you; feeling intense fear and peace at the same time is a strange emotion. Certainly, it isn't one that I experience often. To be fair, it isn't often that I'm standing in a totally unique landscape, with the calls of unrecognizable birds echoing around me, all while looking over my shoulder in a place where violent crime is not uncommon...