Florida Young Birders Club Report - February 2026

The Florida Young Birders club had a fall full of monthly outings: Lettuce Lake Park in September, Connor Preserve (Odessa) in October, Roosevelt Wetlands (Pinellas Park) in November, and Circle B Bar Preserve (Lakeland) in December. We had some regular members attend most of the outings with a few new members sprinkled in.  

Last weekend, we had an outing to Lake Parker and Lake Morton in Lakeland co-led by former Florida Young Birder, Charles Law, and current Florida Young Birder member, Christopher Dawson. Given the large geographic area being served by the Tampa Bay chapter, I try to offer outings around the entire area to make these walks more accessible and prevent anyone from having to drive too far for a bird walk.  

The annual Winter Birding Weekend was held in Palm Beach Gardens in Southeast Florida. We had a total of 13 Young Birders attend including several new members. We had birding outings at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, nearby e-bird hotspots, and the sugar cane fields at night looking for Shiny Cowbirds, Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Barn Owls. The kids got to share meals, make S’mores by the campfire, and hear a talk by Snail Kite Biologist, Tyler Beck. The weekend was topped off by stops on the way home near Lake Okeechobee to see a male Vermilion Flycatcher and a rare Black-headed Gull. The last stop also gave the kids the chance to meet famous birders Dave and Tammy McQuade who were interviewed in the YouTube movie  “Listers” regarding their participation in the Big Year competition. I plan to send out a short survey to all the participants to get a sense of what they liked about the weekend and what they would like to do next year (I am leaning towards doing it at Archbold Biological Station).  

Overall, the club is doing well with around 50 members. At the beginning of the year, we had our first major renewal push so we lost some inactive members, and some members turned 18 years old, aging them out of the club. We plan to reach out to inactive members to make sure they intended to drop their membership. 

Furthermore, the Florida Ornithological Society (FOS) voted to make the Young Birders members of FOS so the kids can connect with the state-wide parent organization and interact with advanced birders and professional ornithologists. There are active chapters in Tampa Bay, Orlando, Sarasota and Northeast Florida plus a new chapter getting started in Gainesville. We have had inquiries from interested adults in Tallahassee and Port Charlotte areas as well.  

We are still looking for club Social Media leadership to take on the role of running the Young Birders’ Instagram page and YouTube channel. If any board members know anyone who might be interested in helping the club out, please contact me at fybcmedia@gmail.com

Finally, the FOS just established the Next Generation Endowment Fund to support Young Birder development. We are in the process of establishing application guidelines for how interested young birders can utilize the funds for camp scholarships, bird conservation projects, and other opportunities that pop up along the way. With this establishment, donors can now contribute to the fund going forward. The hope is that individuals and Audubon chapters interested in supporting Young Birders programs will contribute to the endowment so that it can continue to grow and support more Young Birder initiatives.