Latest News

Jan 14, 2012. Mid-Winter Shorebird Survey.

In conjunction with Volusia County and the Florida Shorebird Alliance, we will be participating in the Mid-Winter Shorebird Survey on Friday, Feb 3. We still need volunteers. If you would like to help, either as a birder or recorder, please contact Ken Gunn at gunnsatbeach@cfl.rr.com.

Jan 14, 2012. Action Alert: Privatizing state submerged lands.

Legislation has been filed in the Florida State House and Senate to privatize state submerged lands. The effect and purpose of these bills are to privatize tens of thousands of acres of publicly owned submerged lands in Florida’s rivers, lakes, and streams. If you are a kayaker, airboater, fisherman, duck hunter, or bird watcher who maneuvers your means of conveyance around in shallow marshy water this means that someday, headed into your favorite place, you are going to encounter a fence, barbed wire, and “no trespassing” signs blocking your way. And, one day a little later in the future, you will see rooftops and strip malls where the ducks, deer, and wading birds used to be.

Please visit the Audubon of Florida website to send an email to the bills sponsors opposing this bill.

January 2012 eSkimmer News

Prez Sez

Your executive hopes you had a great holiday season and wishes you a happy and prosperous 2012. National Audubon is refocusing its efforts and maybe we should too. Continue reading>>

Conservation Notes: Christmas Bird Count, by Lee Bidgood

National Audubon’s President and CEO, David Yarnold wrote a valuable commentary about the Christmas Bird count published on Christmas day in the Gainesville Sun. I don’t know if Volusia County media carried his op-ed, distributed by MCT Information Services. Continue reading>>

RESTORE Act

Recently the Senate has introduced legislation called “The Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunity, and Revived Economies of the Gulf States Act of 2011” (the “RESTORE Act”). This Senate bill paves the way for Congress to do what voters expect: hold the parties responsible for the Gulf oil disaster accountable for restoring the Gulf by investing fines owed by BP and the other parties responsible for the Gulf oil spill into the Gulf region. Continue reading>>

FARMTON Update

It appears the Farmton folks blind-sided Volusia Couny by applying to the Florida Public Service Commission for a permit to create a wastewater service area on its land in Brevard and Volusia counties. The application would allow the company to provide wastewater services for the Farmton developments, a requirement of the company's agreements with the two counties, rather than the use of septic tanks. Continue reading>>

Wind Farms

Recent mass bird kills by wind farms and the potential for more slaughter provided the impetus for the American Bird Conservancy recently to petition the Department of the Interior to create mandatory regulations to protect migratory birds at wind energy facilities. In addition, in 2011, Audubon led an effort to foster better planning of electric power facilities by helping ensure that power producers, power grid planners, and state regulators would have the information they need in order to avoid environmentally sensitive lands. Meanwhile, plans to build a 32-turbine wind farm near the coast of Washington in a key breeding area for a threatened seabird have been halted. Continue reading>>

January Meeting

The January meeting will be held on Wed, Jan 18 at the Edgewater library. Our January speaker will be Dr. Kirsten Work, Associate Professor at Stetson University. Dr. Work has been an aquatic biologist at Stetson University for eleven years. For more info, check the "Meetings" link in the left pane.

January Field Trip

The January field trip will be to the gull fly-in at Daytona Beach Shores on Jan 27. car-pooling folks will depart from the usual place at 3:15 p.m. We will meet Michael Brothers at Frank Rendon Park, 2705 S. Atlantic Ave., in Daytona Beach Shores. We may see as many as 100,000 gulls on this trip. For more info, check the "Field Trips" link in the left pane.

Christmas Bird Count Report

Twenty-nine people split our fifteen mile diameter circle into 11 areas including one boat. The weather was blustery and rainy for the start but moderated later in the morning. We tallied 134 species and a total of 79,584 birds. We thought that 5,860 Laughing Gulls was a lot, but that number paled in comparison to the estimated 50,000 Tree Swallows Clay found himself surrounded by. For pictures of these swallows and a complete list of birds found, check out the "Birding Story Blog"link in the left pane.

December Field Trip Report

We went to Seminole Rest and then to MINWR. We saw a couple of Common Loons as well as a Eurasian Widgeon. To see the full report and view some photos, check out the "Birding Story Blog" link in the left pane.

December Meeting Minutes

The minutes of the December meeting are posted here.

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Dec 5, 2011. The December eSkimmer is on line.

Read it here.

Dec 1, 2011. December field trip.

The December field trip will be to the Lake Apopka Restoration Area on Dec 17th. Because of the distance and the meet-up with a guide, we depart at 6 a.m. For more info, check the Field Trip page.

Dec 1, 2011. December meeting set.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 21st at 7 p.m. at the Edgewater Library. See the Meetings page for a map. Our speaker will be David Hartgrove, Conservation Chair of Halifax River Audubon. He will give a program on Gulls in preparation for our gull walk in January. Read his bio here.

Nov 21, 2011. Meeting minutes posted.

The minutes of the November 16th meeting are on line. Read them here.

Nov 3, 2011. November eSkimmer is online.

Read it here.

Nov 3, 2011. November meeting set.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 16th at 7 p.m. at the Edgewater Library. See the "Meetings" page for a map. Our speaker will be Chad Truxall, acting Managing Director of the Marine Discovery Center in NSB. His talk is entitled "Plethora of Plankton". For more info, including his bio, check here.

Oct 26, 2011. Meeting minutes posted.

The minutes of the Oct 19th meeting are on line. Read them here.

Oct 26, 2011. Field trip report.

The report of the Oct 22 field trip to Lake Woodruff NWR is in the blog.

Oct 4, 2011. Birds of the beach and the IRL.

Don Picard will be presenting a program describing the birds people see while walking along the beach and paddling in the Indian River Lagoon along with anecdotes about many of these birds. The program will be held at the NSB library on Saturday, Oct 8, at 10-12 a.m. Come and bring a friend.

Oct 4, 2011. October meeting set.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, Oct 19. Our guest speaker will be Charlie DuToit, a retired FL State Park field biologist. His topic will be "The seasons of the Tomoka Marsh." Read his bio here. Come and bring a friend.

Oct 4, 2011. October eSkimmer is on line.

Read it here.

Sep 24, 2011. Executive Committee Meeting.

An executive committee meeting was held on Sep 3, 2011. We set goals for the next season and discussed ways to improve meeting attendance and to get our word out. The minutes are posted here.

Sep 1, 2011. Fall Migratory Bird Count.

The count will be held on Saturday, Sep 17th. If you can volunteer ( and we do need volunteers) please contact Dick and Gail at 428-0447.

Aug 30, 2011. Florida Keys Birding and Wildlife Festival.

The festival will be held from Sep 21-25 and will be anchored at Curry Hammock State Park, MM 56.2, Marathon, FL. Additional information is available at their website. They do not have on-line registration and cannot accept credit cards. As of this writing, none of the events is filled. If interested, call to verify the availability of the events in which you are interested. and email the registration form. They can pencil you in while your check is in the mail.

Aug 11, 2011. Audubon Magazine Renewal Scam.

Several members received mail notices asking them to renew their Audubon Magazine memberships by sending a renewal card and cash/check to Publishers Billing Association or to go to their website to use their credit card. THIS IS A SCAM. Do not pay them or go to their website. National Audubon and Audubon of Florida have been notified. If you get a card like this in the mail, throw it away.

Aug 11, 2011. The August eSkimmer is online.

Read it here.

Jul 20, 2011. Sentor Rubio on the EPA and Greenhouse Gases.

Last month I wrote an email to Senator Rubio asking him to support the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in relation to global climate change. I thought you might enjoy his reply. Apparently he believes politicians are more capable of regulating these emissions than professionals and scientists.

Jul 12, 2011. Campgrounds update.

It seems like Governor Scott found out how many state citizens love their state parks and are concerned about this proposal and its fast-tracking. He has decided to pull back on the project. Great job, citizenry!

Jul 5, 2011. New campgrounds for our state parks.

After being rebufffed over the idea of closing 53 state parks and then building golf courses in them (all to be designed by Jack Nicklaus) comes another idea of having campgrounds built in about 50 of them, the construction and management of which would be done by contractor/concessionaire. To make matters even more interesting, the DEP, which manages the Florida Park Service has won approval to fast-track the idea. Makes you wonder if they already have the contractor/concessionaire already lined up.

Our main concern is the potential effect on the sensitive resources the parks are supposed to protect, and whether or not they can withstand the additional visitor pressure. I also worry that contractors like to bulldoze all the trees, shrubs, etc. from an area so there is nothing that will interfere with their heavy equipment.

Dinah Voyles-Pulver has written an article on the subject in the News-Journal.

Jun 11, 2011. Still skirmishing over Farmton.

It was obvious that Farmton would be approved by the state after Gov. Scott decimated the DCA. But that is not stopping the interest. Check out the two part series on Farmton in the Hometown News Jun 3 and Jun 10.

Now comes word that another humongous development has been approved in Orange/Osceola area. It will include almost 30,000 residential units and 8.5 million square feet of commercial building. The old DCA disapproved it, but guess what happened next?

Apr 12, 2011. Farmton to reshape Southeast Volusia.

Check out Dinah Voyles-Pulver's great synopsis in the Sunday, Apr 10 Daytona News-Journal here.

Apr 12, 2011. April meeting announced.

This is the last meeting of the year in the Edgewater Library. The April 20 meeting will be our annual potluck dinner at 5:30 PM in the Menard-May Park in Edgewater. At that time, elections will be held. All officers currently serving have agreed to stay on. We are, however, in need of a vice president and a conservation chair. Anyone interested in serving in these capacities is urged to contact Don Picard or any other officer.

April 12, 2011. The April eSkimmer is online.

Read it here.

Mar 27, 2011. March meeting minutes are online.

Read them here.

Mar 10, 2011. Golf Courses in State Parks.

So now we really know why Governor Rick Scott nixed the proposal to close 53

state parks a few weeks ago. He figured his next proposal would so outrage

the fans of state parks that he better get some goodwill first.

Sen. John Thrasher of St. Augustine and Rep. Pat Rooney of West Palm Beach

each introduced bills to create the Jack Nicklaus Golf Trail, providing a

no-bid, exclusive opportunity for Nicklaus’ company to design golf courses

in, of all places, STATE PARKS!!!!

Please read the attached alert and the cited newspaper articles, vote in the

Orlando Sentinel poll contact Thrasher and Rooney, and pass the word to your

friends.

For more information, read here.

Mar 6, 2011. March meeting announced.

Out March Speaker will be Tad Fyock , a bird sculptor / photographer, who now makes his home on Bethune Beach. Last November, Tad and his son-in-law visited The Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. He has developed an excellent slide show of his photographs from that trip and will further entertain us with comments on the flora and fauna being shown.

Mar 6, 2011. The March eSkimmer is online.

Read it here.

Feb 23, 2011. House Guts Environmental Protection Agency.

House Republicans passed spending legislation that would, among many other things:

- Strip the Clean Air Act of its ability to reduce dangerous carbon dioxide pollution;

- Grant Shell and other polluters a free pass to drill in the Arctic; and

- Remove Endangered Species Act protection for the iconic gray wolf.

To read more and to take action, click here.

Feb 18, 2011. Feb minutes are on line.

Read them here.

Feb 14, 2011. Feb 19 Field Trip Set.

On the field trip page, the Feb 19 has been TBA. No more. Michael Brothers of the Marine Science Center will lead our trip to the gull fly-in at Daytona Beach Shores. It may be the largest congregation of gulls on any beach in the United States, as many as 30,000 gulls in any evening. Vega, Thayer's, Franklin's, Glaucous, Iceland, Bonaparte's, and Black-headed gulls have been documented in addition to our usual species.

Check out our Field Trip page for meeting details.

Feb 10, 2011. eSkimmer Alerts!

In the past, eSkimmer alerts were few and far between. However, the times and the politics have changed. There are now many threats to our environment, our state and national parks, and our overall quality of life that we feel a need to bring them to your attention.

Although our email inboxes are full of alerts from the various organizations to whose newsletters we subscribe, we are not sure that our readers want this. So we will issue a maximum of two eSkimmer Alerts per month, one with the eSkimmer publication and one at another time during the month if warranted. If there are several issues we will combine them into a single alert. Such is the case today.

The two issues are the potential loss of 53 Florida state parks and the use of longline fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.

There is now a new section on the website dedicated to the eSkimmer Alerts. Just click the ALERT! link in the left nav bar.

Feb 3, 2011. Tomoka Regional Science Fair.

For the umpteenth year, the three Volusia County Audubon groups collaborated to provide judges and prizes for students having projects which meet our environmental/conservation agenda. We did it again on Jan 27th. Judges were Karyn Hoffmann WVAS, Fred Mosher HRAS, and Don Picard SEVAS. We all had a great time interviewing the students and congratulate all of them for achieving the regional level. Special congratulations go to our prize winners. For a list of the winners, their schools and science fair titles, look here.

Feb 3, 2011. February meeting announced.

Our February 16th speaker will be Mr. Ed Garland, a Communications Specialist with the St. Johns River Water Management District. Ed will be speaking about the District’s role in planning for future water supply needs and how people can do their part to protect this precious resource. Read more here.

Feb 3, 2011. The February eSkimmer is on line.

Read it here.

Feb 3, 2011. Executive Committee Meeting.

An executive committee meeeting was held after the January general membership meeting. The minutes are here.

Jan 25, 2011. January minutes are online.

Read them here.

Jan 17, 2011. Birds falling from the sky.

If you wondered about all the birds falling from the sky in the last week or so, you are not alone. Here is a website that is chronicling the stories around the world of bird and fish die-offs.

Jan 6, 2011. January eSkimmer is online.

Read it here.

Jan 3, 2011. January meeting set.

Our January 2011 speaker will be Dr. Kirsten Work, Associate Professor at Stetson University. Dr. Work has been an aquatic biologist at Stetson University for the ten years.

The number and diversity of aquatic organisms, and a significant proportion of terrestrial organisms, is based on bacterial and algal production. Why is this important? Land use changes can affect the architecture of nesting, roosting, and feeding sites for all birds. However, land use changes also can affect the nutrient content and, in turn, the bacterial and algal density and diversity, of bodies of water. Changes in bacterial and algal populations can affect the density and diversity of the fish on which many wading, swimming, and diving birds feed.

For more info on Dr Work, look here.

Jan 3, 2011. Happy New Year.

Your executive hopes you had a great holiday season and wish you all the best for 2011.

Dec 19, 2010. Minutes of the December meeting are online.

Read them here.

Dec 19, 2010. Christmas Bird Count.

Our Christmas Bird Count will be conducted on Jan 2, 2011. Meet at 7 a.m. at the Brannon Center in New Smyrna Beach. To register early, contact Dick and Gail at 428-0447. Check out the National Audubon press release here.

Dec 11, 2010. December meeting set.

The December 15th meeting will feature Bob Montanaro who will take us through the adventures to two nesting pairs of Osprey. This will include both still photography and video. For more information, check here.

Dec 6, 2010. The December eSkimmer is on line.

Read it here.

Dec 1, 2010. November meeting minutes are on line.

Read them here.

Nov 8, 2010. November eSkimmer is on line.

Read it here.

Nov 3, 2010. November meeting set.

Our November speaker will be Dr. Terence Farrell of Stetson University. Catching ringneck snakes and redback salamanders in his backyard obviously planted the seeds for his subsequent career choice. The title of his talk will be Herpetology for the Ornithologist.

Nov 3, 2010. Save our Seas, Beaches and Shores.

The Florida Wildlife Federation, et. al., are starting a petition drive to place the issue of near-shore oil drilling on the Florida ballot in Nov. 2012. If approved, the constitutional ban would apply to Florida's state waters, 3 miles into the Atlantic Ocean and 10 miles into the Gulf. Currently, drilling is banned by state law, which can be overturned at any time. The state House of Representatives voted to allow drilling in state waters in 2009. Luckily, the Senate did not act and the ban was not lifted.

It will require 700,000 signed petitions for the issue to be placed on the 2012 ballot. To download and send a petition, see their website at www.sosbs.org.

Oct 26, 2010. Bird Rescue in NSB Needs Your Help.

The Bird Rescue in NSB/Edgewater link at left outlines the way it works here. Part of the plan was for the Marine Discovery Center in NSB to transport the injured birds tor the Marine Discovery Center in Ponce Inlet via the NSB Water Taxi. With the demise of the water taxi, there is no way to transport the injured birds to the recovery center at the MSC in Ponce Inlet. If you can help transport injured birds, contact Stacey Bell of the Volusia County Environmental Agency. To see her full email and contact info, read here.

Oct 7, 2010. Loggerhead Shrike study.

Loggerhead Shrikes are declining across much of their range. As part of a restoration effort, the Canadian government and its partners have sprayed the breasts of juveniles with green, blue or purple. Adults have been banded. They are trying to find out where the birds spend their winters. If you see colored shrikes or banded shrikes, you are asked to contact them. For more information, see their leter and email here.

Oct 7, 2010. Fall Migratory Bird Count.

Thanks to all of you who participated in the fall count. The results are posted here.

Oct 5, 2010. The October eSkimmer is on line.

Read it here.

Oct 2, 2010. October meeting set.

The first meeting of the new season will be on the 20th. Our guest speaker will be Lisa Roberts, Executive Director of the Florida Wildflower Foundation. The Florida Wildflower Foundation’s mission is to enrich lives with Florida’s native wildflowers. She will discuss the importance of using native plants in your gardening and landscaping and will explain how that contributes to the diversity in our environment. Bring a friend (birder or gardener or both) and enjoy her presentation.

June 7, 2010. Debra Woodall Powerpoint Presentation.

At the March Meeting, Dr. Woodall talked about the ocean currents, the good, the bad and the ugly. Many folks wanted to see a copy of her presentation online. It is here.

June 1, 2010. Bird Rescue in NSB and Edgewater.

Bird rescue in NSB and Edgewater is now a three-party operation. For full details, check out this page or the link on the bottom of the left navigation bar.

May 7. 2010. April meeting minutes posted.

Read them here.

Apr 7, 2010. April eSkimmer is online.

Read it here.

Mar 20,2010. March meeting minutes posted.

Read them here.

Mar 15, 2010. Farmton to be reviewed at VCGMC.

The Volusia County Growth Management Commission will review the Farmton proposal at its meeting on March 24th at 7 p.m., at 123 West Indiana in Deland. Here is the email I sent to the commission asking them to vote NO! on Farmton.

Mar 4, 2010. March meeting set.

The March meeting will be held on March 17th. Our guest speaker will be Dr. Debra Woodall of Daytona State College. Her topic will be: "Ocean Currents 101- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

Mar 4. 2010. The March eSkimmer is online.

Read it here.

Feb 22, 2010. Farmton update.

At the last meeting, I briefed on the latest updates to the Farmton project, including the meeting between Charles Lee, the Conservation Chair of Audubon of Florida ant the presidents of SEVAS, Halifax River and West Volusia Audubons. The members voted unanimously to continue our objection to the Farmton project. I sent an email to the members of the Volusia County Council asking them to vote the project down. As you probably know, Farmton passed with a vote of four to two, with Andy Kelly and Carl Persis voting No!

As a result of our vote, I intend to send another email to the Volusia County Growth Management Commission before their meeting later this month asking them to vote NO on the project. I will also send an email to the state Department of community Affairs asking them to renew their disapproval of the project.

Feb 22. 2010. Tomoka Regional Science Fair.

As has been our custom in the past ten years, the SEVAS partnered with the Halifax River and West Volusia Audubons to provide judges and prizes for the Tomoka Regional Science Fair. We each contributed $100 to be distributed as $100 first prizes and $50 second prizes. Our judges looked for the best senior and junior participants in projects involving environment/conservation/birding projects. Our congratulations to all the participants we judged and especially to the winners:

First place Senior: Kelton Williams, Deland H. S. "Environmental Effects on Banana Ripening and Sugar Content"
First Place Junior: Chase Antilla, Buddy Taylor M. S. (Flagler) "What duration of ultraviolet exposure kills bacteria?"
Second place Senior: Katelyn Zeringue, Deland H.S. "What is the most effective fuel: B-100 bio-diesel, B-50 Bio-Diesel, or 0-Bio-diesel?"
Second place Junior: Michelle He, Creekside M. S. (Port Orange) "What are some natural ant repellents?"

Feb 22, 2010. February meeting minutes posted.

Read them here.

Feb 15. 2010. Volusia County Council and Farmton.

On Feb 17, the Volusia County Council will take up the Farmton issue for a second time. As you may recall, the state Department of Community Affairs rejected the proposal in December, and the county and Farmton went back to the drawig boards to attempt to please the DCA. Here is the email I sent to the council members asking them to reject Farmton.

Feb 10,2010. The February eSkimmer is online.

Read it here.

Feb 9, 2010. February meeting set.

The next meeting will be held on February 17th. Our speaker will be Dr. Michael Reiter, Associate Professor at Bethune-Cookman College. His topic will be "Global Warming and what we can do about it."

Feb 9, 2010. Winter Shorebird Survey.

SEVAS was invited by the Volusia County Environmental Section to assist in the Volusia County portion of the 2010 Winter Shorebird Survey sponsored by the Florida Shorebird Alliance.Thanks to all who participated in the survey on Feb 4-5. Read Ken's report and check out some of the great pics the folks took.

Jan 28, 2010. Announcing the Great Backyard Bird Count for 2010.

The next big citizen science event of the year is the Great Backyard Bird Count February 12th through 15th. This one is really as easy as 1-2-3 since it can be in your own backyard. This is a great way to get your children or grandchildren involved in. You can also use a park or other area to count birds in. And don’t forget large store parking areas. Help the kids learn the names of some species. Get friends involved, especially if they have yards with good natural areas or have feeders because they enjoy watching birds at the feeders. For more information, check out the eSkimmer or click here.

January 25, 2010. Farmton update.

The News-Journal reports that the revised Farmton plan will be discussed at the County Council meeting on Jan 18. It also mentions the petition being circulated on the web opposing the development. If you would like to sign the petition, see it here.

January 24, 2010. January presentation online.

Michael Brothers gave an incredible talk on the Natural History of Volusia County. Many of the members asked for a copy of his slides. Here is the full Powerpoint presentation (56 Mb) and here is a browser-friendly version which will be easier to download and will not require Powerpoint viewer.

January 24, 2010. January meeting minutes online.

Read them here.

January 13, 2010. The January eSkimmer is online.

Read it here.

January 13, 2010. CBC results announced.

Our thanks to the 31 volunteers who participated in the 110th Christmas Bird Count. Roughly 38,000 birds in 125 species were counted. Special thanks to Jeff Jones, Landfill Manager, who greatly assisted our team at the landfill. See the results in Microsoft Excel format or in Microsoft Works format.

December 31, 2009. January meeting set.

The next meeting will be on January 20th and will feature Mr. Michael Brothers, Director of the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet. Dr. Brothers will discuss the Natural History of East Central Florida.

Dec 31, 2009. We wish you all a Happy and healthy 2010.

Dec 22, 2009. Christmas Bird Count.

Our annual CBC will be held on January 2nd. If you would like to participate, please contact Gail Domroski or show up at the Brannon Center at 7:00 a.m. for team assignment.

Dec 22, 2009. Minutes of last meeting are on line.

Read them here.

Dec 22, 2009. Volusia Shorebird Partnership.

An organizational meeting of varous parties and government agencies interested in protecting nesting and resting shorebirds was held on 12 Dec 09. The minutes of the meeting are here.

Dec 4, 2009. The eSkimmer is on line.

Read it here.

Dec 1, 2009. Atlantic Flyway Initiative.

National Audubon is concerned about the loss of habitat from global climate change and rampant development along the Eastern Seabord. As a result, they are initiating a grass-roots, science-based program to map and protect important areas for birds and other animals, with emphasis on those that migrate seasonally. For more information, read the Atlantic Flyway Initiative document.

Dec 1, 2009. December meeting set.

The December meeting will be held on Wednesday, Dec 16. Our speaker will be Gary Knight, Director of the Florida Natural Areas Inventory.

Dec 1, 2009. Good news on Farmton!

The Farmton project for Brevard County was denied by the DCA with many of the same reasons we had. They will now take up the Volusia County part and are expected to decide by Dec. 24.

Nov 18, 2009. Letter to DCA on Farmton.

The Farmton project sailed throught the Edgewater City Council and the Volusia County Commission. Here is our letter to the Florida Department of Community Affairs denouncing the project.

Nov 18, 2009. November meeting minutes and presentation.

The November meeting minutes are on line. Dr Mosher, meteorologist and Prof at Embry-Riddle University gave an engaging and technical presentation on global climate change. A pdf version of his presentation is here. It is 13Mb, so a broadband connection is useful for the download.

Nov 16, 2009. Lee Bidgood elected Conservation Chair Emeritus.

In recognition of his past service to the club and the environmental community, Lee Bidgood has been elected to the post of Conservation Chair Emeritus. Congratulations, and thanks for all you have done and will continue to do.

Nov 6, 2009. The November eSkimmer is on line.

Read it here.

Nov 6, 2009. Climate change the subject of the November meeting.

Our guest speaker will be Fred Mosher, Ph.D., a meteorologist for the last 30 years and now Assistant Professor at Embry-Riddle University. For more about his background and his topic, click here.

Oct 12, 2009. The October eSkimmer is on line.

Read it here.

Sep 26, 2009. Club supports National Estuary Day.

On Saturday, the club celebrated the National Estuary Day by participating in an event sponsored by the Marine Discovery Center at their facility in NSB. Dick, Gail, Fern and Don manned a booth and had conversations with lots of people hoping to engage them in our organization’s pursuits. Dick’s son, Richard, made a banner for our booth. Mayor Sally McKay read a proclamation from the City of NSB proclaiming the necessity of preserving and protecting the Indian River Lagoon as one of the most diverse estuaries in the country and a nursery for the ocean. She also graced our booth with her presence. Click the image for a larger view.

Sep 25, 2009. September meeting minutes posted online.

The minutes will no longer be read at the meetings in order to shorten the length of the business meeting. Check out the September meeting minutes
to see what you missed. It is a Microsoft Word .doc file.

Sep 11, 2009. September eSkimmer is online.

Sep 7, 2009. Announcement of Meetings.

The first meeting of the season will be on the 16th of September at the Edgewater Library at 7 p.m. NOTE the change. Meetings will be on the third Wednesday of the month this year. Meeting nights and presenters are on the Meetings page. Some of them are already posted. Field trips will be posted shortly. Join us in educational and engaging events.

Aug 9, 2009. Tell us your birding stories.

Our hosting service provides the capability to use the blog on our site. I am using it as a forum for members to tell their birding stories. It is live and there are stories from Ken and me. It allows pictures and movies too. So please send me your stories and I will post them. You can see it by clicking the Birding Story blog in the menu at the left.

Aug 9, 2009. Old stuff archived.

The site was getting a little long so I decided to cut it off and archive the old stuff. You can find it by clicking the News Archives link on the menu bar.

Jun 2, 2009. Plovers at Smyrna Dunes Park.

The Wilson's Plovers at Smyrna Dunes Park are apparently doing quite well. We saw two today, one female and the other is believed to be a juvenile. Check out the video clip. Note: It is a Quick Time movie and about 4 Mb. Let me know how it worked for you.

Jun 2, 2009. Myrtle Avenue Park butterfly garden.

Remember the Myrtle Avenue Park butterfly garden? We had our last meting of the year at the NSB Middle School. It is the Science Club, under the direction of teacher Barbara Hawes who will be doing it. Ray Jarrett from the State Dept of Agriculture attended and provided some great insight to the students on the way ahead. We will start planting in the fall when the students return to classes. All the approvals have been obtained.

May 19, 2009. Spring Migratory Bird Count results.

The Spring count was held on the 9th of May. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors. The participants counted 3812 birds from 89 species. Our thanks to all who participated. To see the tally sheet, click here.

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