March 2010 Scrub Jay Newsletter Audubon of Martin County

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Audubon of Martin County

621 SE Palm Beach Road, Stuart FL 34994

Florida Scrub-Jay Art Logo

By Brian Sylvester

Office hours are generally 10 am —2pm

Monday through Friday.

Please call ahead at 772.288.2637

Non-profit

Organization

U.S. Postage Paid

Permit #57

Stuart FL 34995

Annual AppealOur thanks to the many members and

friends who donated to our end-of year direct

mail campaign.

Proceeds exceeded last year, and are much

needed and appreciated, and will go to sup-

port the many projects you read about in the

newsletter.

Your financial support is vital! Your hands

on support is equally so. Stop by the office

sometime and chat with a docent to see how

you can help with just a few short hours of

hands on time. You tell us what your skills

are and I know we have a need for it.

If you want to lure migrating

flocks or our local residents to your

yard, here is a short list of plants to

include:

Bourreria spp. --Bahama Strong

Back

Cordia bahamensis- Manjack

Any of the Stoppers- especially

Simpson Stopper ( Myrcianthes )

Hong Kong Orchid Tree- Bau-

hinia x blakeana , a sterile hybrid

Cleome javanica- Cleome / Spider

Flower Holmskioldia sanguine/chinensis-

Chinese Hat Plant aka Chinese

Coolie Hat, come in several colors,

including Lavender

Bursera simarouba- Gumbo

Limbo- berries, flowers seeds and

sap-feeding insects attract birds of

all sorts

Chrysophyllum olive forme-Satin

Leaf Tree--beautiful copper leaf

undersides

Guapira discolor- Blolly Tree

Simarouba glauca- Paradise Tree-

select for matched pairs of males

and females, or at least one male

tree for every 3 or 4 females

Morus rubra- Mulberry

Malvaviscus arboreus- Monk's Cap

Hibiscus Russellia equisetiformis-

Firecracker Plant--much different

than FirespikeCallistemon citrinus- Weeping

Bottlebrush Tree

Calliandra haematocephala- Pow-

derpuff Tree

Randia aculeata-

White Indigoberry

Previously loved photo copier

Laptop Compatible Projector

Previously used gardening equipment/tools

People who like to work in and out of doors

People with good people skills

Contact Debbie Clark for details!

WANTED

Field Trip : Wednesday, March 24, Wakodahatchee and

Green Cay

Everybody‘s favorite destination is better on a weekday! We will departfrom the KoC promptly at 7:00 am. We will carpool first to the Wakoda-hatchee wetland facility. These 50 acres have been transformed to a wetlandecosystem by the Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department. Morethan 150 avian species have been spotted at this site. Plan on seeing close upviews of nests of various wading species along the ¾ mile boardwalk.

We will then carpool to nearby Green Cay wetlands. This former bell pepper farm has been converted to vast acreage of wetland which now provide agreat bird habitat while filtering several million gallons of highly t reatedwater from Palm Beach County‘s Southern Regional Water Reclamationfacility. This 1 ½ mile boardwalk traverses through a tropical hardwood,

cabbage palm and wetland hammocks and cypress swamps. Surroundingthese tree islands are open water ponds and fresh water marshes that attractan incredible variety of birds. Bring lunch, sunscreen, a camera and goodwalking shoes.

E-mail [email protected] call AoMC at 772-288-2637 to reserve your place. Please include contact names, phone numbersand e-mail addresses with your reservation. Cost: $5 members, $10 non-members.

Our usual field trip fees of $5/members $10/guests will be collected KoC parking lot.

audubonmartincounty.org 772-288-2637

March 2010

Program Meeting: Thursday, March 18

“Wakodahatchee and Green Cay ” with Donald Campbell,

PBC Parks Department

Learn about the process through which water treatment plants create birdhabitats at our general membership meeting on March 18th. The created wet-lands at Wakodahatchee and Green Cay in central Palm Beach County have become two of the premier birding sites in the local urban environment. Asa primer for our March field trip, we‘ll hear and see film footage about howthese places serve dual roles as water quality purification and habitat for birds and other wildlife. As usual, the brown-bag lunch meeting will beginwith a ―social‖ from 11 to 11:30, with the program to follow. If weather permits, we hope to have the luncheon/picnic part of the meeting outside, before coming in to the see the electronic media presentation in the office.

Meeting Location

This year, we're having the monthly program meetings at our AoMC of-

fice, at 621 SE Palm Beach Rd., Stuart, 33494. Hospitality at 11:00 AM; program begins at 11:30. Bring your own brown-bag lunch.

Mark Your Calenda

March 2010

18 Program Meeting, Green Cay

hatchee with Donald Campbe

Department

24 Field Trip — Green Cay and W

hatchee Wetlands. Meet at K

AM.

26-28 Audubon Academy — Gainesv

April 2010

10 Birdathon — contact Laurie atto get on the list.

15 Program Meeting, “WarbleAnnual Photo Contest AwPresentation

16-17 Field Trip- Fort DeSoto in Reservations required.

24 Annual Membership Picnic, VRecognition & Student Essay A

mailto:[email protected]




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AUDUBON HOUSE DOCENTS

Beverly Poppke, Dina Allison, Carol Coyne,Ed Fisher, Linda Wishney

A copy of the official registration and financial information may beobtained from the division of Consumer Services toll-free within Florida

800.435.7352. Registration does not imply endorsement,

approval, or recommendation by the state.

The Scrub Jay is published seven times a year on

recycled content paper with soy-based ink.

Message from our President ~~~ Laurie Odlum

AUDUBON ACADEMY 2010:

MARCH 26 - 28

Great News! This is the 5th year that Audubon of Florida has hosted a weekend retreat for all Audu- bon members and officers to learn more about thework of Audubon throughout the state. One purpose for the academy isto provide great networking opportunities between the current, past andnewly elected officers and all members. The other is to learn more about

other Audubon Chapters and their work and to r einforce partnerships andforge new ones.

In carrying out an Audubon chapter's mission of conservation and edu-cation, chapters thrive on t he shared leadership, expertise, and experienceof other organizations and agencies to achieve significant results. Rela-tionships must be established between an Audubon chapter and other people and groups whose goals align with the chapter's goals of protect-ing and/or restoring habitats for birds and other wildlife. Partnershipswithin the Audubon family are equally important, and contribute to or-ganizational efficiency and a wise use of shared resources.

Audubon Academy 2010 will be held in the ―city in a forest‖ – Gaines-ville, FL -- home of the University of Florida.

I have attended each of the previous Academy‘s and I encourageEACH member and EVERY Board member to attend this year‘s event!

Learn how we can make our chapter better.

WORKSHOPS for the Academy include:

Planning Wildlife-Friendly Florida CommunitiesMembership, Technology and You!

Does Your Chapter Need A Makeover? #2The Changing Dynamics of Water ManagementRestoring Habitats In BackyardsCats IndoorsHometown DemocracyOur Audubon Conservation Partners

For complete lodging, registration forms and information go to: audubon-offlorida.org and The Paramount Plaza Conference Center who will hostthis event.

Eaglewatch Liaison Clare-Rue Morgan 772-286-9833

Blue Bird Coordinator/

Librarian

Bev Poppke 772-286-0061

Cranewatch Coordinator Pam Hopkins 772-408-6153

Cranewatch Co-coordinator Carol Spinney 772-545-7987

Jaywatch Coordinator Pam Hopkins 772-408-6153

Christmas Bird Count Liz Hailman 561-746-7293

Webmaster Ed Fisher [email protected]

Contact your U.S. Senators in Washington DC

at the following numbers:

Senator Bill Nelson: 202.224.5274

Senator George LeMieux: 202.224.3041

Representative: Tom Rooney 772.288.4668

Board Members 2009-2010

Executive Director – Greg Braun

561-575-2028 Office

561-575-0042 fax

Staff Members

Managing Director Pam Hopkins 772-408-6153

Volunteer Coordinator Debbie Clark 772-545-2404

Executive Board Members

President Laurie Odlum 772-486-2837

Vice-President Doug Warns 772-462-3751

Treasurer Bob Gordon 772-546-2206

Secretary

Pearla Franklin

954-8124484

Conservation Bob Matheson 772-485-0944

Education Catherine Hilton 772-631-5478

Field Trips Mary Starzinski 772-221-9953

Resource Development Doug Warns 772-462-3751

Membership Curt Wood 772-546-5435

Programs Ed Fielding 772-286-6131

Properties Jim Kearman 772-708-0677

Public Relations Joan Bausch 772-219-8285

Nature Center Susan Smyth 772-692-3489

Newsletter Editor Lisa Fiore 772-528-9707

Wildlife Center Dan Martinelli 772-286-6200

Garden Club Liaison Louise White 772-283-4416

Youth Liaison

Director at Large

Jessie Green

Soo Whiting

772-283-3024

772-220-1992

OTHER IMPORTANT CONTACTS

Help the birds

and their environment.

Please consider a bequest to

Audubon of Martin County.

Call Bob Matheson at(772) 283-5999.

Properties & Conservation

After months of preparation, there‘s fi-

nally visible progress at our habitat en-hancement & wetland creation at our Pos-sum Long Nature Center property. Withthe heavy work having been done by afront-end loader, previously existing tan-gles of invasive pest plants were removed prior to re-contouring of the land surface tocreate the low-elevation wetland. It wouldhave taken an army to remove the air po-tato, Brazilian pepper, mahoe, java plum,Rangoon creeper and other invasives by

hand, but they are gone from the habitatenhancement area – hopefully for good.The next phase includes re-planting withwildlife-friendly trees, shrubs and ground-cover species. Plants to be used includenative fruit-bearing species and fast-growing groundcovers, that, once estab-lished won‘t need irrigation, fertilizers or

other chemicals. Funding for the re-vegetation component of the project iscoming from grants from the St. LucieRiver Issues team and the City of Stuart.Hopefully, we‘ll continue to get some in-termittent winter rains, so we won‘t need

much irrigation before the rainy season begins. It‘s going to be interesting to see

how long it takes fish and other aquaticorganisms to become established. As of

right now, we‘re not planning to do anystocking, so natural recruitment may haveto wait until wet-season high water levelsresult in a connection to nearby LakeClaire. Many thanks to our neighbors for their patience as we get through the ugly part of the project. Hopefully this tempo-rary distance will be overshadowed by thelong-term improvements that will createimproved habitat for all of us.

As our in-kind match toward the project,we‘re continuing to remove pest plants and

replace them with wildlife-friendly nativespecies on other areas of the Possum Long property. If you can help with this project

– either manually or financially, pleasegive us a call. Among other things, we‘relooking for additional cash donations todefray the cost of installing an osprey nest-ing platform – which it looks like will cost

over $3,000.Our thanks to project partners: Kevin

Henderson at Evergreen Engineering, ScottWolff and Jane Krebs at Lucido and Asso-ciates, Steve Brown Surveying and person-nel from Eddie Huggins Land Grading,Inc. and others.

Work continues by the Marine ResourcesCouncil (MRC) to remove pest plants atseveral AoMC-owned properties in PalmCity. The MRC crew began at the Four Rivers properties, and will start work at theMaplewood preserve as water levels re-

cede during the dry season. the heavy-lifting (e.g., chainherbicide application), but w

additional AoMC volunteerssist in hauling cut material toand spreading mulch. If you please give us a call at the A

At a recent meeting of the of Directors, the Board appr posal to work with membersCouncil‘s Eco-Art program mote an aesthetically-pleasinrevegetation project at one oin Four Rivers. We‘re eagerthis new partnership, and are

the long-term success of theshancement projects.

Comprehen

Use Amen

We were pleasedida Department of CAffairs considered and those voiced byadvised Martin Courecent set of proposAmendments wereance with State stancurrent economy shused as a reason to environmental protdards that have serv protect the habitat o

other wildlife in Ma

Wetland creation at Possum L

Cattle Egrets in upper left? O

already attracting birds!

Tern Guardian Project

In coordination with the Hobe Sound Nature Center,AoMC is gearing up for the summer least tern nestingseason and we are implementing our second season of our beach-nesting bird monitoring program. Disap- pointed, yet undaunted by last year‘s disrespectfulrefuge visitors who continued to bring dogs to the ―pet

- prohibited‖ Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge,we are trying to get a more visible law enforcement presence this year to r einforce the environmental ad-vocacy of our Tern Guardians.If you have some time available, and are interested in getting in a little beach time while

protecting a great bird, please consider joining the Tern Guardian Team. We are graduallyimplementing a beach-nesting bird monitoring program

In groups of 2 or 3, we well be covering sev-eral-hour shifts to prevent disturbance at what,

in recent years has been the only beach-nesting least tern population between Sebastian Inlet and Key West. If least terns aregoing to nest successfully on the beach this summer, they‘re going

to need our help. Note: Volun-teers are not required to be members of AoMC. Lea

begg

by L

Photo by Dennis MacVey

selmanguesranch.com

http://www.paramountplaza.com/





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Stuart Christmas Bird CountBy Elizabeth D. Hailman, Compiler,

Stuart Christmas Bird Count

The Stuart Christmas Bird Count was held Jan.2, a cold and blustery day. We had

fewer species last year (118 this year as compared to 129 last year) but more individuals

(19534 vs 17185), probably due to the large flocks of Tree Swallows, American Robins,

and Fish Crows recorded by several counters.

Among the 75 participants, 18 were in Harbour Ridge, where they counted 468 Glossy

Ibis along with many other species. The only species new to the count is American Avo-

cet, seen and photographed by Jack Hailman at Sailfish Point golf course.

34 Pied-billed Grebe

112 Northern Gannet

488 Brown Pelican

230 Double-crested Cormorant

217 Anhinga

2 Magnificent Frigatebird

128 Great Blue Heron

178 Great Egret

113 Snowy Egret

175 Little Blue Heron

68 Tricolored Heron

469 Cattle Egret

11 Green Heron

4 Black-cr. Night-Heron

2053 White Ibis

753 Glossy Ibis

8 Roseate Spoonbill

75 Wood Stork

303 Black Vulture

915 Turkey Vulture

66 Muscovy Duck

27 Wood Duck

3 American Wigeon

12 Mallard

404 Mottled Duck

19 Blue-winged Teal

462 Lesser Scaup

4 Hooded Merganser

2 Red-breast ed Merganser

4 Ruddy Duck

125 Osprey

17 Bald Eagle

2 Northern Harrier

3 Cooper's Hawk

11 Red-shouldered Hawk

8 Red-tailed Hawk

104 American Kestrel

5 Merlin

4 Wild Turkey

2 Purple Gallinule

77 Common Moorhen

58 American Coot

107 Sandhill Crane

13 Black-bellied Plover

2 Piping Plover

271 Killdeer

2 American Oystercat cher

5 Greater Yellowlegs

10 Willet

5 Spotted Sandpiper

102 Ruddy Turnstone

192 Sanderling

14 Wilson's Snipe

323 Laughing Gull

1 Bonaparte's Gull

409 Ring-billed Gull

158 Herring Gull

16 Great Black-backed Gull

28 Caspian Tern

237 Royal Tern

4 Sandwich Tern

22 Forster's Tern

28 Black Skimmer

219 Rock Pigeon (Rock Dove)

37 Eurasian Collared-Dove

10 White-winged Dove

458 Mourning Dove

17 Common Ground-Dove

24 Monk Parakeet

2 Great Horned Owl

2 Archiloch us sp.

46 Belted Kingfisher

77 Red-bellied Woodpecker

5 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

20 Downy Woodpecker

1 Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker

6 Pileated Woodpecker

26 Eastern Phoebe

16 Loggerhead Shrike

7 Blue-headed Vireo

17 Blue Jay

8 Florida Scrub-Jay

22 American Crow

2033 Fish Crow

3405 Tree Swallow

1 Carolina Wren

4 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

50 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

1134 American Robin

76 Gray Catbird

51 Northern Mockingbird

367 European Starling

273 Cedar Waxwing

2 Northern Parula

255 Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler

6 Yellow-throated Warbler

148 Pine Warbler

2 Prairie Warbler

164 Palm Warbler

4 Black-and-white Warbler

1 American Redstart

6 Common Yellowthroat

3 Summer Tanager

1 Eastern Towhee

52 Northern Cardinal

7 Painted Bunting

31 Red-winged Blackbird

3 Eastern Meadowlark

292 Common Grackle

289 Boat-tailed Grackle

92 Brown-headed Cowbird

6 American Goldfinch38 House Sparrow

1 House Finch

2 Blue-winged Warbler

6 Mottled-Muscovy hybrid

1 American Avocet

3 Egyptian Goose (exotic)

1 night-heron (immature)

American Avocet

photo by Jack Hailman

Become an Audubon of Mart

Sponsor

Yes! I want to be an AoMCYour tax deductible contribution will

our programs, projects and conservati

Name

Select your sponsorship level: O Scrub Jay

O Bald Eagle

O Osprey

O Wood Stork

O Roseate Spoonbill

O Great Blue Heron

O Other

Enclose your donation with this form

Audubon of Martin Cou

Attn. Treasurer

621 SE Palm Beach Road, Stuar

In addition to the basic membership,you can become an AoMC sponsor.Sponsorship provides funding for pro-grams, projects, field trips andAoMC’s important conservation work.

$ 50 Great Blue HeronSpecial recognition in the Scrub Jay and

a certificate of appreciation.

$ 100 Roseate SpoonbillRecognition in each Scrub Jay , a

certificate of appreciation, an AoMC

t-shirt and one complementary member-

ship for a person of your choice.

$ 250 Wood Stork Spoonbill benefits plus one copy of the

Sibley Field Guide to Birds and a lunch-

eon briefing with the AoMC President or

Executive Director.

$ 500 OspreyWood Stork benefits plus a natural

history tour led by an AoMC Board

member to the nesting colony at Bird

Island in the Indian River Lagoon.

$ 1000 Bald EagleOsprey benefits plus a natural history

tour led by an AoMC Board member to a

local birding destination of your choice.

$ 5000 and more Scrub JayBald Eagle benefits plus a natural history

tour led by an AoMC Board member to

Everglades National Park, Merritt Island

National Wildlife Refuge, Ding Darling

National Wildlife Refuge or Arthur Mar-

shall Loxahatchee NWR.

Audubon of Martin County Sponsorship

Levels and Benefits

Plan Ahead for Our Final Field Trip:

April 16-17, 2010 Field Trip to Fort DeSoto

We have arranged for 10 rooms at the Comfort Inn i n St.

Petersburg for the evening of Friday, April 16, 2010 for the

room rate of $84.99 plus tax/night. The cut off day for reser-

vations is March 25, 2010 and for cancellations is April 14,

2010. Please call 727-362-0075 and identify yourself as anAoMC member to insure a good rate and sweet night‘s sleep.

A deluxe continental breakfast is included. Further details

will follow in the March newsletter. Please call AoMC at

772-288-2637 or

e-mail [email protected] to reserve your

space. Please include names, contact phone numbers and e-

mail addresses with your reservation.

Thank You Sponsor

Bald Eagle Level

Stephen F. Brauer

Roseate Spoonbill Level

Kathy Petteruti

Mary Starzinski

Blue Heron Level

Dr & Mrs Sheldon Gawiser






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Audubon of Martin County’s

Third Annual Photo Contest!

All entries will be j udged on how well they express the

wild and natural environment of Florida. Images will again

be displayed with the help of the Elliott Museum during

March & April. Because of limited space during the El-

liot‘s construction pro-

ject they will, therefore,

have limited space to

hang images this year.

Submitted images will

be juried and their se-lections will then be

displayed.

What's a Juried

Show? The annotation

‗ juried’ means your photographs will be reviewed by a jury

(a knowledgeable committee) prior to being displayed. The

cream of the crop images, in this case, will be displayed

based on their composition, color, image sharpness, accu-

racy to nature, and how well it reflects the Natural Florida.

Awards will be given to this group of images only.

There is a $5 fee for each entry into the Photography

Contest. All entries should be works completed from

January 1, 2009 through March 1, 2010. Competition

categories include: A) Flora, B) Fauna, C) Up Close Wild-

life, and D) General Enviro-scape.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES WILL BE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 2010.

Images will be accepted at the AoMC office between

Monday, March 15 and Wednesday, March 17, 2010, be-

tween 10AM and 2PM. Call the AoMC office in advance

for alternate delivery hours.

Entries will NOT

be accepted after

March 17.

JOIN

Audubon of Martin County

We need your help. Your membership supports

our efforts to safeguard our natural environment.

Join today and receive membership in National

Audubon, Audubon of Florida and our local chap-

ter, including subscriptions to Audubon magazine,

The Florida Naturalist , and Audubon of Martin

County‘s Scrub Jay newsletter. New members

enjoy the full benefits at the special new member

rate of just $20.

I would like to Volunteer with:

O Local Issues O Education O Possum Long

O Bird Counts O Publicity/PR O Properties

O Hospitality O Membership O Loop Rd

O Office/Library O Field Trips O Fund Raising

O Sandhill Cranes O Scrub-jays O Bird Island

O Bluebirds O Bald Eagles O Plovers, Terns

Tax Deductible Donations are welcome:

O Endowment Fund O Bird Collection O Library

O Un-restricted O Possum Long Nature Center

O Other AoMC Property O Other______________________

Please check one:

O Full member benefits (outlined above) Individualor family………….………………………….$ 20

O Senior member (over age 62) or student…………..$ 15

O Scrub Jay newsletter only ………….……………...$ 15

Mail your check, payable to “Audubon ” and mail

to:Audubon of Martin County, Inc.

Attn: Membership

621 SE Palm Beach Road

Stuart, FL 34994

Name ___________________________________________

Address _________________________________________

________________________________________________

City ______________________ State ____ Zip _________

Phone __________________________________________

E-mail __________________________________________

If you have any questions, call (772)-288-2637

Chapter Code: C02E260Z

RULES for submission of images can be

found on our website:

AUDUBONMARTICOUNTY.ORG

Just look for our little photographer.

There has been a collection of interesting vagrants or accidentalsappearing in Florida this year. I amtalking about birds of course. Oneof the rarest of these unusual sight-ings occurred here in MartinCounty at the Hobe Sound NationalWildlife Refuge. It was an AtlanticPuffin. Unfortunately the bird was

found dead by Royce Towner II,one of the crew of the Wildlife Ref-uge, but the bird had made it thisfar. The carcass was collected andsent to Andy Kratter at the FloridaMuseum of Natural History in

Gainesville. He is the curator of birds and determined that the puffinfrom Hobe Sound was only thethird record of this bird in the State!The other two were also found inMartin County and also on Jupiter Island. One wonders what weather

conditions occurred to cause eachof these strandings!

Atlantic Puffins normally do notventure south of New England andare found in great numbers off theCanadian Maritime Provinces onthe Grand Banks. So how did this bird end up at Hobe Sound? Therehave been several nasty storms with

Northeasterly winds which woulddrive birds south. A shortage of food in the Northeast might havedriven these birds south in search of chow. No way of telling whatmight have happened.

Two rare ducks appeared a bitnorth of Martin County. A Harle-quin Duck was found perfectly con-tented, fishing and swimming inthe Sebastian Inlet. This duck isnowhere near as rare as the AtlanticPuffin but is still considered a rareand irregular winter visitor to Flor-

ida‘s Atlantic Coast. The Harlequinat Sebastian Inlet was a female. Themales have to be one of the most

striking of the North Americanduck species. This bird also couldhave been blown in by a storm or seeking food.

The second duck came from adifferent direction. It is a MaskedDuck that was found at RitchGrissom Memorial Wetlandat Viera, aka ―Viera Wet-lands‖ (Brevard County)and hails not from thenorth, but from the tropics.This duck is a handsome bird with an electric blue bill and a stiff upright tailsimilar to Ruddy Ducks.The Florida records of this

duck are usually from theKeys and southern Florida.Again, maybe lack of foodor a storm brought this birdto Brevard, or it may have been skulking in the weeds for quitesome time before it was discovered.

The last accidentalmight be the first re-cord of a Yellow-legged Gull for Florida.This immature bird wasdiscovered by a team of gull experts that werehere during the SpaceCoast Birding and

Wildlife Festival. A European gwith a very square head and inteesting checker board black andwhite pat-tern on its back, itstood outamongstthe hun-dreds of Ring-billedand Laugh-ing Gulls atDaytonaShores.This bird brought

home theimportance of checking all birdseven the common ones, as theremight be a rare one in the mix.

Birds of the MonthBy Susan B. Whiting Harleq

( Histrionicu

Atlantic P( Fratercula A

Masked Duck ( Nomonyx dominica )

Yellow-legged Gull( Larus michahellis)

Photo by Royce Town

Frank Magistro

Female —

Susan B

http://www.ontfin.com/Word/la-camargue/

Susie Choi – 16 years old, Masked

Duck female/male non-breeding –

Prisma Color Pencil, Memorial H.S.,

Houston

Male breeding — courtesy of Terry

Sohl



8

Welcome New Members!

Robert G. Baumgartner

Wanda Beymer

George Blackford

Stephen F. Brauer

T. A. Breeding

John & Pamela Bussert

Bonnie Carter

Dorothy Dagostino

Ginny DouglasSteve Elterman

Stephanie Flicker

J. B. Gallagher

Laverne Gilmore

Paul Hunt

Donald Johnson

Richard Knox

Bev LaMarche

Pat & Bruce Marshall

Barbara Nafpliotis

John A. Nelson family

Lois A. Olsen

Mercedes Peams

Debra Schweikart

Richard SeidemanKaren Sutton

George Walsh

Michael & Judy Warnock

Judith Balis Watt

Robert Witzel

From Audubon

of Florida

SAVE FLORIDA’S BEACHES

In the final weeks of the 2009 Regular LegislativeSession, a shadowy group of oilmen tried to rush asweetheart deal through the Florida Legislature, re-versing Florida's decades-old ban on oil and gas drill-ing in nearshore waters. While the Senate refused totake up the bill in April, the oilmen are still at it -

spending millions on campaign contributions, publicrelations and lobbying - all in the hopes of siting drill-ing rigs in state waters:three miles off Florida'sAtlantic coast and tenmiles off its Gulf beaches. Nearshoredrilling is emerging asthe defining issue of thecoming legislative ses-sion. Simply put, it's badfor Florida, its environ-ment and it‘s bad for

birds.Educate yourself on the details of the issue and stay

current. Do you want oil drilling rigs off our shores?Yes energy is critical to our economy and way of life;let‘s find it wisely. Go to: http:// protectfloridasbeaches.org

Contact your local legislator and tell them to pre-serve our beaches for all of all Florida‘s inhabitants.

Do you have HUMMERS?By Nancy Price

This year I have had at least 5 different Ruby-throated hummingbirds inmy yard. Some days all five were there at the same time. While sittingand watching, I wondered if anyone else in Martin County, or anywhereelse for that matter, was keeping track of them. I fired up my trusty com- puter and found FloridaHummingbirds.net; a website that is run by SteveBackes of Valrico, in Hil lsborough County.

I posted a notice about my hummers on the Blog (I had only identified 3different ones at that time). Steve responded with contact informationabout Doreen Cubie who is an avian researcher whose focus is hummingbirds. She is a master bird bander, and one of only 200 licensed humming- bird banders in the world. She is currently focusing on wintering hum-mingbirds in the southeastern US and has been since 2005. Her website

is: www.doreencubie.com/hummingbirdresearch.html. He thoughtmaybe Doreen Cubie could come and band the birds in our area next year.

You can email Doreen at [email protected]. She can see how many birds we have in our area to band and thenset up time to band them next year; theywould be much easier to count and track if they were banded.Also sign in to floridahummingbirds.net andgo to the forums and post about your birds.From conversations with people on fieldtrips and elsewhere, I think a l ot of us havehummers visiting and just do not realize thatanyone else wants to know. So here is your chance to let someone know.

Our neighborhood has a very lively population of the Ruby-throatedHummingbirds – year round. My neighbors are now reporting to me aboutthe ones they see. The birds use sugar water feeders and a mix of nativeand exotic plants from which to feed. I am sure we share the same fami-

lies from yard to yard. Once you recognize their very high-pitched churpand the blurrrrr sound of their wings – you can‘t miss them.

Ruby-throated Humming-

bird. Photo by Nancy Price.

Duck Derby Winner Shows off New Vehicle

Tracy Caisse and husband Brian came by the Audubon

office recently to show off their brand new Scion which

they won at the John Pierson‘s Toyota of Stuart Duck

Derby. Congratulations!

Field Trip Report:

STA-5 in Hendry County

What a great field trip despite the early morning depar-ture. Nearly 40 people either caravanned from Stuart or met us the STA-5 entrance gate. This storm water treat-ment area consists of 7,680 acres whose major functionis to filter and r emove high concentrations of nutrientsfrom the surface waters prior to their r eaching the Ever-glades. These low elevation wetlands have thus becomea major attraction for an extensive array of all species of birds. And boy, did we ever see the birds!

We were met at STA-5 by Margaret England, presi-

dent of Hendry-Glades Audubon, who explained the

field trip procedure and introduced us to our guide, AlanMurray. Starting at 8:30 am, we birded until nearly 1:30

pm. We recorded 58 species. We had spectacular

views of multiple duck species, Roseate Spoonbills,

Bald Eagles, Snail Kites, Black Skimmers, Black-

necked Stilts and Great White Herons, just to name a

few. Many members added new species to their life

lists. We left tired and dusty but well satiated. Those

who stayed later, witnessed the ritual burning of sugar-

cane fields.

Species List:

Fulvous Whistling-Duck American WigeonMallardMottled Duck Blue-winged Teal Northern Shoveler Ring-necked Duck Ruddy Duck Pied-billed GrebeAmerican White PelicanDouble-crested CormorantAnhinga

Great Blue HeronGreat Blue Heron (White Morph)Great EgretSnowy EgretTri-colored HeronCattle EgretGreen HeronWhite IbisGlossy IbisRoseate SpoonbillWood Stork Black VultureTurkey VultureOspreySnail KiteBald EagleAmerican KestrelRed-shouldered Hawk Short-tailed Hawk

Peregrine FalconPurple Swamphen (Exotic)Purple GallinuleCommon MoorhenAmerican CootLimpkin (heard)Sandhill CraneKilldeer Black-necked StiltGreater Yellowlegs

Lesser YellowleLong-billed DowRing-billed GullRoyal TernBlack Skimmer Rock pigeonMourning DoveBelted KingfisheWestern KingbirFish CrowTree Swallow Northern MockinCommon YellowRed-winged BlaEastern MeadowBoat-tailed Grac

Test your know

How any speci

can you match

check list?

http://protectfloridasbeaches.org/



http://www.doreencubie.com/hummingbirdresearch.html










6

Audubon of Martin County—2010 Birdathon Pledge Form Your support is critical for this Annual Fundraising Event!

Yes, I would like to help support Audubon of Martin County’s Birdathon 2009 by pledging to donate

the following amount per species identified.

Amount Pledged per species $ ______________ OR Flat Amount Pledged $ ____________

Name ________________________________________________________________________________

Street ___________________________________________ City _______________ ST_____ZIP _______

Phone: ___________________________ E-Mail __________________________________

Clip and Mail to: AoMC at 621 SE Palm Beach Road, Stuart, FL 34994

Remember...Your contribution is Tax Deductible!!!

This event brings together 2 of Audubon‘s important activi-

ties; counting birds and supporting your local chapter with

supporting dollars. Some members enjoy getting out and

counting birds while others are good a writing checks. The

best combination of course is when both worlds meet.

On April 10 teams from Audubon of Martin County willconduct a "Birdathon" to seek out as many bird species as

possible in one day as a meas-

ure of the ecological health of

our community.

Yours and the collective ef-

forts of this generous commu-

nity will provide for very vital

conservation and education initiatives that will help keep the

birds vibrant and alive. Audubon of Martin County leaders,

members and community volunteers will strike out in the

wilds of Martin County to find, identify and record bird spe-

cies.

Bring in or send in your pledge forms !! The form is below.Feel free to make as many as you need for friends, family and

neighbors. Help with your financial support of AoMC with

your pledge and subsequent check. Cut out the

form below or get it from our website.

Put a team together of 2-4 birders and recorders

and contact Laurie Odlum with their names.

Thank you, Doug!By Pam Hopkins

Doug Arbeau is a founding member of the Possum Long HabitatCreation Team. Doug started volun-teering about three years ago — long before formal volunteer records werekept. He volunteers at several places(including House of Hope, MartinCounty Admin. Offices, and the OldFeed Store Museum) and last fall wasgiven an award for clocking up his1000th hour of service at the Hospi-

tal. He must have at least 500 hourswith us and seems well on his way tomaking volunteering a way of life.When Doug first approached me hesaid he was looking for volunteer work that would keep him active, and

especially work that would involvehis upper body. Doug rides his bikeeverywhere, so his legs get plenty of exercise. Now he is our number onecatbriar remover so he is gettingsome arm and back exercise. Doug isnot a gardening enthusiast, nor anavid birder but he has a keen appre-ciation of nature. His real passion islocal history and we have spent manyan afternoon sweating, pulling out air potatoes and catbriars, and talkingabout local topics . His interest inlocal history is not surprising as theArbeau family has long ties with

Stuart. Doug‘s father and grandfa-ther were in the boat building andrepair business in Palm City.

Together Doug and I started thePossum Long Habitat Creation

Team, and for quite awhile we werethe Team. Over the past 18 monthsmore people have joined the groupand there are now about seven of uswho turn up every Wednesday after-noon to remove invasive plants andweeds, trim, transplant, and now withour new shade house, to propagatenative plants for Possum Long.Without Doug‘s support and dogged

pursuance of theair potatoes andcatbriars PossumLong would be avery different

looking place to-day.

Doug battling the catbriars.

Birdathon ! April 10, 2010

JayWatch

Our JayWatch surveys are temporarily suspended in order to prevent nesting Scrub-Jays. Before we took the break, we were pleased to confence of one family of jays that continues to survive in the highly urbaniRidgeway Terrace.

Our fingers are crossed that this pair and the pair at Rocky Point have breeding season. We encourage everyone who might be feeding these fnuts to try feeding mealworms while the parents are feeding nestlings. Bhave an incredible growth rate and need the high quality protein found i

They will not thrive and may not even survive if parents feed them a divegetable (peanut) protein. This is tr ue for most nestlings. Mealworms at good pet shops, they are very clean, and they keep well in the refrige

We believe we know where most of the Scrub-Jay families outside of lands but if you think you have Scrub-Jays in your neighbor, please givthe office. Our thanks to JayWatch participants LaWayne Niedzielski, ney, Nancy Price, Fran Stewart, Mary Ann Gans, Jim Stewart and teamHopkins for their continued work on behalf of our chapter mascot.

EagleWatch

EagleWatch participants continueto monitor progress at several baldeagle nests located throughout theCounty. Eaglet wings are beingtested by youngsters who appear eager to make that initial flight.Our thanks to Bill Borger, DaleHipson, Sharon Norris, Pat Caruso,Jim Kearman, John Shirley, JoetteSmith, Fran & Greg Stewart, JimStewart, Linda Wishney andAoMC‘s EagleWatch coordinator

Clare-Rue Morgan for their dedica-tion to this project.

Bird Survey Route 714 CorridorBy Bev Poppke

Our thanks to the hardy souls who met on a chilly Feb morningto conduct the next bird survey along the portion of Martin Gradethat is being considered for designation as a Scenic Highway.After the sun burned off the early morning chill, we did prettywell – finding over 25 species, including several t hat we hadn‘t

previously documented in this area.Yes, it was very chilly, but our group of birders bundled up and

headed out and we were not disappointed. Our birding areastarted out past route 609 aka Allapatha Road, but before we gotthere, we found a wonderful wetland right after the I-95 exitramp. We just HAD to stop. Black-crowned Night Heron, Mot-tled ducks, Glossy Ibis and many, many more were feeding in thewaters. Around in the trees we spotted American Kestrel, North-ern Harrier, and Red-shouldered Hawks. What a great area withan abundance of birds, and so close to Interstate 95. When we got back with the group, we were told that this area was designatedas an industrial park. Need I say more !!!!!

Meeting back with the group, we continued west along Rte 714- the road with t he beautiful canopy of trees overhead. We headedon to FPL‘s access road where a small pond was located. Herewe spotted Black-crowned Night Heron, Great Blue Heron andYellow-crowned Night Heron, with Caracara doing a fly-over.We then turned south on to Fox Brown Road; my favorite spot.

Here we inspected the first three Blue- bird nest boxes we recently installed. Iwas disappointed that there was no nest-ing material inside the boxes, but veryexcited when we spotted a male and fe-male bluebird sitting on the overheadwire. The male‘s bright blue back, and

rosy breast makes this a beautiful little bird. The female was perched close-bywatching us. We drove further down theroad to look at the remaining three boxes. They were the same way, nothingin the boxes but around the large dead

tree were…you guessed it, more maleand female bluebirds hovering around.I‘m still crossing my fingers that when

we check on them in a few weeks, the birds will have found the boxes. Maybeit‘s been too cold to start nesting ? Weshall see.

Leaving Fox Brown Road, we spottedSandhill Cranes, Red-shouldered Hawks,Loggerhead Shrikes, and Pileated Wood- peckers; but we had one more stop.

The group ended up on Nancy Oliver‘s

property. This piece of wonderland withits Old Florida charm supports matureCabbage Palm and Live Oaks with all

the undergrowth for a great birding area. Birds madincluding: Yellow-rumped, Pine, Palm, Black & Wrula Warblers along with Blue-headed Vireo, Greatcatchers, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet, to mention juOliver‘s have a great installed a trail on the propertyou to the viewing platform which overlooks a largUnfortunately, the area was now dry due to little rawas little activity. It was now around noon, and mowere taking their siesta, so we decided to call it a d―Thank You‖ goes out to Nancy Oliver for her hospallowing us to visit with her and her birds.

Are you interested in m bluebirds or visiting thAudubon office at 288us you are available; ifthere when you call, jusage and I will get backme….you won‘t be disHopefully the weather

degrees warmer for theThanks also go to Gre

Whiting, Fran Stewart,ton, Nancy Price, LindaGreger Anderson, CaryDudley Baker and Joan

Soo Whitin

as Bev Popp

in preparati

bluebird ne

March 2010 Scrub Jay Newsletter Audubon of Martin County

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Transcript of March 2010 Scrub Jay Newsletter Audubon of Martin County