“LIGHTS OUT NORTHEAST FLORIDA NIGHTS” PROCLAMATION, by Elizabeth Filippelli, Conservation Director
In a landmark step for conservation in Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan recently signed the city’s first Lights Out Proclamation, emphasizing the importance of reducing unnecessary nighttime lighting to create safer skies for birds! A big thank you to our members for supporting and protecting our migrating birds and mission. You won and so will our migrating birds over Jacksonville!! Special thanks go to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Megha Parekh, Jaguars Executive VP and Chief Legal Officer, for igniting the Lights Out Northeast Florida Nights campaign! Since February 2025, the Jaguars have turned off their roof lights from 11:00 pm – 6:00 am EVERY night (pending an event), and not just during migration periods. The Jaguars are not only Jacksonville’s football team, but they are a super example of community action to save the lives of birds.
The Lights Out Proclamation Press Conference celebration was hosted by the Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens (JZG) in their beautiful Range of the Jaguar exhibit. We were joined by an amazing set of conservation leaders and advocates, including Jeff Ettling, Ph.D., JZG President and CEO; Julie Wraithmell, Audubon Florida Executive Director; Ashantae Green, City of Jacksonville Sustainability Manager; Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan; Museum of Science & History (MOSH) CEO Dr. Alistair Dove; and our very own Michael Taylor, Curator of Birds, Herps and Others at JZG, AND co-founder of the Lights Out Northeast Florida (LONF) initiative. Oh, and me! The speakers were inspiring, and we had lots of hugs, goodwill, and even some tears of joy. The message was loud and clear: BIRDS MATTER IN JACKSONVILLE! Our celebration ceremony was covered by local news outlets News4JAX and First Coast News.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, we toured the African Loop so everyone could see, learn, and ask questions about the visual markers that have been successfully installed on the highly reflective windows in the exhibit. These same visual markers have also been installed at MOSH and have resulted in a 100% reduction in bird window collision deaths there.
Special thanks go to Honorable Mayor Deegan, the City of Jacksonville, Ashantae Green, the Jacksonville Jaguars, our amazing speakers, and JZG for hosting our celebration. Our members who support LONF have been with us from the beginning, and we thank you for your continued help and encouragement. We are deeply grateful to LONF’s founders Michael Taylor of JZG, former Duval Audubon Society Conservation Director Carolyn Antman, former St. Johns Regional Audubon Society Vice President Marcy Brenner, and Duval Audubon Chapter President Carol Bailey-White, who worked together to kickstart the LONF initiative back in 2021 and set it up for success.
Mayor Deegan declared that birds matter in Jacksonville, and to show her our appreciation and commitment, we are looking to increase our Homeowner Pledge Team to 500 bird-friendly residents. Right now, 52 homeowners have signed the pledge. If you haven’t signed yet, won’t you please consider signing our Homeowner Pledge to join those who have already committed to turning off their non-essential lights at night to help protect migrating birds? We can’t wait to share the good news with Mayor Deegan about how many more of you have joined our Homeowner Pledge Team!
Our work is funded by our members and supporters. Please consider making a donation to help us continue our mission to connect people with nature, and conserve and restore natural ecosystems in Northeast Florida. Thank you!
RIVERSIDE PARK NESTING BIRDS UPDATE, by Elizabeth Filippelli, Conservation Director
As we reported last month, Jacksonville’s Riverside Park is an important nesting and roosting area for wading birds like Great Egrets and Black-crowned Night Herons. Last year, many defenseless nestlings died because of disturbances to the nesting trees, so this year we’ve teamed up with community members as well as the City of Jacksonville’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services (JaxParks) to help protect these vulnerable birds. Our goal is to educate the public on urban park and wildlife friendly protocols to ensure a thriving environment for both humans and wildlife.
Thanks to JaxParks and Lauren Chappell, COJ Preserve and Waterfront Manager, educational caution tape has been wrapped around each of the trees in the nesting area and signs have been added to advise parkgoers to please leave space between them and the nesting families. We also hope these measures will help prevent any potential aggressive tree trimmings during the nesting season (typically mid-March-early May). While the caution tape and nesting signs are very important, outreach warriors are also critical in setting this project up for success. Bird Steward Cindy Corey and Park Steward Maggie Theoni have been nothing short of amazing leading this pilot project at the park.
And while the goal is to educate the public on best practices (for example, explaining why it’s a bad idea to feed bread to birds), we are also surveying the nests and will be counting the chicks. It is a simple survey that we will provide back to the city on how many birds fledged and any casualties (and why, if we know). On March 15th we held our first outreach event and it was a great opportunity to talk to the parkgoers who stopped by. We met some amazing people; most folks were supportive, and some wanted to join the team to help out. Unfortunately, the sign-up sheet was not legible, so if you were one of the folks who signed up to help with bird observation and protection at Riverside Park, please contact me at Elizabeth.filippelli@duvalaudubon.org.
Next month additional temporary signs will be installed to protect the nesting area and fledglings. Baby birds will be hatching soon, so stop by to see the signage and the cutest birds ever. Please remember, if you see a dead or injured bird at the park, please text Cindy Corey at 904-673-6740. For safety reasons, please do not handle injured or deceased birds on your own.
URBAN OASIS OF NATURE & WELLNESS AT EARTHA’S FARM & MARKET, by Elizabeth Filippelli, Conservation Director
The native plant garden at Eartha’s Farm & Market is planted and growing roots. Chadd Scott, Conservation Director for the Ixia Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, built out the garden, and it’s looking great – thanks Chadd!
We also hosted the first of several planned nature-inspired youth events at the Farm last month. On March 29th I joined our Youth Outreach Director Kate Zeray to teach youngsters from the community about backyard birds and how to attract them to their yards. The highlight of the event was our pinecone bird feeder activity. Everyone enjoyed smearing peanut butter on the pinecones and rolling them in bird seed, and the birds will love them! Local nonprofit Grounds of Grace managed the visit to Eartha’s Farm, providing transportation and logistics for kids and parents to be able to participate in this wonderful event.
MEMBERSHIP MATTERS, by Christine Lucas, Membership Director
Did you know that April is Membership Month at Duval Audubon Society? You might have been to one of our bird walks, or heard about one of our successes in helping conserve local environments, or watched one of our ‘Expert Talks’ via Zoom, but have you actually joined up?
If not, I invite you to join us now. Your membership has benefits for you as well as for us. Most importantly, you’ll know your voice will be heard in the increasingly important debate on environmental issues, and our increased membership rolls let elected officials and others working on environmental issues that we are a very strong voice for conservation.
Membership is available at the very reasonable price of $20.00 per year. You can join right now on our website. I hope you’ll join us this month, and be sure to let your friends and family know that they can join too. And by the way, every month is Membership Month at Duval Audubon Society.
If you have questions about your membership, don’t hesitate to contact me at christine.lucas@duvalaudubon.org.