March 19, 2024
The FYBC has been pretty active the last few months. In January, we had our first combined weekend outing to Tall Timbers Field Station in Tallahassee. We had 11 young birders from the northern and central part of Florida.
Jim Cox was a terrific host, and the kids had a great time! They got a tour of Tall Timbers, introduced to bird banding, capturing a few different species of sparrows, and had a long, productive day of birding at St. Marks NWR.
The favorite activity was a wet walk into a salt marsh at night to listen for and try to catch Black Rails (we heard one and nearly caught a Sora). It allowed the kids to really get to know each other and begin to build relationships with birders their own age.
February involved a field trip to Seven Wetlands in Lakeland and a short visit to see Snail Kites/Purple Gallinules at Lake Parker. The weather wasn’t the best, but the small group saw some good birds and had great looks at 3 River Otters.
Last weekend, we had a great trip to the Celery Fields led by Sophia Haakman, who is heading up the Masasota chapter. We were treated to seeing a young male Yellow-headed Blackbird, male Painted Bunting and a Wilson’s Warbler. This weekend, we have the monthly “Jay Chat,” which is with Dr. Jacob Job from Colorado State University. He will be speaking about night flight recording.
The club will be having the monthly outing in April to Lettuce Lake park on Saturday, April 20. There will also be the last Jay Chat that afternoon about shorebird stewarding.
I have done some outreach about the club, including a talk to the West Pasco Audubon chapter, and a short recorded program for the spring FOS meeting in Gainesville (I couldn’t attend). Both went well and will help spread the word about this effort.