Volume 35, Number 3 editor:kathwren1@verizon.

net December 2008

THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER Last year we had 80 folks in the field and over 20 backyard
watchers. With that effort, we came in 3rd in the state of
Florida (60 counts) and 50th in the US (1658 counts). If
Poisonous Snakes you’d like to be part of this great event and truly fun day of
In July, I woke up one morning to find a Coral Snake in the birding, call me at 355-1709 or email [email protected].
kitchen—in the middle of the floor. Backing off, I called
Mike and we both watched as the 14-inch long creature Jeanne Dubi, President
slithered under the cooker. What to do?
 
It was around 6 a.m., so I had to wait until 9 to start making
DECEMBER CALENDAR
calls. I contacted Animal Services of Sarasota County—they
were of no help. They said that they could pick the snake up
if it was “contained”. In other words, we had to catch the Friday/Saturday, Dec 5/6: Ding Darling on Sanibel Island
snake and put it in a box. When I asked if they could This spectacular NWR is known for its abundant bird life.
recommend other services to call, they said that they were Stay overnight Friday, have dinner with fellow members and
not allowed to make recommendations for private service then visit the refuge on Saturday. RESERVATIONS
providers! REQUIRED. Hotel and meals at your own expense.
  Contact Kathryn Young, 924-5565.
Next, I called Venice Wildlife Center (484-5657). They do
not handle snakes, but knew someone who did. It turns out
that in order to handle poisonous snakes a herpetologist Dec 8
must have a license to do so. Fortunately we have one who Monday night SAS
serves our area: George Sera, 306-7747. When I got in touch meeting-Bird Rehabilitation -
with George, he was on assignment trapping iguanas in Boca Learn the ins and outs of bird rehab
from the experts at Save Our Seabirds,
Grande. He got to our house at about 6 p.m. and new tenants of the former
immediately took the cooker apart looking for the snake, Pelican Man ’s Bird
which he said was probably long gone, and so it was. We Sanctuary.
haven’t seen it since. George charges a fee for his service,
but it’s worth it. Keep his name and phone number handy
just in case you need it.
  Wednesday, Dec 10: Myakka River SP This wildlife preserve
We were thrilled to see the snake, although every morning always provides great birding. Meet at 8:15 a.m. in first
now when we get up we switch the light on in the kitchen parking lot on right just after park entrance (fee). Note: Park
and check out the floor before setting foot in it. opens at 8 a.m. Leader: Owen Comora, 378-5166. BRING
LUNCH.

Christmas Bird Count Tuesday, Dec 16: Lemon Bay Preserve Join Leaders Mark
Calling all those who love to count or photograph birds, and Leggett, 925-7220, and Stu Hills on this walk at Lemon Bay
those who watch their backyards for bird activity. On Preserve in south Venice. Meet at McDonalds (Bee Ridge/
Saturday, January 3, the Sarasota CBC will be in full swing. Cattlemen) at 8 a.m..
SECOND MONDAY ❖OCTOBER-MAY❖7PM SOCIAL PERIOD, FOLLOWED BY MEETING AND
PRESENTATION
Our Meeting Place-Fellowship Hall, First Congregational Church, 1031 South Euclid, Sarasota. Directions: US 41 to Bahia Vista. If coming
from the south, turn right on Bahia Vista:if coming from the north, turn left. Take Bahia Vista to Euclid, then north on Euclid to the
church.
Thursday, Jan 1: New Year’s Day at Sleeping Turtles Join a glimpse of a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers and a Yellow-
leaders Mark Leggett, 925-7220 and Kathryn Young on a throated Warbler.  Perhaps Sarasota Audubon Society can
New Year’s Day search for birds at this new county park. issue a rain check to David Williamson and Betsy Roberts
Meet at McDonald’s (Bee Ridge/Cattlemen) at 9 a.m. to return another year to help educate us on the amazing
BRINCH LUNCH AND A TREAT TO SHARE. variety of flowers and plants in this beautiful park.
  
Wednesday, Jan 7: North Long Boat Key Check out                  Stu Hills, Trip Leader
this birdy landfill site off Laurel Rd. Leaders Rick
Greenspun/Lynn Jakubowicz, 355-4073. Meet at Birking the Legacy Trail, Thursday, Nov 20 7 birkers
McDonald’s (Bee Ridge/Cattlemen) at 8 a.m. (bikers and birders = a birker) showed up in record cold
weather to do the 1st SAS Birking Trip. We had a really
good time, got some exercise, saw lots of birds to include
the endangered Florida Scrub-Jays and had lunch at Oscar
CELERY FIELDS CLEAN UP Scherer SP. I hope you join us next year on a great new way
to see birds.
Tuesday, Jan 13: CELERY FIELDS CLEAN UP. Help Kathryn Young, Trip Leader
us keep our adopted road free of garbage. Meet at the
gazebo (Palmer and Raymond) at 8 a.m. Contact Jeanne
Dubi, 355-1709.
ARMCHAIR BIRDING ON THE WEB
Palmer Blvd. Clean Up—Thanks, Nov.11!
Thanks to Joanna Bear, Peg Conklin, John Hegener, Rick Eagle Nest Locator
Greenspun, Kathryn Young, Gillian Stockton, and Julie
Byrne. The road looks great. http://myfwc.com/eagle/eaglenests/nestlocator.aspx

Ever wonder if there’s a Bald Eagle nest in your

TRIP REPORTS neighborhood? These days I wonder more about the
status of my retirement funds, but I’m glad to know that
Siesta Key Beach, Nov 12 14 birders walked Siesta Key the Internet can indeed come up with Bald Eagle nesting
Beach north to access 7. We found 1 Piping Plover, approx. sites near my home and
18 Snowy Plovers, over 50 Black Skimmers, a Sharp- for the entire state of
shinned Hawk and a Merlin. T he g roup was also Florida. By the way,
challenged on their sandpipers, as we saw groups of Red there are 14 nests
Knots, Dunlins, Western and Least Sandpipers. It was a within 5 miles of my
great learning experience to compare all the species in one house.
flock.
Rick Greenspun, Trip Leader This site is the brain-
child of the Florida
Fish and Wildlife
Red Bug Slough, Nov 15 On an overcast morning, l6 Conser vation
participants looked forward to an informative walk through Commission. It is
Red Bug Slough to  identify the abundance of diverse current thru the 2007-2008 nesting season. As with similar
species of plants and butterflies in this lovely urban park.  tools, there are no doubt some nests that escaped the
Alas, 60 minutes into our walk the heavy rain showers counters.
spoiled the party.  However, trip leader David Williamson,
an expert plant biologist, and Betsy Roberts, from the There are a number of ways to search the database. One
Native Plant Society helped us identify more than 40 can search by address; longitude and latitude (GPS
different varieties of wild flowers, shrubs, and plants before coordinates); nest id number; and political boundaries such
the skies opened up.  As the weather continued to as county and township. The website is quite easy to
deteriorate, the few butterflies about ducked for cover, and navigate. It took no time to find that there are 53 Bald
the birds hunkered down, although not before providing us Eagle nests in Sarasota County. The nests are graphically

BIRDING HOT SPOTS

Pick up a copy of the new 4th edition of the invaluable local birding guide, "Birding Hot Spots in Sarasota and
Manatee Counties."  It includes a checklist of area birds and  provides explicit descriptions  and directions to good
local birding spots.  Hot Spot is available at meetings, on day trips, and by mail.  Cost $6 (add $1.75 for mail).
 Get The Brown Pelican Sent to Your E-Mail!

Did you know that you can help Audubon use more of its funding for important education and conservation programs just by
receiving your Brown Pelican by e-mail?  For every person who signs up for an E-Brown Pelican, we'll save $6 for the year--
that's over $1,000 if 200 members sign up!  And it's much better for the environment, the reason we're here in the first place.  
Your e-version of the Brown Pelican includes all of the interesting stories, updates and upcoming program announcements
included in the paper version.  It also includes live links to the website for more information on each story or event.   Subscribe
today by e-mailing [email protected].

displayed on a map of the county. There is a spreadsheet renewed your membership but your date on your label does
application as well. not reflect this, it should change to the correct date within
the next few months.
What can one find out about specific nests? There is a 5 November 11, 2007 Volume VII
year historical field showing activity and non-activity. TO RENEW SEND YOUR $20.00 TO:
Longitude and latitude are provided, as well as when the SARASOTA AUDUBON SOCIETY
nest was last active going back several decades. There is no P.O. BOX 15423
information provided as to the number of eggs laid or the SARASOTA, FL 34277-1423
success of the nests. Lynn Jakubowicz, Membership Chair
In 1973 there were 88 active Bald Eagle nests in Florida.
That number has zoomed up to 1100 nests in 2007. What a
success story! Now let’s go check my retirement funds. PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT

Mark Leggett Join Sarasota Audubon Society for a photographic

exhibition of the Birds of the FISH Preserve. (Florida
Institute for Saltwater Heritage).
MEMBERSHIP TIME Audubon members Lou Newman, Ron Mayberry and Rick
Greenspun will exhibit their photographs at the Florida
It's time to renew!   All local Sarasota Audubon Society Maritime Museum on Dec. 12th 2008 until Jan. 12th 2009.
memberships need to be renewed for 2009 before the end
of the year. Your $20 membership stays right here in The exhibit will include  50 photos of raptors, egrets,
Sarasota County, helping fund local projects, like the Celery herons, spoonbills and many other birds of Florida.
Fields, beach monitoring to help protect shorebirds,
conservation issues, cleaning up Palmer Blvd. and Joins us for food and refreshments on opening night, Dec.
Pinecraft Park, educational projects, mentoring and 12th. The museum is located at 4415 119th Street West in
scholarships.   Cortez. Log onto the  FISH.org website for directions or
call (941) 708-6120 for details.
Renew by mail, or visit our membership table at the      
December monthly meeting. If you would like to renew        
your membership on a national level that can be done by
writing on your check E30/7XCH, by doing this you will
JOIN SARASOTA AUDUBON ON
also renew your local membership.
FACEBOOK
The best plan is to send in your money for both the local  
chapter and the national membership, this way you would Sarasota Audubon Society now has a profile on Facebook,
be supporting both chapters causes. the online social networking tool that gives people the
power to share and make the world more open and
The date you see on your label is national’s expiration date, connected.  Millions of people use Facebook everyday to
if you are a local member only you will not see this date. keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of
National is changing their membership system and are photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the
behind in getting information to all chapters. If you have people they meet. 

SAS NAME TAG

If you are a new member or do not have an official SAS NAME TAG, you can get one delivered right to your door. Send your
name, full address and telephone number, along with your check for $4.75 for name tag with pin, and $6.75 for tag with magnet
plus $1.50 postage made out to Michael Fox, 2749 Ringling Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34237
 with the The Nature Conservancy’s Jay Watch program.
 Sarasota Audubon is using Facebook as a tool to reach out Using trained volunteers to count scrub-jays, the efforts
to local Sarasotans to share our message, our activities and provide valuable data to land managers and scientists.
educational information.  We've posted Audubon videos, Training sessions are in the spring, and volunteers put their
notes about environmental issues, photos, upcoming events knowledge to work in June-July. Conservation sites are
and much more.  To visit us on Facebook, create your free located throughout central Florida, including Sarasota
account today at www.facebook.com! County. To be on the notification list for the 2009 Jay
  Watch program call the The Nature Conservancy at 863
Susie Bowie, Public Information 635-7506 or write them at PO Box 630, Babson Park, FL
33827.
Mark Leggett
SARASOTA AUDUBON WEBSITE 

There have been some changes at

www.sarasotaaudubon.org.  We caught up with our
webmaster, David Munro, to ask what  has been  going on. 
He told us the website committee wanted a web presence
which offered a more modern, fresh, more functional look. 
With some of the new design tools, it has been possible to
make the site navigation easier.  We've also tried to freshen
up the look of the site by replacing the dark blue
background on every page with a soft yellow, which should
be a little easier on the eyes.         HOLIDAY FUNDRAISER
Dave reports that some users have complained that the text Stu Hills will sell his new painted wood carvings at the
size is now pretty small.  Dave says that with most December meeting. Three-dimensional Mergansers, Puffins,
browsers, just hit CTRL + or, Apple + (on an apple Black-necked Stilts, Spotted Sandpipers, and more.  All
computer)  which will  make the text larger and easier to proceeds go to Sarasota Audubon Society.
read.  Dave also reports that he's encouraging users to use
a "standard" browsers like Firefox or Internet Explorer, in
order to insure that the menus work properly.  Dave states
“I had fun creating the new 'banner' across the top of every
page.  Rick Greenspun's photographs were great to work
with, and I believe we've ended up with a look which is ABA Checklist adds Common Myna
quite attractive, and certainly related to bird-watching.  Also,
each bird in the banner comes up with its name when you
position your mouse over the bird - and each bird contains The 2008 additions to the ABA Checklist have been
a link where you can find out more about that particular published in the most recent, November/December, issue
species.  of Birding magazine.

Another feature on the site is directions for the day trips.  Ten new species have
Kathryn Young has been pestering me relentlessly to get been added to the
those directions complete, but I still have more than half Checklist bringing the
left to do.  However, I'm committed to getting the total number of
directions done well before each of the trips." accepted species in the
Dave Munro, Webmaster ABA to 957.

Common Myna
(Acridotheres tristis)
Want to Help Save the Placement: after
Florida Scrub-Jay? European Starling, has been added and is now considered
an established exotic in parts of Florida.
Ninety percent of the Florida
Scrub-Jays that originally inhabited
This photo was taken by Lou Newman of Sarasota
Florida are gone. If you are
Audubon Society in Clewiston, Fla. For directions see
interested in helping save the
photo or come with SAS on the STA-5 trip to Clewiston
remainder, you’ll want to sign up
on Feb. 14.
 GET YOUR COPY OF THE NEW HOT SPOTS

This is the 4th edition of our local birding guide.

“Birding Hot Spots in Sarasota and Manatee
Counties.” It includes a checklist of area birds and
provides explicit descriptions and directions to good
local birding spots. Hot Spot is available at meetings,
on day trips, and by mail. Cost $6 (add $1.75) for
mail)

PLEASE SUPPORT - OUR SPONSORS

PHOTO CREDITS
Eagle Landing ---------------Page 2 Rick Greenspun

Florida Scrub-Jay ------------Page 4 Rick Greenspun

Common Myna Bird---------Page 4 Lou Newman

 Published Monthly October through May by:
SARASOTA AUDUBON SOCIETY
P.O. BOX 15423
SARASOTA, FL 34277-1423

For Membership Information email,

[email protected]
Get The Brown Pelican Sent to Your E-Mail!
Or leave message at 364-9212
Did you know that you can help Audubon use more of its funding for
important education and conservation programs just by receiving your
Brown Pelican by e-mail?  For every person who signs up for an E-Brown
Pelican, we'll save $6 for the year--that's over $1,000 if 200 members sign
up!  And it's much better for the environment, the reason we're here in the
first place.    Your e-version of the Brown Pelican includes all of the
interesting stories, updates and upcoming program announcements included
in the paper version.  It also includes live links to the website for more
information on each story or event.    Subscribe today by e-mailing
[email protected].