The Limpkin Times

Apalachee Audubon Society Mission Statement:

Protecting the rich biodiversity of the Florida Panhandle through education, appreciation, and conservation.

September 19, 2023

Trouble Seeing This Email? View Online

 In this Issue:

Chapter Programs at FSU's King Life Sciences Building auditorium

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Our parking assignment for this year has been changed to the parking garage. See information below.

• Thurs. Sept. 21 Grateful for Dead: The Importance of Dead Plants for Wildlife, with Mark Tancig
• Thurs. Oct. 19 Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther, with Craig Pittman
• Thurs. Nov. 16 Exploring Costa Rica Through Science, Culture and Photography, with Hays Cummins

President's Message

Chapter Outings

• Sat. Oct. 14, Guided Walk at Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park, with Michael Dayton
• Sat. Nov. 11, Guided Walk at Lafayette Heritage Trail Park, with Kristan Godbeer
• Sat. Dec. 2, Overwintering Ducks at St. Marks NWR, with Don Morrow

Chapter Programs

Programs will meet in person and via Zoom.

Zoom Program Registration Link: https://bit.ly/45woHJZ

Register early and you will receive a meeting reminder 24 hours before the meeting.

FSU's King Life Science Building

319 Stadium Drive, Tallahassee 32304 

NOTE: FSU has changed our parking arrangements. Please park in the Spirit Way parking garage on the second Floor and above.We will have people outside before the meeting directing program attendees to the correct location. 

Grateful for Dead: 

The Importance of Dead Plants for Wildlife

with Mark Tancig

Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023

In person social with coffee and snacks begins at 6:30 PM 

Announcements at 7:00 PM

Program begins at 7:15 PM

 Mark Tancig 

Plants can provide for wildlife and support the local ecosystem even when they’re dead! Learn how you can help wildlife in your yard by providing areas of dead vegetation, including tree snags, brush piles, and leaves. Leon County Extension Agent Mark Tancig will explain how we can help in our own yards.

Mark Tancig has been the Commercial & Residential Horticulture Extension Agent at the UF/IFAS Leon County Extension Office since 2016. In this role, Mark shares research-based best practices for sustainable landscape management with green-industry professionals and residential homeowners. Mark also coordinates the Leon County Master Gardener Volunteer Program.

Click for more information and Zoom registration

Check out our upcoming fall programs!

Thurs. Oct. 19 Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther, with journalist and author Craig Pittman

Thurs. Nov. 16 Exploring Costa Rica Through Science, Culture and Photography, with Hays Cummins

President's Message

Lights, Camera, Birding! This summer, board member Juli deGrummond was interviewed at Torreya State Park for a video that will be used by VISIT FLORIDA to promote birding in Florida. Jim Huffstodt tells the tale, with photos, in a blog on our website. Several AAS members were also present and video-recorded while birding. Click to read the blog.

The Pink Wave: I’m delighted to say that some of the Idalia flamingos were still being seen recently at St. Marks NWR and Pinky had been seen foraging and flying with them. (Water levels have changed at the refuge, so the flamingos have apparently gone elsewhere to forage.) And we weren’t the only area experiencing a pink invasion. The entire southeastern US has been seeing pink since Hurricane Idalia and flamingos have been sighted as far north as Ohio and Pennsylvania! Learn more about this phenomenon through a webinar given by Audubon Florida’s Director of Research Jerry Lorenz, PhD. Dr. Lorenz shares an eye-opening look at these iconic pink birds in Florida. From Hurricane Idalia to the 19th-century plume trade, Everglades restoration to new conservation technology, Dr. Lorenz showcased the home American Flamingos have in the Sunshine State.  Pinky and St. Marks are included in the presentation as well! Here’s the YouTube link: The Pink Wave: Flamingos and Florida.

Also, AAS member Karen Willes was recognized by National Audubon for her video of Pinky foraging at St. Marks. Check it out!

Audubon's 15 Favorite Videos From the 2023 Audubon Photography Awards

Happy Birding!

Kathleen Carr, President

Pinky (left) foraging with Coral (a name proposed by photographer Elizabeth E. George). Her smaller size most likely indicates that she's a female and that Pinky is a male.

Photo by Karen Willes.

Chapter Outings

Black and White Warbler, photo by Lia-Bocchiaro

Sat. Oct. 14, Guided Walk at Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park,

with Michael Dayton

7:00 - 10:30 AM

We will walk approximately 3-4 miles looking and listening for fall migrants. The trails are relatively easy but do have some topography and occur on natural terrain. 

Click for more information and to sign up for this trip.

Save the Date! Upcoming Field Trips

Sign up beginning in October

Sat. Nov. 11, Guided Walk at Lafayette Heritage Trail Park, with Kristan Godbeer.

Sat. Dec. 2, Overwintering Ducks at St. Marks NWR, with Don Morrow

Land Acknowledgement Statement

Apalachee Audubon acknowledges that the region it serves is located on the ancestral and traditional homelands of the Apalachee Indians of the Talimali Band, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. We pay respect to the resiliency of their tribal members, past and present, and to all Indigenous peoples. We encourage all to learn about the significance of Indigenous peoples in this region and throughout this continent.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS: 2023-2024

Officers

President: Kathleen Carr

Vice President: VACANT

Treasurer: Harvey Goldman

Secretary: James Carr

Directors

Cindy Baisden

Charlie Baisden

Kristin Cohea

Juli deGrummond

Kristan Godbeer

Ben Rangel

Rebecca Wall

Student Directors

Traysea Auger

Christian Watson-Kerr

STANDING COMMITTEE CHAIRS

OTHER COMMITTEES & CHAPTER ACTIVITIES