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.

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

Get 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.

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.

Jun 2, 2009.  Myrtle Avenue Park butterfly garden.

May 19, 2009.  Spring Migratory Bird Count results.

Apr 2, 2009.  Venue change for next year's meetings.

Apr 1, 2009.  Field trip schedule for next month.

Apr 1, 2009.  Bird Migration Workshop.

Join birding enthusiasts Jeff Bouton, Monique Borboen, Roger Clark and Dr. Ken Meyer as they provide insight on the where, when and how of bird migration!  This exciting event is scheduled for Wednesday, April 22 at the Center for Marine Studies located at Whitney Lab in St. Augustine, Florida.            
This event is a fundraiser for St. Johns County Audubon Society.  Look here
for more information.

Mar 27, 2009.  The April eSkimmer is online.  

Check it out here.

 Mar 15, 2009.  Great sighting during the Lake Ashby trip.

We had a great field trip to Lake Ashby.  It started with a large group of Cedar Waxwings seen from the parking lot.  One of the park maintenance staff showed us the location of two three-week old Barred Owl chicks.  That was definitely the highlight of the day.  Check out my pics of the owls here.

  Mar 10, 2009.  Smyrna Dunes Park festival.

There was an interesting event at the Smyrna Dunes Park a couple of weeks ago.  It was a ribbon cutting ceremony highlighting the new rules for dogs using the boardwalk and including dog-related activities.  At the end of the event, we conducted a bird walk of the park.  Mayor McKay graced our booth with her presence.  See my report along with a picture of the mayor and her dog at our booth.  You can also see the email that I sent to Joe Nolin thanking him for the progress on protected nesting and resting shorebirds and giving suggestions on other things that still need to be done.  A special thanks to Nancy and all the other folks who participated.

Feb 25, 2009.  March eSkimmer is online.  

Check it out here.

Feb 15, 2009.  SEVAS to participate in Smyrna Dunes Festival.

The club will participate in a festival sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Dunes Park on March 7, 2009.  We will have a booth and conduct at least one birding tour for visitors.  Admission to the park will be free on that day.  If you would like to assist, please contact Nancy. 

NOTE:  This will replace the field trip to Orlando Wetlands Park, originally scheduled for that day.

Jan 29, 2009.  The February eSkimmer is on line.

Get it here.  

Jan 28 2009.  Announcing the Great Backyard Bird Count for 2009.

The next big citizen science event of the year is the Great Backyard Bird Count February 13th through 16th.  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 or here.  

Jan 28, 2009.  February meeting details announced.

The February meeting will be held at the Edgewater library at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 4th.  Our speaker will be Dr. Gabriel Vargo, Associate Professor Emeritus at the College of Marine Science, University of South Florida and the Florida’s Seabird Ecological Assessment Network (SEANET) coordinator.  SEANET is a volunteer based program designed to provide information that can be used to assess threats to sea and shore birds and to the near shore ecosystem.  For Dr Vargo’s bio, click here. 

Come and bring friends.  SEANET would very much like to enlist some volunteers in Volusia County.  Remember – free cookies.

Jan 28, 2009.  Christmas Bird Count results posted.

One of the most important things we do as Auduboners is citizen science, and the biggest event of the year is the Christmas Bird count, which was just completed.  As we joined tens of thousands of other enthusiasts in counting and reporting birds, we participated in developing a huge database of information which scientists around the world can use to determine the health of bird populations and, indirectly, of our environment. 

All in all, Southeast Volusia Audubon volunteers reported over 38,000 individual birds covering 131 species.  Dick and Gail Domroski coordinated the our CBC and also compiled the data into the National Audubon database.  Our thanks to Dick and Gail for their hard work and to all the volunteers who gave their time and energy and gas to support this program.

For a summary of our efforts and those of the other Volusia and Flagler clubs, check out this link .

Jan 7, 2009.  The January 2009 eSkimmer is online.  

Check it out here.

Jan 7, 2009.  Happy New Year.

Your executive committee wishes you and your loved ones a happy and prosperous 2009.  Make a New Year's resolution to become more involved in the chapter's activities and conservation issues in general.