Welcome to Duval Audubon Society

Looking Ahead to a Great Birding Season!

We have a very busy birding year scheduled for you and we hope that you will participate in all of our activities and programs.

We have 42 field trips planned for this year with some new destinations: Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge, Orlando Wetlands, and Jekyll Island. We are continuing our Bird Walks for Beginners at Fort Caroline/Theodore Roosevelt Area on the first Sunday of every month, our Birding on the Water Kayaking Trip with Kayak Amelia in March, our CBC4Kids Program at Camp Chowenwaw in January, the Duval County Audubon Christmas Bird Count, and Crosby Sanctuary Bird Walks and Work Days on the fourth Saturday of every month.

We are also continuing our partnership with St. Johns Riverkeeper and the City of Jacksonville for quarterly park cleanups and encourage you to participate and help us keep our parks beautiful for people and wildlife! Our next cleanup will be at Reddie Point Preserve on Sunday, October 14th – please join us!

Our Program Series this year will include speakers on Protecting Our Water Resources, the Wilderness of North Florida’s Parks, Identifying Florida’s White Birds, Whooping Crane Conservation, Florida’s Coral Reefs, Microplastics, and Shorebird Conservation.

If you are a member of Audubon, you should have received our calendar of events flyer in your mailbox, but you can also find our events on our website, Meetup and Facebook pages. We encourage membership, but all of Duval Audubon Society's activities are free for anyone to participate whether you are a member or not. We hope to see you soon!

Jody Willis, President, Duval Audubon Society

2017-2018 Season Wrap-Up

Enjoy highlights of our 2017-2018 birding season - we had a busy year!

Duval Audubon Society has been very busy this year working to accomplish our mission, Connecting People with Nature. Volunteers led 36 field trips this season at locations as far north as southern Georgia (Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge), as far south as Gainesville (Sweetwater Wetlands Park), and many wonderful birding spots in between. It's been a great birding season, including sightings of over 100 Black Skimmers at the January 2018 Fort Clinch State Park field trip, more than 100 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks at Sweetwater Wetlands in April, and a sighting of the rare White-rumped Sandpiper during our visit to Spoonbill Pond on Big Talbot Island in May.

We also participated in Audubon's annual Duval County Christmas Bird Count (CBC) in late December, and our dedicated volunteers recorded 152 different species during the count. Audubon and other organizations use data collected in this long-running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations, and to help guide conservation action.

This year we started a new program of Beginning Bird Walks at the Fort Caroline National Monument in partnership with the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. The walks are on the first Sunday of the month from September through May and introduce participants to using binoculars and recognizing the birds in our area. This program has been a great success for us. We have  had 10 to 20 participants at each walk (quite a few are repeat attendees), and several have joined our chapter as a result. We are continuing this program for the 2018-2019 season and hope to build on our current success.

Programs and field trips will resume in September after the summer break. If you are a member of Audubon, look for your flyer in the mail at the end of the summer, and you can also find our events on Meetup and Facebook. All of Duval Audubon Society's activities are free for anyone to participate. We hope to see you in the fall!

Jody Willis, President, Duval Audubon Society

National Geographic in collaboration with Audubon, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Life International is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act that has saved so many birds but is currently under attack at the national level. Additionally, more than 100 other organizations that work to protect birds and their habitat have joined the campaign. Each month these organizations will feature stories about birds, conservation efforts and how you can help. Read about why birds matter. Take the pledge and then #BirdYourWorld!

What can you do to participate in Year of the Bird? Plant bird friendly plants! Birds often rely on plants in our yards, balconies, and other spaces for habitat and food and the best plants to provide this are those native to your area. To know the best plants for your area, search Audubon’s native plants database by your zip code. You can even search based on the birds you want to attract and the type of plants you want in your garden. By growing the best bird-friendly plants for your area, you will attract and protect the birds you love while making your space beautiful, easy to care for, and better for the environment—and this month is the perfect time to get started. Learn more and find your plants here.

Take Action to Protect Wildlife: Contact your Government Representatives!

Florida is growing in leaps and bounds, more than one million more people now than in 2010! It’s hard to miss all the new development. For us and the birds and wildlife, it is our responsibility to ensure that new development happens in the most environmentally safe way possible. Duval Audubon Society will try to keep you informed of related current issues and how you can make your voice heard.

While you may get alerts from organizations asking you to sign petitions, calling or emailing your representative is much more effective. A call is the best and only takes a minute. You only need to identify yourself and indicate if you support or don’t support the issue involved. If it is a particular bill, the number of the bill should be noted.

To find out who represents you in government, link to the following websites:

 U.S. House www.house.gov/representatives/find/

              U.S. Senate www.senate.gov/senators         

 Florida House www.myfloridahouse.gov

              Florida Senate www.flsenate.gov/senators/find              

 Jacksonville City Council member City Council members

              Mayor Lenny Curry www.coj.net/mayor-curry.aspx

              Nassau County Commissioners www.nassaucountyfl.com

              Clay County Commissioners www.claycountygov.com/about-us/board-of-county-commissioners

Become an EagleWatch Volunteer!

The Audubon Florida EagleWatch Program started in 1992 at the Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland and now covers much of the state. Since urban eagle nesting activity in Florida has increased dramatically in the last decades, the Audubon EagleWatch Program seeks to:

1. Compile data for publication to document urban nesting activity.
2. Emphasize monitoring of urban pairs to record long-term nesting trends.
3. Identify potential threats to nesting success since most threats are related directly or indirectly to human activity.

Bald Eagle fledglings

Duval Audubon participates in the statewide program, monitoring nests in Duval, Nassau and Clay counties. The NE Florida program, coordinated by Shawnlei Breeding, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., also covers St. Johns and Putnam counties. The season runs from September to June. In the 2015-16 season in NE Florida there were 46 volunteers monitoring 39 nests. Although 5 deaths were reported, 32 eaglets fledged successfully. Two nests successfully fledged 3 eaglets after EagleWatch intervened when developers were interfering with the nests.

Despite delisting as an endangered species, eagles clearly still need advocacy and protection. It is estimated that the average fledge rate is 75% across the state and that only 50% of fledglings survive the first year, therefore, net gain is modest (~130). Development is a constant challenge, however, Audubon’s citizen science program is very effective tool with dedicated observers out there after storms, identifying threats, and getting the help to the birds as they need it.

For more information about Audubon Florida EagleWatch visit fl.audubon.org, Get Involved, EagleWatch.

Become a volunteer. You can download the registration document from the above site.