Colonial Waterbird Nesting
Egmont Key National Wildlife
Refuge/ State Park
Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries Program
• a Globally Significant Important Bird Area, BirdLife International & the National
Audubon Society
• Important Bird Area of Florida, Audubon of Florida
• One of 7 most important sites for beach-nesting birds in Florida, Florida Fish &
Wildlife Conservation Commission
Probably the largest
nesting colony of Brown
Pelicans in Florida in
2008
942 pairs observed on
5/ 28/ 08 survey
Apparently very
productive colony
60 large chicks
observed 5/ 28/ 08
Nest productivity
2008:
1.25 chicks/ nest
Small heronry
Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy
Egrets, and Black-crowned NightHerons
Growing White Ibis nesting colony
Estimated at about 200 pairs in Spring
2008
Snowy Plovers have been documented nesting on Egmont in the past, but not in
surveys since 2004
Three to five pairs of American Oystercatchers every year
American Oystercatcher chick and siblings, nest scrape on Egmont Key
Nests/ pairs
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Royal Terns
2,400
2,565
1,947
4,150
5,572
528
664
945
1,144
Sandwich Terns 285
135 pairs of Least Terns in 2007
Black Skimmers:
• 2004, 109 pairs
• 2005, 125 pairs
• 2006, 12 pairs
• 2007, 220 pairs
• 2008, 165 pairs
Questions?
Florida Coastal I slands Sanctuaries Program
American Oystercatcher chick
Ann B. Hodgson, Ph.D.,
Gulf Coast Ecosystem Science Coordinator
Ann F. Paul,
Tampa Bay Regional Coordinator
Mark Rachal,
Field Biologist
410 Ware Boulevard, Suite 702
Tampa, FL 33619
813813-623623-6826, 813813-623623-4086 Fax
813813-376376-8663 Field Phone