Sarasota Audubon

Birders Boost Our Economy

Penney — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:24:12 +0000

Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s Tom Lyons – Rare Birds Draw Birders

Cinnamon Teal at the Celery Fields by Mark Vance

Penney — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:56:05 +0000

See video

Birding on the Suncoast with SAS’ Stu Hills – ABC 7 News

Penney — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:04:58 +0000

See video

Some Local People Important to Conservation

Penney — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:05:29 +0000

RANDALL REID was selected by the County Commission from over 40 original applicants to replace already-departed Jim Ley (and interim manager Terry Lewis) as the top administrator of Sarasota County pending negotiation of a contract. Reid has a good record of environmental sensitivity on growth management and other environmental issues for the last 12 years as administrator of Alachua County. We look forward to working with him and continuing cooperation with the staff he will lead.

Sarasota County Commissioner JON THAXTON will be forced to withdraw from his 2012 re-election bid if the Florida Supreme Court supports an appellate court ruling that charter counties like Sarasota can limit commissioner terms. Though not aimed at Sarasota, an appellate court ruling, if applicable to Sarasota, would reverse an old decision by a district court that overturned a charter amendment voted in thirteen years ago that limited county commissioners to 8 consecutive years. Thaxton is generally acknowledged to be the Commissioner most dedicated to environmental and wildlife protection.

CHRISTINE JOHNSON is replacing ALBERT JOERGER as President of the Gulf Coast Conservation Foundation, though Joerger will remain on its board of trustees and on the environmentally-important board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District. The Foundation, headquartered here since Joerger founded it in 2003, has assembled and purchased environmentally sensitive lands. Johnson has a background in fundraising and nature-related activities.

Watch This Video – Tree Swallow Roost

Penney — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:26:24 +0000

Click here to watch the Tree Swallow Roost

It is morning at a Tree Swallow roost in Sarasota County as they fly up and away to their feeding grounds. This was taken by Cornell researcher, Natalia Piland, in November, 2011.

Help with Tree Swallow Research

Penney — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:21:10 +0000

For the third winter running, students from Cornell, Tulane and LSU will be studying Tree Swallows in south central Florida with Sarasota as the center of operations. One of the students, Natalia Piland, who is staying in Sarasota from late October until sometime in January, is asking for help. If you see any large aggregations of Tree Swallows from just after sunrise to just before sunset, please contact Natalia. She is particularly interested in daily feeding on wax myrtles—their main food source. Last year, on the Venice CBC, about 5 million were discovered feeding. In addition, Natalia wants to know of roosting sites. Last year, they were discovered in Lakewood Ranch (600,000); Knights Trail Rd and Laurel Road (1 million), a site in Punta Gorda with 6-8 million, in Duett Park (several million), a large site in Polk and another in Hillsborough. Natalia would also welcome any help in tracking down roost sites and in monitoring other Tree Swallow behavior. Please email her at ncp29@cornell.edu .

Key West & Dry Tortugas Trip – April 16-19, 2012

Penney — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:29:57 +0000

Sponsored by Venice Audubon Society and Sarasota Audubon Society

We will return to popular Key West, stop at the Ten Thousand Island tower on the way there , stay at the Comfort Inn and the next day take the commodious Yankee Freedom to spend the day at historic Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortugas. The Dry Tortugas are a respite for migratory birds returning from South America. We expect to see nesting Sooty Terns, Brown Boobies, various warblers and many other varieties.

The third day the bus will take us to hot spots around Key West, the lower keys, and the Wild Bird Rescue Center. A few of our target birds are the White- crowned pigeon, Mangrove cuckoo and Wurdemenn’s heron. Each evening we’ll search for the Antillean nighthawk. On our return north the fourth day we’ll stop off at Pennekamp State Park and take a glass bottom boat ride. From there we’ll bird our way back with a late arrival in Venice/Sarasota.

We are hoping to see 100+ species.

The cost is $600 pp dbl/$800 single and includes bus, motel, all entry fees, boat rides, and tips. All meals are included except the evening meal. Charlie Sample will be our bird guide.

For more information please contact: Charlie Sample, 497-6463 or Karen Jensen, 924-2446

Eric Ernst Column – Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Penney — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:46:09 +0000

Ernst: Conservatives don’t care about conserving

By Eric Ernst Reprinted with permission.

Published: Thursday, September 29, 2011

They may call themselves conservatives, but they have little interest in conserving.

That pretty much sums up the plan of Florida’s leadership to sell off thousands of acres of public land.

In this case, we’re talking about property purchased over the years by the state’s regional water managers, such as our Southwest Florida Water Management District, known as Swiftmud.

It’s no secret Gov. Rick Scott has little use for public parks, and the agencies under him are looking for excuses to dump parkland from their inventories.

The idea is that in these troubled economic times, selling land will save maintenance costs, bring in money, lessen the role of government and avoid any “new taxes.”

You know the mantra: “We’re going to run government like a business.” Apparently a bad one — one of those fly-by-night operations that alienates its customers, refuses to consider the future and loses money by buying high and selling low.

Swiftmud has compiled ownership of 447,000 acres to conserve sources of drinking water and to prevent flooding. That’s the agency’s mission.

To argue that we no longer need those protections defies logic.

Unless someone outright rejects the creation of public parks as a government function — and that’s a radical viewpoint — the accumulation of property by the water districts also has been an efficient use of tax dollars in line with conservative philosophy.

Property rights advocates often rail against the “taking” of land through government restrictions. If, for instance, a regulatory agency says a developer can’t build a shopping center on a piece of waterfront land because the runoff might pollute a source of drinking water, then the agency has hindered the ability of that property owner to make money.

For several decades, rather than simply imposing the restrictions and saying to heck with the property owner, the water districts have paid fair market price to buy contested land.

The landowners have profited. The water districts have accomplished their missions. And, as a bonus, the land has provided recreational opportunities and habitat for wildlife, relieving the pressure on other government entities to buy and manage land for those purposes.

It’s working. Let’s not “fix” it with short-term approaches.

Selling now makes no sense from a business standpoint. Real estate prices are down.

And what would we save as taxpayers? Swiftmud assessments are a tiny portion of our tax bills. Mine are about $30 a year. What would they be after the land sales, $29.50? They can keep the 50 cents.

Swiftmud spent $5.9 million managing its parkland last year. If that’s unaffordable, then the district should do nothing until the economy turns around. A few years of hands-off won’t hurt anything.

Eric Ernst’s column runs Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Celery Fields Walk – Oct 8

Penney — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:57:51 +0000

October 8, 2011

Juvenile Purple Gallinule

At our first of the year Celery Fields walk, we saw 4 juvenile Purple Gallinules and two adults, right off the new boardwalk. Sandy Cooper took the photo attached. Later on, Valeri Ponzo and her group found 2 Stilt Sandpipers, among several yellowlegs, along Raymond Road towards the second curve going south. We also saw 2 Wilson’s Snipes, as well as the usual suspects at this time of year.

Jeanne Dubi, Sarasota

Purple Martin House for Rothenbach Park

Penney — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:32:31 +0000

Lynda & Karen done at last!!!

Today ( Oct 8th) I met Karen Jensen of our own SAS and Lynda Eppinger from Sarasota County, at Urfer Park to what I thought was an invitation to take pictures of them assembling a Purple Martin house.

Even though none of us has a degree in mechanical engineering, I was confident that between the three of us, it would be a snap. With over 25 ( sometimes moving) parts and directions meant for a super structure engineer, it turned out that it was not quite as difficult to construct as say, the Aswan Dam and a little easier than the New York Times Saturday crossword puzzle.

Master builders at work

After losing lots of parts, many times, we managed in just over 3 hours to complete it. And we even have parts left over!!!! Though it seemed to hold together without the extra parts, we are holding them in a safe place just in case. I hope the birds appreciate the the effort…

Regards,

Rick Greenspun

Major Parts holder and locater