Note: to be followed by a Gull-Fly-In Training Session at Frank Rendon Park, 2705 S Atlantic Avenue, Daytona Beach Shores FL (carpooling will be offered to depart from Target on Archer Road in Gainesville around noon on Saturday, February 11, 2017)
Speaker, Michael Brothers, Marine Science Center (Volusia County, Ponce Inlet FL)
Your best opportunity ever to fine tune those Gull and Jaeger identification skills! A very special adventure!
Meet at the Millhopper Library Branch, 3145 NW 43rd St. Social begins 6:30 pm. Talk begins at 7 pm.
Join trip leader Dotty Robbins in the Target parking lot on Archer Rd. at 12:30 p.m. and then drive to Frank Rendon Park in Daytona Beach Shores. We’ll meet Michael Brothers of the Marine Science Center at 3:30 to stroll the beach and enjoy the spectacle of the many thousands of gulls that amass there. Michael will share his gull expertise at our program on February 7th, and this will be an opportunity to practice those identification tips.
Difficulty: 2 (may involve uneven terrain one to two miles)
Who are these people walking around with binoculars having so much fun?
And how do you get into the world of “Birding” anyway?
Scott Flamand, Alachua Audubon Vice-President, will share his delight and his expertise on this fascinating hobby.
Come. You won’t “egret” it!
Meet trip leader Mike Manetz in the parking lot at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens for a stroll through a beautiful 62-acre park marked by gorgeous gardens (including butterfly and hummingbird gardens), sinkholes, a man-made watercourse, and hardwood hammocks that host a wide variety of bird life. What can be more beautiful than springtime in the Gardens? Participants will be admitted to the park for half price ($4), but MUST be on time to get the group rate.
Difficulty: 2 (may involve uneven terrain one to two miles).
Join local Audubon travelers Lloyd Davis and Pat Bartlett as they share their adventures of recent travel to Cuba. They will share their experiences of seeing the country, meeting people and viewing bird life. But not just bird life. We have been promised to hear about dragonflies, snakes, lizards, butterflies, and tiger beetles too.
This sounds really wild!
Social begins 6:30 pm. Talk begins at 7 pm.
Come hear about the amazing wildlife and landscapes of Southern Africa, including Lesotho! Listen to stories of a recent trip to this biodiverse and endemic-rich zone by Audubon travelers Adam and Gina Kent. The talk will focus on birds, but will also touch on other interesting aspects of the region such as mammals and fascinating landscapes. Learn about a diversity of natural communities including emblematic tropical woodland, the desert-like karoo, and fynbos, a shrubby heathland that looks more like something out of a Mediterranean garden than one’s typical vision of Africa.
Social time 6:30-7pm.
“So near, and yet so far away. . .” For half a century, Cuba was the mystery island for American birders and nature lovers. The island held an alluring charm enhanced by its inaccessibility. With the easing of travel restrictions in the past few years, travel to Cuba has become possible. Join two travelers as they guide you through the former terra vetita, where mule-drawn carts are common and tour buses are about the only vehicles on the roadways. We will visit the larger nature preserves for birds, visiting coastal mangrove, scrub land, savanna and swampland habitats. You’ll learn a little about the landscape, meet native wildlife and the endemics like the Cuban pygmy owl, the trogon, and the bee hummingbird. Your presenters will be Pat Bartlett and Rob Norton who combined forces to bring you this presentation.
Social time 6:30 – 7:00
Peregrine Falcons migrate down the Atlantic Coast in fall, usually peaking in early October.
Meet trip leader John Hintermister at the Tag Agency and carpool to the hawk-watching platform at the north end of the park in hopes of seeing Peregrines. During the second half of the morning we’ll walk a woodland trail in search of fall warblers, tanagers, grosbeaks, and thrushes. Entry fee $3 per vehicle. Bring water and bug repellent. Lunch is at Cap’s on the Inland Waterway.
Difficulty: 2 (may involve uneven terrain one to two miles).
Web sites for GTM NERR: http://www.gtmnerr.org and http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/sites/gtm/
Meet trip leader Trina Anderson in the parking lot at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens for a stroll through a beautiful 62-acre park marked by gorgeous gardens (including butterfly and hummingbird gardens), sinkholes, a man-made watercourse, and hardwood hammocks that host a wide variety of bird life. Participants will be admitted to the park for half price ($4), but MUST be on time to get the group rate.
Difficulty: 2 (may involve uneven terrain one to two miles).
Meet Rex Rowan in the Target parking lot and carpool to Cedar Key, a quintessential Florida birding destination where birders can often view shorebirds over one shoulder and songbirds over the other. Participants may want to stay in Cedar Key for lunch.
Difficulty: 1 (trip within easy access to vehicle and/or level terrain one mile or less).
Meet trip leader Howard Adams at the trailhead of La Chua Trail on Camp Ranch Rd. La Chua is one of the area’s best birding hotspots and it supports a tremendous bird population including wading birds, waterfowl, raptors, warblers, and others. Resident species should be in the midst of nesting activities, and we may see a few migrants passing through. Entry fee for the State Park is $4 per vehicle.
Difficulty: 3 (may involve elevation change, uneven terrain, and/or walking distances greater than two miles).
Dragonflies and Damselflies are fascinating and conspicuous
components of our insect fauna. There are 169 species recorded
from Florida and 116 species have been found in Alachua County.
This program will cover basic biological facts about the group,
including anatomy, life cycle, reproduction, behavior, habitats, and
feeding. The non-technical discussion will be illustrated with
photographs of many local species. Presented by Dr. Franklin
Snelson, Jr.
Thursday, December 7, 2017 Millhopper Library, 3145 NW 43rd St., Gainesville.
6:30 social time, 7:00 program begins
Instead of the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive (still closed due to continued flooding from Hurricane Irma), we’ll be birding the West Trail of the Newnans Lake State Forest, specifically the weedy sparrow field at the north end of the property. Recent trips have discovered remarkably large numbers of sparrows, up to nine species so far: Chipping, Field, Vesper, Savannah, Grasshopper, Song, Swamp, White-throated, and White-crowned. You can be sure that there are more to be found. If you want some practice with sparrows, this is the trip for you.
Directions: Drive east on University Avenue past Morningside Nature Center. About a mile past Morningside, State Road 26 curves left (while University continues straight to the shore of Newnans Lake). Stay on 26 for another mile and you’ll see the Newnans Lake State Forest sign on your LEFT. Make a left turn into the driveway and follow it to the parking corral. (There’s also a sign and a parking corral for the Pithlachocco Trailhead on the RIGHT side of the road. Don’t go there.) The official address is 1404 NE 55th Blvd, Gainesville, FL 32641, but check the map for the accurate location.
Trip Difficulty: 2 (We’ll walk a forest trail and grassy service road about a third of a mile to the field, then just amble around in the weeds looking for birds. Total walking distance for the day will probably be around a mile and a half or two miles).
Join Audubon traveler Erika Simons as she shares her adventures on a small ship cruise of the Southwest Alaska Inside Passage. The small ship not only allowed her to make new friends with her fellow travelers but also made daily off-boat activities possible. Passengers were offered kayaking, paddle boarding, beach meanders, bushwhacking, and photography. Wildlife viewing was often enhanced during these activities. Erika will share her photography of this adventure.
Location is the Millhopper Public Library, 3145 NW 43rd St, Gainesville, FL 32606, USA
Social time 6:30 p.m. Program 7:00 p.m.
Meet trip leader Felicia Lee at the trailhead of La Chua Trail on Camp Ranch Rd. La Chua is one of the area’s best birding hotspots and it supports a tremendous bird population including wading birds, waterfowl, raptors, warblers, and others.
Entry fee for the State Park is $4 per vehicle.
Difficulty: 3 (may involve elevation change, uneven terrain, and/or walking distances greater than two miles).
Meet trip leader John Hintermister at the Tag Agency on NW 34th St. just south of US-441 to carpool to the east coast. We’ll start at Fernandina Beach and work our way south. Possible Purple Sandpipers and scoters at Ft. Clinch State Park (entry fee $6 per vehicle). Then to Amelia Island for Red-throated Loon, scoters, Horned Grebes, and gulls. We’ll finish at Jacksonville’s Huguenot Park ($5 per vehicle) for shorebirds and other winter birds. Expect a full day of birding and some walking at various coastal sites.
Bring a lunch and warm clothes.
Difficulty: 3 (may involve elevation change, uneven terrain, and/or walking distances greater than two miles).
Meet trip leader Howard Adams at the trailhead of La Chua Trail on Camp Ranch Rd. La Chua is one of the area’s best birding hotspots and it supports a tremendous bird population including wading birds, waterfowl, raptors, warblers, and others. Resident species should be in the midst of nesting activities, and we may see a few migrants passing through.
Entry fee for the State Park is $4 per vehicle.
Difficulty: 3 (may involve elevation change, uneven terrain, and/or walking distances greater than two miles).
Meet trip leader Rex Rowan at the Tag Agency on NW 34th St. just south of US-441 to carpool to Jacksonville’s Huguenot Park, where we’ll look for shorebirds, gulls, and terns, all in their breeding plumage, and migrant songbirds, including Painted Buntings, at Ft. George Island. Admission to Huguenot is $5 per vehicle, $3 (exact change only) if we get there before 8 a.m.
Difficulty: 3 (may involve elevation change, uneven terrain, and/or walking distances greater than two miles).
Florida’s Charismatic Microfauna
Presented by Paul Moler
Social Time 6:30, program 7:00 p.m.
Although the vast majority of Florida’s wildlife species are invertebrates, most receive little attention. The important roles played by bees and butterflies are generally well known, but many other species toil away anonymously providing important ecosystem functions. Still others may not be major players but are nonetheless behaviorally or morphologically fascinating (“cool”). This program will introduce a select few of the less familiar members of our local fauna.