june-july 2007 avocet newsletter tampa audubon society

8/9/2019 June-July 2007 Avocet Newsletter Tampa Audubon Society

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Volume XVIIII, Issue 3 June/July 200

2007 - 2008

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OFFICERS:

President- Ann Paul/Rob Heathmmediate Past President-

Stanley Krohst Vice President-vacantnd Vice President- vacant

Treasurer- Stanley KrohRecording Secretary- Susan BurtnettCorresponding Secretary- MichaelTurrisi

DIRECTORS:

oe Bailey (2007-2009)Michele Northrup (2007-2009)ohn Costin (2006-2008)

Christine Malzone (2006-2008)Velma Knowles (2007-2009)Vacant

COMMITTEES & PROGRAMS:ARC at the Park-Mike & Barbara Mullins

Audubon Adventures- Ann PaulConservation Committee Co-Chair-

Tom RiesConservation Committee Co-Chair-Dave SumpterField Trip Committee Chair-Mary KeithAvocet Editor- vacantPublicity/PR- Michael TurrisiE-Mail Directory- Michael TurrisiMembership Development- vacantFund Raising-vacantWeb Site- Sabina Espinet-ToddRegional Conservation Committee

Representative- Rob HeathChristmas Bird Count- Dave Bow-manSpecial Events/Tabling Events-vacantEndowment-vacantPrograms- Ann Paul

INTHIS ISSUE :

Upcoming Programs ........................... 2ARC At The Park News .............. 2 & 3TAS Field Trips .................................... 4Ornithologist was Scrub Jay Specialist- The Tampa Tribune ................................... 5

Membership Application .................. 6

IN MEMORIAM:

Dr. Glen Woolfenden died followsurgery on June 19, 2007. He serthe Tampa Audubon Society for o

thirty years, participating and l

ing many Christmas Bird Couandfield trips, giving talks and senars about birds and especially Fida Scrub-jays, and providing lea

ship for our Society. Glen was geous in his assitance to Tam

Audubon members and others inested in learning about birds. AProfessor of Ornithology at the U

versity of South Florida, he trai

many biologists active in the fi

today. He was an active participin the American Ornithologists'

ion and the Florida Ornitholog

Society, and was one of FOS' cha

members. Those of us who hadprivilege of sharing days in the fiwith him or hearing him speak ab

birds and wildlife of Florida

mourn his loss, and we offer our

cere condolences to his children

wife, Jan.

Ann Paul

T A M P A A U D B O N S O C I E T Y

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Meetings are usually held at the ARCxcept for the May, June and July

programs. Information on the May andune programs can be found below.nformation on the July program will ben the next issue.

Joint Meeting with Sierra Club Tampa

Bay Group and Suncoast Native Plant

Society

uly 18 (Wednesday), 7:00 p.m., Hills-

borough Cooperative Extension Office at

339 County Road 579 in Seffner. Jim

Egan will be presenting a program enti-

led "The Role of Mangroves in Storm

Destruction".

oin our fellow conservationists for a fun

meeting and covered dish supper! Bringour favorite dish to share. Details toollow.

Frog Listening Network Meeting

nd Field Trip

August 31, 2007 (Friday) 7:30 PM. Flat-

woods Park, Thonotosassa, East Hills-

borough County, Highway 301

Tampa Audubon Society and the Hills-

borough River Watershed Alliance

ee frogs and toads and learn their songs

nd sounds. Learn about our lumpy

bumpy toads and shiny singing frogs

long with an understanding of their sig-

nificance to our well-being. This

meeting/outing fills up quickly so call

arly to be put on the attendee list and for

more details. Contact Jo Anne Hartzler

813) 310-7676.

ARC AT THE PARK

The Tampa Audubon Society Board ofDirectors supports with appreciation the

changes at the Visitor's Center at Lettuce

Lake Park. It is a great step forward for

environmental education and access to

the exhibits that the Parks Department is

funding staff to support having the Visi-

tor's Center open every day during the

week. The weekends are "manned" by

Tampa Audubon Society volunteers, as

has been the case for the last seven years.

The exhibits are in a constant state of re-

newal and improvement, creating interest

among our Center visitors. Please wel-

come Jason and his staff and thank the

park rangers and managers for this posi-

tive move. For more information, see be-

low.

"Our Education Program is being contin-

ued under the able leadership of Mike

and Barbara Mullins. To contact Mike orBarbara, please call them at 390-4696 or

email to [email protected]. The

Lettuce Lake Visitor's Center is now open

7 days a week.

On Monday - Friday there will be an In-

terpretative Ranger there that may be able

to provide programs or interpretative

walks if scheduled in advance. Please feel

free to call or e-mail me if you have any

questions or would like to schedule

something. I am also in need of volun-

teers so if you know anyone that may be

interested in working at a nature center

please contact me. We have made a lot of

positive changes out here and I hope you

can all make it out to the park. Below are

the new hours to our Nature Center."

Visitor Center Hours

Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

(Staffed by Hillsborough County Park

Rangers)

Saturday - Sunday 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

(Staffed By Audubon Volunteers)

ARC JUNE REPORT:

Greetings ARC Ambassadors and Tam

Audubon Members!

Its Hot in Lettuce Lake Park! A lopeople (over 1000/month on the wends alone!) are visiting the ARC andARC Ambassadors continue to do a g job, greeting them, answering questand allowing the Center to be openweekends. With Jason Chilson,

County Ranger/Biologist at the Cemanning it during the week, means that the Center is open everyof the week. Special thank-yous to alARC Ambassadors!

The historic drought has had an amaeffect on the water levels in the Hillsough River. Visiting the Park has hepeople understand the relationshiptween rainfall and this important naresource and habitats in this part of

County. Hopefully the rains will csoon, the river will begin to rise, andtuce Lake will reflood. As it doesspoonbills, herons and egrets, and owading birds will return. Right nowrangers and visitors have seen youngkeys foraging on the dry lake bed.

Visitors are enjoying the Audubonsource Room. Books on birds, wildFlorida habitats, and more are availfor consultation and to answer any cific questions. Two computers are se

with interesting interactive quizzesvisitors to try. On the shelf withteacher resources is a catalogSWFWMD educational resources so educators may order additional teamaterials for free. Audubon and onatural history magazines are availfor people to take home. We have nthat children especially are intereste

T A M P A A U D U B O N S O C I E T Y

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he magazines when they have a sciencer reading report due. Parents and otherdults find interesting articles in them as

well, and enjoy the opportunity to takehe magazines home for further reference.f you have some books for the Resource

Room Reference Library or magazineshat youd like to donate for distribution,

please drop them off at the ARC duringts hours of operation.

A new exhibit on the logging of the an-ient cypress tree along the Hillsborough

River is complete. Some of the cuttumps from the harvesting remain alonghe boardwalk and are easily seen, whenou know what to look for. The stumpsan be identified by their flat tops andome even have traces of logging notches.

Clear explanation of the logging opera-

ions make walking the boardwalk evenmore interesting as visitors find theseemnant stumps in the Park.

A fun, interactive animal tracks sand-box is also located in the Exhibit Room,llowing visitors to make tracks and iden-ify them. This is helping people on theboardwalk learn which animals have

walked along the exposed muddy shore-ines of the river. Everyone seems toeally enjoy this exhibit; our thanks to

ason Chilson for organizing it!

n addition, the brochure rack in the Ex-hibit Room has a variety of new bro-hures.

Audubon field trip leaders are offeringBirdwalks on the first and third Sundays

f the month at 3 pm, meeting at the Cen-er, in addition to our scheduled fieldrips. There is always something to learnnd see on the boardwalk and trails at

Lettuce Lake Park.

f you have any questions about the ARCEducation Program of the TampaAudubon Society, or want to volunteer,please call us at 390-4696.

Mike & Barbara Mullins

ARC AT THE PARK EVENTS:

Photography Club:

The Photography club meets the third

Saturday of each month.

1 p.m. Digital and Wildlife Photography Class

2 p.m. General Photography Club meeting

The club is open to anyone interested in

nature photography. The club schedules

outtings and fieldtrips during the meet-

ings, so to be in the know you have to

attend.

Speaker Series:

On the 2nd Saturday of each month, at

11:00 am. Tampa Audubon Society holds

its monthly general meeting at the ARC.

These are free and open to the public.

BLUEBIRD BOXES UPDATE:June 13, 2007-

Hello Everyone, we've been seeing loturkeys and swallow tailed kites thefew weeks and today we also saw dOur bird count today is 19 eggschicks, and 83 fledged (47 bluebirdsCarolina chickadees, and 21 titmice)

the attachment for full details.

Mary Miller

A State of the Birds Report

Summer 2007Many of our most common and belovbirds are experiencing precipitous poplation declines. Analyzing fortyyears of bird population data collectedcitizen scientists for Audubon's Chrismas Bird Count, combined, for thefirst time, with Breeding Bird Survey from the U.S. Geological Survey,Audubon has identified our nationsmost vulnerable common birds. Additional analyses focused on state leveltrends. Some mirror the national pictuwhile others reveal local and regionaldifferences. The birds below are sufferserious population declines inFlorida. Along with their national Common Birds in Declinelist mates, they

showcase the need for vigilance inprotecting local habitats and the healtour environment. Working together, wcan make a difference. Visithttp://www.audubon.org for the na-tional findings. Orhttp://www.audubonofflorida.org/P/FloridaBID-FactSheet.pdf


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Tampa Audubon Society

2007 Field Trips

une 9, 2007(Saturday) 8:00 AM Lake

Park Nature Walk.If you just love theutdoors and want to know more about

nature, this walk is for you. We'll investi-

gate several trails giving everyone thepportunity to see things like we've nevereen before. See amphibians, insects, spi-

ders, birds, and plants and learn to iden-ify some of the native and non-native

vegetation. Bring binoculars. Lake Park isocated on North Dale Mabry highway in

Tampa just South of Van Dyke Road onhe West side of Dale Mabry. For more

nformation, contact field trip leader, JoAnne Hartzler at (813) 310-7676 or e-mail

[email protected].

uly 7, 2007 (Saturday) 8:30AM Hillsbor-ugh River State Park. Enjoy shore birds

nd our year round songbirds plus num-erous ducs and nesting Anhingas and

Wood Storks. Entrance fee is $4 per car-oad. To carpool, meet at 8 AM at IHOP

estaurant located at 11710 Morris BridgeRoad/Fowler Avenue (just West of I-75

n the North side of Fowler/MorrisBridge) at 8 AM or meet at the park

museum/information center at 8:30 AM.The park is located at 15402 U. S. High-

way 301 North, Thonotosassa. For morenformation, contact trip leader, Pat Lewis

t (813)907-6542.

uly 14, 2007(Saturday) 8:30 AM Lake

Park Children and Beginner Bird Walk.This easy outdoor walk is geared to be-ginning birders, Parents and their school-aged Children. Bring binoculars and learnto recognize Florida's resident birds bytheir songs, antics, and appearance. We'llalso learn to recognize native and exoticplants along the way and what they meanto us. The park is located at 17302 NorthDale Mabry Highway near Van DykeRoad. Meet field trip leader, Joni Hartzlerat 1st playground/restroom area. Thiswill be approximately at 2 hour trip.Bring binoculars. For more information,call (813)310-7676.

July 14, 2007(Saturday) Lake Park Chil-dren and Beginner Bird Walk. This easyoutdoor walk is geared to beginningbirders, Parents and their school-aged

Children. Bring binoculars and learn torecognize Florida's resident birds by theirsongs, antics, and appearance. We'll alsolearn to recognize native and exoticplants along the way and what they meanto us.

August 5, 2007 (Sunday) J. B StarkeyPark Butterfly Walk. One of the greatthings about a Florida summer is the but-terfly. See our state butterfly, the Zebra

heliconian, the well known Monarch andits mimics along with skippers and drag-onflies. For details, contact Jo AnneHartzler at (813)310-7676.

August 31, 2007(Friday) 7:30 PM. FrogListening Network at Flatwoods Park.See frogs and toads first hand and learntheir chorus of songs and sounds. Put onby the Tampa Audubon Society and theHillsborough Rivershed Alliance, thisouting will give you an appreciation for

our lumpy bumpy toads and shiny sing-ing frogs along with an understanding oftheir significance to our well being. Thisouting fills up quickly so call to be put onthe attendee list and for more details.Contact Jo Anne Hartzler (813) 310-7676.

F IELD TRIP REPORT :Butterfly Walk At Lettuce Lake PaJune 23, 2007By JoAnne HartzlerA group of 14 butterfly enthusiasts ga

ered at mid-morning to advance and

sharetheir knowledge of the world ofbutterflies. Led by Gail and Russ Kruetzman, the group first searched and

found pawpaws which are abundant

the Park butuncommon anywhere elsPawpaws are the larval plant for the Z

bra Swallowtail which is alsonot thatcommonin this region of Florida. Aftchecking out a number of nectar plant

and a few butterflies around the ARC

the Park, the group headed for the buterfly garden at MOSI where we foun

numerous species of butterflies and a

wide variety of larval and nectar plan

We were also able to view a wonderfu

exhibit of the life cycleof some of themore common butterflies (Gulf Fritilla

Zebra Longwing,Cloudless Sulphur,etc). The exhibits consisted of eggs, caerpillars, chrysalis and finally the adu

butterfly.After touring MOSI, the group hea

for the butterfly gardens at the Kruetz

man residence (private). There we firenjoyed hospitality, drinks, and lunch

brought by the participants. The gardare unique in that they contain almost

every nectar plant commonly used by

butterflies in Central Florida along wi

over 40 species of larval plants. To da46 species of butterflies have been ide

fied in the gardens and many of these

were presentfor the group to enjoy.SCloudless Sulphur eggs were located

which were taken home by a couple o

the young participants to hopefully ad

to their garden at home.Submitted by Russ and Gail Kruetam


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Ornithologist Was Scrub Jay SpecialistBy ANDRIY R. PAZUNIAK, The Tampa TribunePublished: July 4, 2007LAKE PLACID - Glen Woolfenden was not a nerd.

He was a meticulous researcher who devoted his life to studying birds and obsessed over details and organization, but he wasnerd, says John Fitzpatrick, Woolfenden's former colleague of 35 years.

t seems like a contradiction,' said Fitzpatrick, now the director of the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology. 'Glen wasmeticulous, he sounds like a nerd. But he was always the life of the party.'

A large man with a booming voice and wide smile, Woolfenden was a raconteur who could capture even the most difficult audnces, another former colleague said.

My mother-in-law, who has no interest in science, once came over for dinner,' said Jack Fernandez, who taught with Woolfendt the University of South Florida. 'She stayed up past midnight listening to him talk about his birds.'

Woolfenden, 77, best known for his work with the Florida scrub jay, died June 19 from complications after abdominal surgery.

One of the original 60 faculty members at USF when it opened in 1960, Woolfenden taught with the same demanding but carin

pproach that defined his career as an ornithologist, his former students and colleagues said.

He set the bar high,' said Paige Martin, one of Woolfenden's former students. 'But he never expected more from you than whahought you could give.'

n 1969, 10 years after receiving a doctorate from the University of Florida, Woolfenden began a long-term study of the Floridacrub jay that helped bring public awareness to the plight of the threatened species.

irst intrigued by the bird's unusual social behaviors, Woolfenden tracked every Florida scrub jay that resided in the fields atArchbold Biological Station in Lake Placid from 1969 to his death.

Unlike other birds, the scrub jay does not leave its nest for good once it is grown. Rather, the young birds return to their birth n

o help their parents raise the next generation.

To study the lives and behaviors of the birds, Woolfenden and his colleagues developed an innovative tagging method that al-owed them to track individual birds living in the station's 5,000-acre field.

Woolfenden tagged each bird with a series of color-coded bands that acted as a name tag.

We put them on when they were in the nest, as nestlings,' Fitzpatrick said. 'Then we followed them as they grew up, got marrind even divorced.'

The tracking method led to an unprecedented look into the lives of birds and helped make Woolfenden's reputation as an orni

hologist.

Woolfenden continued his study of the Florida scrub jay through his retirement from USF in 1999 until he died.

By his side was his wife of 26 years, Jan, who served as his research assistant.

Calling her husband a 'wonderful, complicated, interesting person,' she said he always would be remembered as a great orni-hologist but also as a genuine, caring man with a great sense of humor.

He cared,' Jan said. 'He was demanding, but he wouldn't demand anything he wouldn't demand of himself. He was one of akind.'




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Editorial Observer

Millions of Missing Birds, Vanishing in Plain SightBy VERLYN KLINKENBORGPublished: June 19, 2007

Last week, the Audubon Society released a new report describing the sharpnd startling population decline of some of the most familiar and common

irds in America: several kinds of sparrows, the Northern bobwhite, theEastern meadowlark, the common grackle and the common tern. The aver-

ge decline of the 20 species in the Audubon Societys report is 68 percent.

orty years ago, there were an estimated 31 million bobwhites. Now therere 5.5 million. Compared to the hundred-some condors presently in the

wild, 5.5 million bobwhites sounds like a lot of birds. But what matters ishe 25.5 million missing and the troubles that brought them down andre all too likely to bring down the rest of them, too. So this is not extinc-ion, but it is how things look before extinction happens.

The word extinct somehow brings to mind the birds that seem like spe-ial cases to us, the dodo or the great auk or the passenger pigeon. Mostpeople would never have had a chance to see dodos and great auks onheir remote islands before they were decimated in the 17th and 19th cen-uries. What is hard to remember about passenger pigeons isnt merelyheir once enormous numbers. Its the enormous numbers of humans to

whom their comings and goings were a common sight and who supposed,rroneously, that such unending clouds of birds were indestructible. Weecognize the extraordinary distinctness of the passenger pigeon now be-ause we know its fate, killed off largely by humans. But we have moral-zed it thoroughly without ever really taking it to heart.

The question is whether we will see the distinctness of the field sparrow ts number is down from 18 million 40 years ago to 5.8 million only

when the last pair is being kept alive in a zoo somewhere. We love to fi-nally care when the death watch is on. It makes us feel so very human.

Like you, Ive been reading dire reports of declining species for many yearsnow. They have the value of causing us to pay attention to species in trou-

le, and the sad fact is that the only species likely to endure are the ones wehumans manage to pay attention to. There was a time when it was better, if

ou were a nonhuman species, to be ignored by humans because werapped, shot or otherwise exploited all of the ones that got our attention.

But in the past 40 years, we have killed all those millions of birds or, let us

ay, unintentionally caused a dramatic population loss, simply by goingbout business as usual.

Agriculture has intensified. So has development. Open space has beenharply reduced. We have simply pursued our livelihoods. We knew it wasnimical to wolves and mountain lions. But we somehow trusted that allhe innocent little birds were here to stay. What they actually need to sur-

vive, it turns out, is a landscape that is less intensely human.

The Audubon Society portrait of common bispecies in decline is really a report on who humans are. Let me offer a proposition aboutHomo sapiens. We are the only species on eacapable of an ethical awareness of other specand, thus, the only species capable of happil

ignoring that awareness. So far, our economiinterests have proved to be completely incompatible with all but a very few forms of life. Inot that we believe that other species dont mter. Its that, historically speaking, it hasnt bworth believing one way or another. I dontsuppose that most Americans would activelya whippoorwill if they had the chance. Yet inpast 40 years its number has dropped by 1.6 lion.

In our everyday economic behavior, we seem

determined to discover whether we can livealone on earth. E.O. Wilson has argued elo-quently and persuasively that we cannot, thawho we are depends as much on the richnesand diversity of the biological life around usit does on any inherent quality in our genes. vironmentalists of every stripe argue that wemust somehow begin to correlate our econombehavior by which I mean every aspect ofproduction, consumption, habitation withwelfare of other species.

This is the premise of sustainability. But the vfoundation of our economic interests is self-interest, and in the survival of other species wsee way too little self to care.

The trouble with humans is that even the smest changes in our behavior require an epiphAnd yet compared to the fixity of other specithe narrowness of their habitats, the strictnestheir diets, the precision of the niches they occupy, we are flexibility itself.

We look around us, expecting the rest of theworlds occupants to adapt to the changes thwe have caused, when, in fact, we have the rto expect adaptation only from ourselves.




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TAMPA AUDUBON MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

YES!want to join the Tampa & National Audubon Societies at the special introductory

rate of $25 and save over 35% off regular dues!Name: ____________________________________________________________________________________

Address: __________________________________________________________________________________City: ______________________________________ State: ____________ ZIP Code: ____________________

Phone: __________________________ E-mail: ___________________________________________________

Please make your checks payable to: Tampa Audubon Society

Mail to:

Tampa Audubon Society

P.O. Box 320025

Tampa, FL 33679

I would like to include an additional contribution of $________ to the Tampa Audubon Society.

Your membership supports vital conservation issues. As a member you will receive the bi-monthly Audubon Magazine, the querly Florida Naturalist Magazine and the bi-monthly Avocet Newsletter*. National Audubon occasionally makes its membersist available to carefully selected organizations. To have your name ommitted from this list, check here.

In an effort to reduce paper and ink waste, The Avocet, Tampa Audubon's bi-monthly newsletter, will now be available online only. Wealize that not everyone may have internet access, so if you know of someone who needs a copy You may print it out by clicking on theelow, or contact Stan Kroh to receive a printed copy.

Tampa Audubon Society is proud towelcome its newest members:

Sharon JacobiArt CopekVicki FrenchEleanor EvinsPaul WinchCharles TommelleoMarie Poto

Autumn MuellerElinor LeBaronMarie SimmonsChris Rusnak



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