Birding

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Choctawhatchee Audubon Society December events

December 7: Monthly Meeting and Presentation:  Learn about the oldest and largest wildlife survey in the world and how you can help. Alan Knothe, the Chapter bird count coordinator, will speak on the history of the National Christmas Bird Count and how our local chapter participates. You will also learn how to identify some of the rare birds we hope to find on this years count. No birding experience is necessary. Contact Alan at (850) 208-1780 for additional information The...

Choctawhatchee Audubon Society November events

November 2: Monthly Meeting and Presentation:  “Australia: Birding the Land Down Under.” Lenny Fenimore, a local CAS member and widely traveled birder, will recount one of his recent international trips: the early evolution of avian life in Australia will be reviewed. Photos will include modern-day representatives of the endemic families of birds. The meeting will be held in Room 130 of the student services building (Bldg 400) at the Northwest Florida State College – Niceville campus. Socializing begins at 6:30...

Choctawhatchee Audubon Society October events

October 5: Monthly Meeting and Presentation:  “Water and Air Quality: A Challenge in Florida” by Eric Prince. Dr Prince will examine some of the critical air and water quality issues facing the state of Florida. He discusses the inadequacy of the term Climate Change as a descriptor for what is happening in our atmosphere, how to prepare for storm surge and hurricane force winds in Okaloosa County and concludes with the review of a paper in Nature Climate Change on...

The swallow-tailed kite: Graceful raptors of our wetlands

Florida’s birding trail symbol is often spotted gliding around Walton County The swallow-tailed kite is a snack-food junkie if ever there was one. It spends most of the day aloft, eating on the run – catching bugs and eating them in one swoop, then circling and diving to devour another. Elanoides forficatus is also an energy miser. The kite uses thermal uplifts and winds to spend the day gliding, merely flipping one side of its forked tail to change direction....

Choctawhatchee Audubon Society Sept. events

7 September: Monthly Meeting and Presentation:  “Southeasten Hummingbirds—A lot more than you might think”, by Fred Bassett, founder of Hummingbird Research, Inc and federally certified bird bander. Bassett has banded over 35,000 hummingbirds from Miami, Fl to Haines Alaska. The program will discuss Ruby-throated hummingbirds in depth and introduce several Western hummingbird species that Bassett has banded locally and followed through their migration and wintering in Okaloosa County. The meeting will be held in Room 130 of the student services...

Choctawhatchee Audubon Society hosting presentation Aug. 3

3 August: Monthly Meeting and Presentation:  “Two months in a Tropical Rainforest” by Ron Weiss Ed.D. Dr Weiss is a certified Master Bird Bander and for 20 years Founder and Executive Director of the Chipper Woods Bird Observatory in Indianapolis. He will report on his research involving the capture, breeding status determination, banding and release of native and migratory birds in the Costa Rica rainforest. Dr Weiss currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Microbiology at NWFS College. The meeting will...

Audubon Florida’s rooftop coordinator takes sky-high approach to protect nesting least terns

Emily McKiddy, Audubon Florida’s Panhandle rooftop coordinator, works year-round from Pensacola to Panama City. She surveys a variety of gravel rooftop-nesting birds and works with building owners, volunteers, and partners to return tiny, fallen chicks to rooftop nests and to install protective measures that will prevent tiny chicks from falling in subsequent years. In spring, flocks of least terns return from their wintering grounds in South America to the Florida Panhandle to breed. The birds prefer nesting on flat, open, sandy beaches on...

Florida Audubon seeking shorebird stewards for area state parks

Do you like the beach? Do you want to help our coastal wildlife survive? Become a part of the statewide efforts to help protect Florida’s beach-nesting shorebirds. It’s that time of year again when Florida’s rare shorebirds are nesting on our beaches and bird stewards are needed. Did you know beach-nesting birds like Snowy Plovers, Black Skimmers, American Oystercatchers and Least Terns lay their eggs on top of the sand and raise their young on our local beaches? Chicks less...