Birding

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Choctawhatchee Estuary Festival at Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park April 27

Educational fun for everyone Date: Saturday, Apr. 27 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park, Friends of the Emerald Coast State Parks and the Mattie Kelly Cultural & Environmental Institute of Northwest Florida State College will sponsor the Choctawhatchee Estuary Family Festival. This family event will feature fun, educational activities and displays showcasing our coastal environment. Cheer on the crab races and get your hands dirty as you make fish printed T-shirts to take home....

Choctawhatchee Audubon events for April

April 4: Monthly Meeting:  Walt Spence will present a program on his award-winning bird photography featuring both his recent work and that of his photo-paddling buddy, Douglas Buck. Spence will offer his insights on the genre and will share tips useful to both beginning and intermediate level bird photographers, particularly those interested in photography from canoes and other small boats. The meeting will be held in room 132 of the new Student Services Center of Northwest Florida State College. Socializing...

Hike, camp along the Apalachicola River bluffs at Torreya State Park

Note: March 4, 2019 – The Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Florida Park Service hosted a ceremony today celebrating the reopening of the campground at Torreya State Park following the impacts of Hurricane Michael. The campground, which sits along the park’s iconic steep bluffs rising more than 150 feet above the Apalachicola River, offers 30 campsites with electric and water hookups, as well as restroom facilities.   Torreya State Park, which experienced significant damage from Hurricane Michael – including downed trees and debris, and facility, boardwalk, road and trail damage – was...

Cormorants make use of Choctawhathcee Bay Air Force pilings

Folks often ask about the pilings in the Choctawhatchee Bay – why are they there and what purpose the pilings served. There are many a theory, however, truth is the pilings were installed many years ago by the Air Force. Here is what Eglin Air Force representatives have to say: Test Area D-55 is an air-to-ground radar resolution test facility installed in May 1959 and is currently inactive.  It is located in Choctawhatchee Bay and originally consisted of 25 arrays...

Learn about hummingbird banding at the Coastal Branch Library Feb. 6

Hummingbird lecture at Coastal Branch Library Feb. 6 On February 6, Fred Bassett will present “Alabama and Florida Hummingbirds – A lot more than you might think.” The program will discuss ruby-throated hummingbirds in depth and introduce several western hummingbird species wintering in the Southeast and show how they are banded. Fred Bassett is a certified master bird bander who is president of Hummingbird Research, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to the study and preservation of hummingbirds. He is a...