Graceful Swallow-tailed Kites can be seen swooping and gliding across the sky this month. These beautiful birds of prey started arriving in South Florida in February. Everglades National Park is an excellent place to search for them, especially now when the bulk of the population arrives. Photo by Federico Acevedo
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March is a month of transition for South Florida’s colorful bird community: Many of our winter visitors will depart for their breeding grounds, while a few spring migrants and summer breeders will just be arriving. Our region’s waterfowl diversity decreases dramatically during March, with only a few wintering duck species lingering into April. Many species who overwinter in our woodland and wetland habitats also depart this month, including common birds, such as Eastern Phoebe, and less frequently encountered species such as Lesser Nighthawk, Eastern Whip-poor-will, Least and Brown-crested Flycatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Robin, Lincoln’s Sparrow and Orange-crowned and Wilson’s Warblers.
Though a few Florida summer breeders, such as Chuck-wills-widow, Black-necked Stilt, Barn Swallow and Louisiana Waterthrush, may also winter here in small numbers, their populations become more conspicuous in March with the arrival of birds who winter farther south. Other summer breeders, including Chimney Swift, Eastern and Gray Kingbird, Red-eyed and Black-whiskered Vireo. and Prothonotary Warbler, rarely, if ever, winter here, so their arrival this month will provide the first opportunity since fall to see them.
Most spring migrants won’t pass through our parts until April, so more on that next month. Meanwhile, you can keep up with the latest sightings and share your bird photos on our TAS Bird Board, located on Facebook and our website.
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Brian Rapoza
Tropical Audubon Society Field Trip Coordinator
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NEW DATES!
Bird the Ruins of Mexico's Yucatán
January 20-30, 2022
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The Mexican Sheartail is one of the many colorful species you may spot on this trip. Photo by Alexander Dzib
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Pack your binoculars and embark on an intense, 11-day, 10-night birding adventure to the environmentally diverse Yucatán Peninsula. Led by TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza, and a local guide, you’ll witness native birds soar above the breathtaking Hochob, Becán, Chacchoben and Uxmal ruins, as well as other archaeological sites of interest on this extraordinary journey through the Mayan world.
Note: The new date is January 20-30, 2022. To view a detailed itinerary, click here. Email Brian Rapoza, TAS Field Trip Coordinator for additional information.
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TAS urges US Air Force to reject commercial aviation at Homestead Air Base! |
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Miami-Dade County’s efforts to secure the use of federal lands at HARB for aviation–related economic development poses a significant threat to Everglades Restoration. Photo: Luis Falcon
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Together with other environmental advocacy groups, TAS is urging the U.S. Air Force to reject Miami-Dade County’s overtures to enter into a Joint Use Agreement allowing the county to conduct aviation operations at the Homestead Air Reserve Base (HARB).
In a February 19 letter to Robert E. Moriarty, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, TAS and its conservation partners state they have watched with concern the county’s recent efforts to use the HARB facility for industrial purposes, and that it is clear that opening up HARB to the county is likely to lead to the kinds of intensive uses, including commercial cargo operations, that the Air Force wisely prohibited decades ago. Our conservation coalition asks the Air Force to reject the county’s current request to jointly use the aviation facilities at HARB, and affirm its prior decision to prohibit any airport uses by the county.
Miami-Dade County’s efforts to secure the use of federal lands at HARB for aviation–related economic development poses a significant threat to restoration of Biscayne Bay and the Everglades. TAS and our conservation coalition stand firmly opposed to this backsliding and urges the Air Force to uphold its 2001 Record of Decision, thereby standing up for the federal interests and rejecting the county’s current, continued and future efforts to compromise the protection, restoration and enjoyment of these irreplaceable natural assets.
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Robert Cooper Welsh
1953-2021
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Robert Cooper Welsh, aka "Bicycle Bob," South Miami vice mayor and self-appointed Dade County Pine propagator died of cancer on February 23 at age 67. Aside from his use of a bicycle as his main mode of transport, he was best known for growing and distributing Dade County Pine saplings to anyone willing to help repopulate our region with the indigenous conifer that has been nearly vanquished by development.
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Bird-friendly Gardening Day
Saturday, March 20, 9am-Noon
RSVP Required
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A Northern Parula (top photo) and a Black-and-white Warbler (above), forage in a live oak tree at our Steinberg Nature Center campus. The native live oak is home to hundreds of species of caterpillars and other insects, and attracts a host of insect-gleaning birds, including warblers and tanagers. Photos by Federico Acevedo.
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Do you have a green thumb, or wish to learn more about native plants for birds? You are invited take part in maintaining our Bird-Friendly Demonstration Garden at our Steinberg Nature Center campus! Get hands-on experience creating wildlife habitat. The knowledge and skills you gain will enable you to establish a bird-friendly garden in your own yard or patio — interested participants MUST RSVP to Amy at volunteer@tropicalaudubon.org
Please note that only a limited number of volunteers can be accommodated, and that volunteers will be required to wear a mask and adhere to our gathering guidelines.
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Announcing 2021 Audubon Photography Awards —
featuring two new prize categories!
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You’re crazy about birds and photography, right? Combine your dual passions by entering your best bird photos in the 2021 Audubon Photography Awards. This year's competition features two new categories: the Female Bird Prize and Video Prize. Submit your entry by April 7, 2021. Read more for more information on judges, categories, prizes and rules.
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Above: Our Pine Rockland preserve is now flourishing following its major restoration by IRC. Photo: Federico Acevedo
Below: IRC crew member Christian Bartell (left) and IRC Ecological Restoration Crew Leader Alex Seasholtz.
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... the Institute for Regional Conservation (IRC) for its invaluable assistance with the restoration of our globally imperiled Pine Rockland preserve. Under the direction of TAS Advisory Board member and IRC President George Gann, a crew of IRC specialists cut and removed invasive plants and trees choking out the native flora of the unique South Florida habitat. In the months since the initial work was done, rare plant species, whose seeds were dormant in the oolitic limestone soil, have emerged anew, including the federally endangered Crenulate lead plant and state-endangered Havana skullcap.
TAS’s Pine Rockland preserve, comprised of a small stand of mature South Florida Slash Pine now readily seen at the corner of Sunset Drive and S.W. 55th Avenue, is among the few remaining remnants of the rapidly disappearing habitat that once covered large swaths of Miami-Dade County. With its understory overrun by exotics and invasive plant species, the parcel was due for intensive restoration. The work included the removal of invasive Rosary Pea and Air Potato vines that were preventing precious sunlight from filtering to the native flora that should inhabit the forest's rock floor. The IRC crew also removed or reoriented native Hardwood Hammock plants that don’t naturally belong in a Pine Rockland habitat, including Gumbo Limbo and Mahogany trees.
Sunlight has now given new life to our patch of natural Pine Rockland, allowing it to once again flourish. It was a Herculean task that could not have been accomplished without the expertise of IRC. In addition to habitat restoration and maintenance work, the IRC team also recreates Pine Rockland from the ground up in places where it once naturally existed for both private clients and public partners.
More about the IRC:
The IRC, a private non-profit organization, is dedicated to the protection, restoration, and long-term management of biodiversity on a regional basis, and to the prevention of regional extinctions of rare plants, animals and ecosystems. IRC works on conservation research and action throughout South Florida, the Caribbean and beyond. Their work is premised on an innovative idea of conservation that seeks to protect and restore viable populations of all plant and animal species within a region, rather than simply focusing on charismatic animals or plants with narrow global ranges.
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