The Limpkin Times

Apalachee Audubon Society Mission Statement:
Protecting the rich biodiversity of the Florida panhandle through education, appreciation, and conservation.

May2022

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Views of the Bell’s Vireo, this year’s rare winter visitor in the scrub along Faulk Drive at Lake Jackson. A tireless little bird of thickets and thorn scrub, the Bell’s Vireo nests from the Midwest to the Southwest and usually overwinters in Mexico. John James Audubon was the first naturalist to notice and formally describe Bell’s Vireo, during his 1843 exploration of the Missouri River. He called it “the greenlet” and named it for his friend, John Graham Bell, a taxidermist from Tappan, New York, who accompanied him on the expedition.  (Bell’s Sparrow is also named in his honor.) Bell taught the young Theodore Roosevelt how to prepare specimens of birds and mammals. Photos by Noah Strycker

In this Issue:

May Potluck Picnic/Program
May 8, Birding Social
Honoring Chimney Swift Tower Donors
Managing Your Bird Feeders during the HPAI Epidemic
 

President's Message

First order of business in this issue of The Limpkin Times is a request for nominees to join our Board of Directors. This upcoming year we are particularly interested in recruiting AAS members from outside Leon County. Our Zoom board meetings have been working really well as a way to meet without having to find a place to meet and then drive across town, let alone county lines. We anticipate that we will continue this meeting format as a way to include the other six counties in our chapter coverage area. Send an email to [email protected] if you would like to learn more about being a board member. 
 
Our election will be held online as in the previous two years. Members for whom we have an email address will receive an invitation to vote once we’ve assembled a slate of nominees.
 
I hope you can join us for our special closing event of the year—a Sunday potluck picnic at Tall Timbers! After a year of Zoom programs, it felt like the ideal way to close out our year. Bring a dish to share and plates and utensils (and a bag or container to take them home) so we can make this a minimal waste, green event. 
 
If you weren’t able to attend the April presentations by Bird Man Noah Strycker, I’m happy to inform you that he gave us permission to record and publish the talks on our YouTube channel! Click the link below to access them and catch up on our other programs from this year as well, including our most recent program "Oaks, Inchworms, and Birds" with Dr. Bob Cooper, Professor Emeritus from the University of Georgia. 
 
 
Sincerely,
Kathleen Carr
President, Apalachee Audubon
May Potluck Picnic and Program: Firebirds and the History of the Stoddard Bird Program with Jim Cox


Sunday, May 15, 2022 4:00-7:00 PM ET
4:00 PM, Informal birding & socializing (Bring your binoculars!)
5:30 PM, Dinner
6:15 PM, Presentation
Bring your own dishes and eating utensils!

 
Tall Timbers is located north of Tallahassee, Florida in Leon County. The address is:
13093 Henry Beadel Drive,
Tallahassee, FL 32312

 
Rather than our usual Annual Year End Banquet, we are having a Potluck Picnic at Tall Timbers Research Center followed by a program by Jim Cox, Director of the Stoddard Bird Lab at Tall Timbers, and longtime Apalachee Audubon Society member. The lab studies rare and declining birds with a goal of finding ways to stabilize or grow populations. Many studies focus on the use of prescribed fire to maintain suitable habitat, but translocation and captive breeding have also been studied. Current projects focus on Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Black Rail, Bachman’s Sparrow, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Grasshopper Sparrow. The lab also uses the Wade Tract, a rare old-growth longleaf pine forest, to assess the ecology of pineland species in a setting that mirrors historic conditions.

 
Here are the logistics:

GATHER at Tall Timbers as early as 4:00 PM for informal birding and socializing. Do bring your binoculars!

SUPPER will be served at 5:30 PM so please have your covered dish, one per person or family, there by that time. Please bring a serving spoon. Label your serving dishes and spoons. Please also bring an index card with the name of your covered dish. Mention on the card whether it is vegan, vegetarian, gluten free or if it has nuts in it. AAS will supply ice cold minted water, sparkling water and beer. 

LET’S SEE HOW LITTLE WASTE WE GENERATE   Each person should bring their own plate, bowl, utensils and cup or water bottle. If you forget, we will have extras on hand. We also recommend bringing a cloth napkin and a washable cloth bag in which to stow your used dishes. Sustainability starts with us. We’re looking forward to seeing you there.

 
Jim’s presentation will begin at 6:15 PM and you are welcome to join us for that if you can’t make it to the dinner.
 
Greg Seamon monitoring fire behavior
Chapter Birding Social
No guided field trip this month. The pre-picnic birding event at Tall Timbers will count as the May field trip.
Canada Goose Goslings
 
Mother’s Day Birding Social at Lake Henrietta

Sunday, May 8 | 8:30 to 10-10:30 AM EDT
Address: 3305 Springhill Road, Tallahassee, FL 32305


Join us Sunday, May 8 for our Mother's Day birding social at the Anita Davis Preserve at Lake Henrietta Park. Meet up at 8:30 AM in the parking lot and we'll bird until 10-10:30 AM. This will be a leisurely stroll around Lake Henrietta to celebrate our momma birds during the nesting season.
Honoring Chimney Swift Tower Donors

By Donna Legare

Chimney Swift Tower at Lake Elberta Park

Chimney Swifts returned to the chimney at our house on April 1 this year. Hopefully a pair will grace our recently built tower at Lake Elberta. The interpretive sign about Chimney Swifts will be installed sometime this fall; the sign company in High Springs, Florida has been swamped with work so we are patiently waiting. This project would not have taken place without the sweat equity of volunteers and our donors who supplied funds for construction materials and the building of the interpretive sign. 

 
Special thanks to Ann Morrow for writing the text and working with the interpretive sign company, Jody Walthall for building the tower with assistance from Jim Carr and a few Native Nurseries employees, and to Brian Bryson for his lovely artwork on the sides of the tower. Now we wait for occupants!

 
Our appreciation to the following financial donors:

Aramark
Wolfgang and Winnie Adolf
Howard Kessler and Anne Van Meter
Kristen Summers
Amelia and Bill Everett
Carolyn Back (one of our original Lake Elberta interns!)
Jane Fleitman
Ann J. Morrow
Jim and Kathleen Carr
Bruce and Sandra Bodjack
Brent McNeal
Polly Beason
Donna Legare
Beth Wright
Beth Grant
Mary Anne Hoffman
Barbara Cooper
Sunny Phillips
Tricia Elton
 
Managing Your Bird Feeders during the HPAI Epidemic

By Sandy Beck
Species with clinical disease with presumptive or confirmed HAI H5
infection in Florida since February 2022
HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) is being spread by migratory birds. It is more widespread than the above map shows because there are certainly birds dying that are not tested, reported or even found. And some species can be asymptomatic.


I removed my large tube bird feeder and left only a couple of small feeders that I can easily and frequently clean, along with the bird baths, with a mild bleach solution. I also use disposable gloves and disinfect my rubber boots so that I don’t carry the highly contagious and untreatable virus to my nonreleasable raptors. Something for you to also consider if you have parrots or chickens.

 
If you find a bird in need of assistance, call FWC Dispatch: 850-245-7716 or FWC 24 Hour hotline: 888-404-3922. To prevent the spread of HPAI, do not handle a sick or dead bird, keep pets away and report it to FWC immediately so it can be tested for HPAI https://app.myfwc.com/FWRI/AvianMortality/
Apalachee Audubon Society A North Florida Chapter of the National Audubon Society