South Florida Exotics Birding
(TOUR FULL)
Saturday, February 2, All Day
Paul Bithorn and Brian Rapoza will lead birders in search of parrots, bulbuls, mynas, swamphens and other introduced species in this all-day van trip. Fee: $75 (includes van/gas and lunch at a local restaurant).
Email Brian Rapoza
for additional information.
Flamingo Birding
Sunday, February 3, 7:30am-4pm
Luis Gonzalez will lead this all-day trip to the Flamingo area in Everglades National Park. Flamingo is 38 miles west of the Everglades National Park station in Homestead (entrance fee). Meet at 7:30am in the Flamingo Visitor Center parking area. Bring lunch. No pre-registration required.
Shark Valley/Big Cypress Birding
Saturday, February 16, 8am-2pm
John Hutchison will lead this carpool trip. Meet at 7:30am at the S-334 Water Control Structure on the north side of Tamiami Trail, 1.3 miles west of Krome Avenue. (Shark Valley entrance fee). Bring lunch. Return by 2pm. No pre-registration required.
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Praise for Governor DeSantis’s conservation priorities
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Governor Ron DeSantis with Audubon Florida leaders and other conservation partners, together with new South Florida Water Management District Governing Board member "Alligator Ron" Bergeron (second from right).
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Earlier this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced big investments in conservation. Included in his environmental budget recommendations is more than $625 million slated for Everglades restoration and protection of our state’s water resources. Audubon Florida Executive Director Julie Wraithmell calls it “great news" for Florida. "Audubon is excited to see Governor DeSantis advancing the pro-water agenda laid out with his recent Executive Order,” Wraithmell says. “Water quality and quantity challenges are facing all corners of Florida, and these recommendations improve the outlook for water resources from America’s Everglades to North Florida’s springs, and the Indian River Lagoon to Apalachicola.”
Click Here
to read Audubon Florida’s press release.
Click Here
to read Governor Ron DeSantis’ press release.
Click Here
to read the Miami Herald article about the announcement.
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Doc Thomas House Guided History Tour @TAS
Saturday, February 2, 1 & 3pm
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Visit the historic Doc Thomas House for a captivating, 45-minute guided tour led by a Tropical Audubon Society docent. Learn about the Birds' benefactor Arden Hayes “Doc” Thomas and Robert Fitch Smith, the architect Thomas commissioned to design the house. Tour the distinctive, wood-and-limestone structure with its many ornamental and built-in features. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, named a Florida Heritage Site and designated a Dade County landmark, the charming 1932 cottage is an architectural gem. Gain insights into local South Miami and Audubon history, too. Tours include a stroll through our Steinberg Nature Center grounds, weather-permitting.
Save the dates: First Saturdays of the month through June 2019.
Times: 1pm & 3pm Tours / House and Grounds Open 12:30-4pm.
Admission FREE: Donations Welcomed
Tropical Audubon Society: 5530
Sunset
Dr., Miami, FL, 33143
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7
th
Annual Bird Day @TAS
Saturday, February 9, 12-4pm
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Nurture budding birders and junior naturalists at our free annual Bird Day festival featuring an engaging afternoon of games, prizes, exploration and educational activities on our near-native Steinberg Nature Center grounds. Bird Day is the perfect venue for school ecology clubs, scout troops and young children seeking an outdoor adventure. “Meet” rehabilitated wild birds rescued by the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station. Join our bird experts and learn how to identify birds by their silhouettes. Take part in Owl Pellet dissection, craft Piping Plover “chicks” and experience a microscopic view of the colorful world of feathers. Bring the entire family!
The mid-winter event also celebrates the annual migration of nearly 350 species of birds stopping to refuel and recharge in South Florida on their return from non-breeding grounds in the Caribbean, South America and Mexico to their nesting habitats in North America.
Participants can also join TAS Board member and Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza for a presentation on the 2019 Great Backyard Bird Count, wherein birdwatchers of all ages count birds
to create a real-time snapshot of where birds are located.
Learn how your family can participate in the February 15-18 event!
Additionally:
Nature lovers can explore the trails that thread the restored Tropical Hardwood Hammock and Pine Rockland habitats. History buffs can tour the 1932 Doc Thomas House, which serves as TAS headquarters and is a designated Florida Heritage Site.
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Conservation Concert @TAS
10th Anniversary series featuring Plan B
Saturday, February 23, 7pm
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The 10
th
Anniversary Conservation Concert series rolls this month with
Plan B
returning to the Doc Thomas House Keystone Stage. Its last gig in 2014 rocked “The Doc,” but the stars did not align for their return until this season, so anticipation is high.
Welcome back Pinecrest residents Dr. Scott Kenward (guitar and vocals) and Al Roque (drums), South Miamian Alex Leeds (vocals, percussion, guitar), High Piner Al Larcada (bass) and east Kendall-ite Alvaro Gomez (keyboards, guitar, vocals), who will play a repertoire of classic and contemporary Rock & Roll with a dash of the unexpected.
The “ConCon” fundraising series holds sway with Plan B. Scott Kenward observes, “There’s something really special about playing outside in a beautiful tropical setting this time of year, and it’s always been a meaningful event for our band and a fun venue. Plus, I grew up in Pinecrest next to the old Parrot Jungle and we had macaws roosting in our yard, so I have a special affection for bird sanctuaries!”
Also on the playbill:
Taco Fresh Food Truck, and the donation Bird Bar featuring wines courtesy of Republic National Distributing Co.
Picnic tables available on a first-come basis.
Gates open at 7pm; music begins at 7:30pm
CASH door: $10 donation p/p, children 12 and under FREE
Parking: Limited free parking via our 55th Avenue auto gate and along 56th Avenue; metered parking on Sunset Drive; various garage and valet parking options within 1-3 blocks; Metro-rail service to South Miami Station.
Proceeds benefit capital improvements to the grounds and historic buildings.
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Brown Pelican. Photo:
Fred Borgianini/Audubon Photography Awards
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It’s your chance to enter the Audubon Photography Awards, which showcase the best in Bird Photography. In addition to Professional, Amateur and Youth categories, Audubon has added a “Plants for Birds” category for shutterbugs 13 and older whose entry depicts both birdlife and North American flora (flowers, trees, bushes, grasses native to the United States or Canada).
Winning 2019 photos will be published in Audubon magazine and Nature’s Best Photography magazine, and displayed within the 2019 Nature’s Best Photography Exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in D.C.
Click
here
for contest rules.
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Relax with Yoga Nidra under the Chickee @TAS
Thursdays, 7:30-8:30pm
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Keep your New Year's resolution! Join Hridayam Yoga instructor Carol Jamault for outdoor Yoga Nidra. These deeply relaxing and restorative classes take place under the TAS chickee hut for the joy of those who love to put their bare feet on the ground, listen to the sounds of Nature and enjoy the perfume of verdant woods in a tranquil urban oasis! Yoga Nidra is a great tool to manage stress, improve sleep quality and regenerate the nervous system. Classes include gentle asanas, pranayama and exercises for the joints.
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CANCELED
Eco Restoration Day @TAS's Porter Russell Pine Rockland Preserve
Saturday, February 9, 8:30-11:30am
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Help TAS steward our Porter Russell Pine Rockland Preserve, an 8-acre property in South Miami-Dade County, and one of the few remaining tracts of globally imperiled Pine Rockland habitat remaining outside of Everglades National Park.
We will provide water. Please bring sunscreen and your refillable water bottle; wear closed-toe shoes.
Eco-restoration days take place on the second Saturday of every month. Groups welcome!
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Florida Trail Association Meeting & Potluck @TAS
Tuesday, February 12, 7-9pm
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Join the FTA for an evening with Salome Garcia, Miami Organizer of Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Action, who will be speaking about fracking in Florida and our new governor and legislators.
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Ready, Set Count!
2019 Great Backyard Bird Count
Friday, February 15 – Monday, February 18
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Between February 15-18 Bird Watchers of all ages are invited to count birds to help document where birds are located. Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) was the first online citizen science project to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real time.
It’s easy and a lot of fun for the entire family! Count birds for at least 15 minutes (or longer if you wish!) on one or more days of the GBBC and enter your checklists at
birdcount.org
. Count birds in as many places and on as many days as you like — one day or all four. Submit a separate checklist for each new day, for each new location, or for the same location if you counted at a different time of day.
In addition to counting birds, participants can submit photos of birds as part of the Great Backyard Bird Photo Contest! Photos must be taken during the count period. Submissions from around the Birding world can also be viewed.
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Eco-Restoration Day @TAS's Steinberg Nature Center
Saturday, February 16, 8:30-11:30am
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Learn about indigenous plants and help TAS maintain the near-native landscape at our Steinberg Nature Center campus. We need you! Restoration Days are held on the 3rd Saturday of every month. We're flexible — show up between 8:30 and 11:30am — you will meet conservationists, birders, plant lovers and gardeners just like you lending a hand.
Please bring sunscreen and your refillable water bottle; wear closed-toe shoes. We will provide water.
Eco-restoration days take place on the third Saturday of every month. Groups welcome!
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Rise Up Florida Environmental Committee Meeting @TAS
Thursday, February 21, 6:30pm
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Rise Up Florida! is a grassroots group of engaged citizens whose goals are to mobilize people, activate them to protect our community from unfair and unjust policies, and work toward electing representatives who reflect the core values of equal rights and opportunity for all.
Pot-luck — bring something delicious! Please be mindful and refrain from using disposable items to make, carry or serve your dish. No plastic bags, single-use plastic or styrofoam, please.
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Bird Photography Field & Classroom Workshop
(Filling up fast!)
Led by Wildlife Photographer Kirsten Hines
Saturday, February 23, 6am-3:30pm
Morning session @Wakodahatchee Wetlands
Afternoon session @TAS
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Join wildlife photographer, author and TAS board member
Kirsten Hines
for a full-day bird photography workshop focused on enhancing the design elements and visual impact of the bird images you capture. The Saturday, February 23 workshop begins with a field component at the Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray Beach where nesting birds will be photographed, followed by a classroom session at TAS's Steinberg Nature Center campus in South Miami that will cover the basics of photo editing using Adobe’s Lightroom software.
The curriculum is designed for beginning to intermediate photographers with a minimum 70mm lens. Workshop size will be no less than 4 and no more than 8 participants. Pre-registration and a $75 fee (includes a donation to TAS) should be received by February 13 to ensure participation.
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Miami Pine Rocklands Coalition Meeting @TAS
Thursday, February 28, 7-9pm
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Federally Endangered Pine Rockland Resident: Bartram's Hairstreak Butterfly
Photo courtesy of Al Sunshine
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Join the MPRC for its “Valentines’ Love the Pine Rocklands” meeting.
Get the latest information surrounding the Walmart/Coral Reef Commons Development plans now set in motion at the former University of Miami South Campus.
Learn about how to better protect the region’s remaining Pine Rocklands and how you can participate.
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Go Solar!
Join a Solar Co-op Information Session Near You
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Miami-Dade residents have come together to form a neighborhood-centric Miami-Dade Solar Co-op with the help of Solar United Neighbors of Florida. The co-op makes it easier to save money on the purchase of solar panels, while building a community of local solar supporters. Attend an information session in your neighborhood to learn more about how the Southern Miami-Dade Solar Co-op is streamlining the going solar process and is earning a discount through bulk purchase power.
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The Birds thank t
he publishers of Community Newspapers for so generously supporting “South Florida’s Voice of Conservation.” The Miller family assures Tropical Audubon’s environmental and event messaging is regularly broadcast across its family of Community Newspapers, both in print and electronically.
From Aventura to Cutler Bay, Miami’s Community Newspapers endeavor to connect the birds with the bees. “Once our readers understand how interconnected all systems in a community are, they are more willing to contribute,” says Amy Livergood Donner, the publication’s director of advertising. “That’s our role — connect and then contribute. For that reason, we are delighted to support Tropical Audubon Society with editorial and donated advertising space.”
Pick up a free copy of your neighborhood’s
Community Newspaper
at your bank, coffee shop or post office. Or advertise your goods or services on its pages. More than any other local medium,
Miami’s Community Newspapers
help TAS cultivate conservation through community!
Supporting those vendors who support TAS is an easy way to contribute to our Mission. The birds will thank you
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