WOW, what a terrific first year!!!
Thanks to our wonderful,
hard-working volunteers! Without
them, none of this would have
happened. But as a result of their
efforts our chapter has counted
Least Terns, met our educational
goals, and built some invaluable
coalitions with important agencies
and neighboring Audubon chapters.
Let’s review the year.
First, we established our agency
partnerships and our credibility
with them. We were able to help our
partners by reporting and helping to
fix problems promptly. We also
collected and entered accurate beach
nesting bird data on the Fish and
Wildlife website.
Next we were able to promote
awareness about the plight of the
beach nesting shorebirds through
presentations, educational mailings,
contacts with people on the beach,
and by leading birding field trips.
Two articles appeared in the local
media, a feature article in the St.
Augustine Record and one in SCENE
magazine.
Finally, and this was the best part,
we put together the first Beach
Nesting Birds (BNB) working meeting
on the Atlantic coast of Florida.
Participants included our
volunteers, beach security people,
presidents of Saint Johns, Duval,
and Flagler Audubon Societies,
Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission, Florida
State Parks, Guana, Tolamoto
Matanzas National Estuarine Research
Reserve, St. Johns County Habitat
Conservation Plan, Fort Matanzas
National Monument, and Whitney Lab.
This working session was very
positive with everyone looking
forward to expanding our efforts
next year.
It’s been an award-winning year. At
the BNB meeting, Diane Reed received
a plaque from FFWCC and Audubon of
Florida for the Least Tern Project.
Also, Ned Shuler received a plaque
from FFWCC for his leadership role
in the project. As a result of this
fabulous year, St. Johns County
Audubon Society was presented The
2007 Audubon of Florida Best Chapter
Conservation Project Award for
“Counting Terns and Building
Community”.
What great recognition for what our
volunteers have accomplished this
year! You all deserve a pat on the
back!
|
|
Ned Shuler,
Coordinator and SJCAS President:
In December of
2006, the SJCAS board voted to begin
a conservation and education program
called the Least Tern Project.
Least Terns are listed as
“threatened” in Florida. St. Johns
County has more nesting Least Terns
than any other county on Florida’s
east coast. In January 2007,
Audubon of Florida awarded our
chapter a $700 grant to get
started. Below are the goals and
current status of the Least Tern
Project.
Goals:
-
- To
monitor and protect nesting
Least Terns and their habitats
in St. Johns County
-
- To
educate our membership and the
general public about nesting
shorebirds and their plight
-
- To
energize and motivate our
members through involvement in
project activities
-
- To
coordinate our efforts with
county, state, and federal
agencies doing shorebird
monitoring
-
- To enter
data collected by our volunteers
into the statewide FWC database
-
- To form a
Beach Nesting Bird (BNB) Working
Group to standardize and improve
future efforts
The Least Tern
Project 2008 season gets off to an
exciting start!
The second training
workshop for the St. Johns County
Beach Nesting Birds (BNB) Network
was an overwhelming success. Once
again St Johns County Audubon’s
Least Tern Project led the way in
organizing the workshop.
Participation this year was double
last year’s. There were a total of
30 people in attendance.
Alex Kropp, FWC, made an excellent
presentation on BNB id. He was
followed by Jason DePue, Florida
State Parks. Jason’s presentation on
protocols and data reporting was
superb. Ned followed with a session
on stewardship. Stewardship is as
critical as the surveys. One major
goal this year is to establish more
of a presence on our beaches during
peak times, noon to 4 PM on weekends
and holidays. This is where we
educate the beach goers about the
birds.
The Least Terns are still arriving.
So far we have two large colonies.
One is at south end of Anastasia
State Park which has about 30 nests
so far. The other is Matanzas Inlet
which is up to 94 nests. Two new
roof top colonies have been seen,
one on the county jail on Lewis
Speedway and another on the Scottish
Inn by the Premium Outlets at I-95.
If you notice any activity on a flat
roofed building, please let us know.
No activity has been noted on
Porpoise Point. It is rather
congested with cars and people there
so the birds might have decided to
look elsewhere. Guana had some early
activity but the birds have since
left. So far only Wilson’s Plovers
and Willets have nested at the north
end of Anastasia State Park. The
main problem here seems to be a
change in the beach habitat. Decoys
there for Black Skimmers and Least
Terns apparently have not appealed
to the birds.
Don’t forget that natural
disturbances can also destroy nests
and habitat. So let’s protect and
conserve these resources by limiting
human disturbances whenever we can.
This year we have about thirty
volunteers and could always use
more. If you are interested contact:
- Peggy Cook Irateparrot@aol.com
or via phone at 471-6639
- Tina VanGhent tinavg@mac.com or via
phone at 797-5997
Thanks to all
our volunteers!
Some have more
time to help than others, but they
have all done what they were able to
do. We know that these wonderful
people will continue to make great
contributions to our SJCAS nesting
bird projects as they evolve over
the next several years. These are
the wonderful grassroots people who
make an Audubon chapter relevant.
Volunteers:
Ned Shuler,
Diane Reed, Linda Melching, Peggy
Cook, Fran Preston, Margaret Carver,
Glenda Kelsey, Teddy Shuler, Ali
Fulcher, Stephanie Kruger, Andrew
Thornton, Charles VanderKolk, Joanna
VanderKolk, Chris Gilman, Veronica
Peterson, Janet Koehler, Sarah
Stanberry, Allan Altman, Diane
Schleissing, Gina Burrell, Jen Hyde,
Jim Novelly, Jo Hendrickson, JoAnn
Simmons, Katie Brower Kelly Shuford,
Marcella Matthaei, Peggy Barns,
Peggy Friedmann, Tina VanGhent
Our
Agency Partners:
St. Johns
County: Tara Dodson, Habitat
Conservation Plan Coordinator; Billy Zeits, education; Kaiman Triplett,
intern
State Parks:
Jason DePue, regional biologist;
Shelley Young, Anastasia State Park
Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation
Commission: Alex Kropp, Sarah
Johnson, James Gragg
GTMNERR:
Rachel Endicott
National
Park Service at Fort Matanzas:
Andrew Rich
Whitney Lab:
Lynn Milstead
|
