Field Trips & Special Events 2010

Saturday March 13th -  Lettuce Lake for Beginning Birders
Lead by Pat Lewis, 907-6542, plewis8216@aol.com. Meet at the Visitors Center at 9am. This is a great time to start birding or brush up on your skills.

Saturday March 14th -  Weedon Island & Sawgrass Lake Park
Mary Keith, 935-6115, keithma1@juno.com. 8 am at Weedon Island Visitor Center, or 7:30 am at Borders Book, Dale Mabry & I-275 to carpool. Easy walking on boardwalk and trails of Weedon Island, then move to Sawgrass Lake Park in St. Petersburg. Easy walking. Bring water and insect repellant.

Saturday March 20th -  Lowry Zoo to see the Shoebill Chick
Led by Carolyn McKinney (carolynmckinney47@yahoo.com). We'll meet at the entrance to Lowry Zoo at 9:30 am. You must print out the attached coupon to get the reduced price, and bring your Audubon membership card (National Audubon, any year is fine). In addition to the cost of admission (this is reduced cost, not free) you'll want to bring money for drinks, lunch, etc.

Sunday March 21st -  Bird by Boat! Join us for an airboat ride on Lake Kissimmee
We will look for snail kites, purple gallinules, bald eagles and more. We will meet at 7:00 am at the McDonalds on Rt. 60 at I-75 to carpool to east side of Lake Kissimmeeto drive to Grape Hammock on the SW shore of the lake. We will bird the area of the fish camp before and after the airboat ride looking for warblers, limpkins and shorebirds. After lunch in the area those interested can continue east to the Three Lakes area and Joe Overstreet road looking for caracara, whooping cranes, red-cockaded woodpeckers, nuthatches among others. The charge is $35 and will be collected in advance. Make checks payable to Tampa Audubon Society and mail to Mary Keith, Hillsborough Co Extension, 5339 CR 579, Seffner, FL 33584. For questions, call Mary at 935-6115, or email keithma1@juno.com. Reservations are required for the airboat ride, and must be received by March 16th at the latest. There is a small restaurant about a mile from Grape Hammock or bring your lunch.

Sunday March 217th -  Babcock Wildlife Mgmt Area, Oscar Scherer State Park
Bill Lamoureux, 839-2742 or wlamoureux@aol.com. 6:00 am, McDonalds at Rt. 60 and I-75 to carpool. Brown headed nuthatch, Red cockaded woodpecker, Bachman’s sparrow, scrub jays. Long drive to be there early to watch the woodpeckers leave for their day of foraging. Oscar Scherer for Scrub Jays. Bring drinks and lunch. Not a lot of walking but some may be in soft sand.

Saturday April 17th -  Bluebirds at Flatwoods Park
Lead by Mary Miller, limpkin1945@verizon.net. Meet at the Visitors Center at the park off Morris Bridge Rd. Easy walking to see bluebird boxes and Spring bird activity.

Get your passport for Holiday Birding in Costa Rica tentatively set for November 26 - 30, 2010. $895 pp double occupancy + air and lunch and dinner. SS $100. Details and pictures coming soon.

In Florida, every day is a great day to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature around us. As a child, we were told to stop, look, and listen. As an adult, we say stop and smell the roses. Both of these finally make sense when we have the chance to get out and enjoy more than 200 species of birds, numerous mammals, reptiles and native plants in Hillsborough County alone.

This year, we have made an effort to vary our field trips to include outings where you can see shorebirds on some trips while warblers on another. We’ve included a variety of locations and habitats so that each trip is unique. This year we’ve added a senior bird walk for those who would prefer a very easy terrain with several places to sit and relax while enjoying nature. In addition, a junior beginning bird walk is included to introduce school age children to the joys of birding.

Photo Credit: Roger Sheets

Early risers can enjoy nature trips where we'll see various insects including butterflies in addition to spiders, plants, reptiles and birds. Don't miss the end of year frog trip with the opportunity to not only see and hear the frogs but learn to recognize their calls and maybe learn to sound like one.

Tampa Audubon field trips are open to the public and unless noted otherwise are free. If you have any ideas for trips that you would like to see added in the future, please e-mail Mary Keith at Keithma1@juno.com or call (813) 935-611.

-- Jo Anne Hartzler