Suncoast Shorebird Partnership – Fall Meeting 2015
October 6, 2015 @ Eckerd College
Attendees:
Amy Clifton, FWC
Beth Forys, Eckerd College
Carol Leonard, Coastal Wildlife Club
Dan Larremore, Florida Park Service/DEP
David Westmark, FWC Fisheries & Blue Turtle Society volunteer
Holley Short, Audubon Florida
Jim Wilson, Ft. Desoto State Park
John Hood, Clearwater Audubon
Joyce Kleen, USFWS
Kat Harris, FWC
Keri Ferenc Nelson, Sarasota County
Lorraine Margeson, 3D monitor for the USACE
Marianne Korosy, Audubon Florida
Nancy Douglass, FWC
Naomi Avissar, FWC
Natalie Leggette, City of South Pasadena
Pam Leasure, Pinellas County Park & Conservation Resources
Peter Plage, USFWS
Sid Crawford, Clearwater Audubon
Wilma Katz, Coastal Wildlife Club
Beth Forys, Black Skimmer talk:
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Started banded juvenile Black Skimmers to fill data gaps on movement and survival.
Banded from 4:30 AM to first light because it was safest for the birds and less populated on the beach
at St Pete Beach and Indian Shores colonies.
Waited until colonies didn’t have many eggs left (mostly chicks) and only captured chicks that went
outside of the colony posted area.
Banded chicks between 2.5-3 weeks old. Needed to time it when the leg was almost fully formed but
the chick was still flightless. Discovered that there was some sexual dimorphism (females smaller).
Total of 47 chicks banded.
All birds resighted at least once. Most birds average resighting 12 times.
Birds hatched (banded) at one colony found fledged at another colony; seem to move around locally
for a while, and some moved across the state (Dixie Co., Cocoa Beach). Black Skimmers are moving in
large numbers from Pinellas County down to Marco Island (about a third of the banded skimmers). One
was spotted in Stump Pass by Wilma Katz. Birds from both colonies are merged together in the same
flock at Marco.
Might be good to check with birders around phosphate mines to see if the birds are being seen there.
Might need to make another announcement for people to look for bands. (FSA Facebook page, Wrack
Line article, other birdwatching websites & groups?)
Suncoast Shorebird Partnership - Fall Meeting 2015
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They are getting great molt and plumage photos of juveniles that’s allowing us to better age them and
see how the bands are holding up.
Have another 50 bands to deploy next year.
Kat Harris, Florida Shorebird Database update:
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Regional and Statewide species highlights from 2015 (corrected presentation will be posted online)
Round-robin (successes, challenges, announcements):
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Carol Leonard reports the FSD is easier to use this year.
Naomi Avissar gave an update on the upcoming Winter Survey and International Piping Plover survey
in late January/early February- stay tuned for a Wrack Line announcement.
Over 15,000 readers of the Wrack Line!
Kat Harris will be helping with training and data entry along the Gulf next season.
Lorraine Margeson suggested getting the word out to Christmas Bird circles to report banded Black
Skimmers.
Jim Wilson reports that Shell Key has accreted. Coastal Managers from Pinellas Co. support Ft. Desoto’s
plan for “strategic retreat” (no re-nourishment or interference with sea level rise). Outback Key is now
state land until it reattaches to the Ft. Desoto Park and then will be managed by the park again. There
are not a lot of predators so the birds were successful despite boaters and human disturbance. The
large Least Tern colony was good at defending itself. No federal money for new beach renourishment
projects (though established projects are still eligible) so Jim predicts we will see private property
owners contracting their own beach nourishment. West part of Shell key has eroded and they saw a
25% reduction in sea turtle nests. Pam Leasure reports 60 pairs of Least Terns began nesting on Shell
Key; suspects that night herons depredated them. Property owners are getting vocal against posting.
Pam reports that we can’t get enough patrols out there; sheriff’s department cut staff again. David
Westmark found regular coyote paths through the area where the terns were colonizing.
Dan Larremore also reports erosion on Honeymoon Island but they are re-nourishing. There’s
conversation about dredging Hurricane Pass and Honeymoon would be a recipient site for the new
sand. Doesn’t expect skimmers or Least Terns because of the raccoons. Least Terns on Caladesi
abandoned within a week of posting.
Egmont Key was also renourished but half the new sand is gone already.
Brevard Co. is grinding glass to use as “sand” because they don’t have any borrow sites.
John Hood reported lots of Laughing Gulls, Royal Terns, and a few Caspian Terns at Three Rooker Bar.
Dan reports an average season. Most nesting was done by the time storms came in July. Three Rooker
Bar is now separated into 2 different islands and it is moving landward. Honeymoon and Caladesi
Island have a bad combination of people and raccoons. Willets and Wilson’s Plovers do ok there
because they’re more cryptic. American Oystercatchers did ok this year, whereas last year no chicks
were seen. North Anclote had Least Tern eggs but it was flooded 2-3 times. No American
Oystercatchers or Wilson’s Plovers there this year. It was a big staging area. Hard to regulate there,
even though FWC Law Enforcement regularly patrolled it. Talked about developing a predator control
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Suncoast Shorebird Partnership - Fall Meeting 2015
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plan. Jim Wilson recommended contracting USDA. Seatow is still on the island but they haven’t had any
photos of them coming on shore. In the past, the FL number on the boat allowed them to track down
the boat owner and ask him to keep dogs off island.
Nancy Douglass reports that predator control is high on FWC’s radar. The Atlantic Flyway Shorebird
Initiative (a planning process that determines where grant funding goes) is looking for pilot projects to
do predator control along the coast to protect shorebirds. There is another National Fish & Wildlife
Foundation grant application looking for funding to control predators for sea turtle and shorebird nests
holistically.
Wilma Katz thinks it’s important that turtle folks and shorebird folks coordinate and get on the same
page regarding predator control. She thinks there’s a data gap in turtle database about predators. Jim
Wilson recommends sending field notes to FWC turtle team to let them know about predation at more
than just the index sites, in addition to using their database.
Natalie Leggette reports that they fledged 2 night herons. S. Pasadena roof had nothing.
Holley Short reported that 180 Black Skimmer chicks fledged on Lido Key! Most were feathered by 4th
of July. Siesta Key 2 of 23 nesting attempts hatched and only 2 chicks fledged (multiple causes of failure
including crows, bobcat). Only 1 failure due to human intrusion (someone walked through the colony,
under the rope of the posted area). Stewards were great! Marianne Korosy added that Holley did a
great job recruiting more than 50 stewards! Nancy said that we used to have problem with vandalism,
and we even had Law Enforcement staking the area out and never found a suspect. Glad to see it
wasn’t a problem this year.
Group reported that drones and Chinese lanterns were out of control, especially during the 4th of July.
Jim Wilson said you can’t fly drones off of state conservation lands but it can be hard to enforce. Holley
saw that a giant eagle-shaped model was flown over the Lido Beach skimmer colony and flushed all the
birds, so she talked to the owner and he stopped.
Joyce Kleen reported 42 Black Skimmer chicks hatched, but thinks there were about 70 others. Pair of
American Oystercatchers nested within skimmer colony but were not successful this year because they
kept chasing skimmers off their nest and lost the nest to fish crows. Passage Key was visited by Barb
and Dave Howard- 1 American Oystercatcher nest high up on mound (not overwashed). Also found 50
Laughing Gulls, 25 Royal Terns, 25 Sandwich Terns, 1 Least Tern (no nesting confirmed but even if they
nested, they got overwashed). Closed year-round but signs disappear during storms; will be posted
every year that it exists.
Lorraine Margeson trying to convince USACE about the importance of spoil islands. Because of erosion
and sea level rise, she thinks we should be connecting better with the ports, planning in advance to
create and monitor spoil islands. Need artificial habitat. Spoil islands are federally protected lands that
no one can go on, so they would be perfect for drawing in nesting birds.
Marianne Korosy reports that on east coast, Northeast Florida, and in Tampa Bay staff are monitoring
spoil islands (e.g., Mark Rachal, Ann Paul, Chris Farrell, et al.).
Lorraine Margeson thinks we should make sure that the birds can’t nest on the Kees roof again. She is
willing to go to termite companies to see if they could donate a tent to keep birds from scraping. Nancy
Douglass said that the property owner told us that she will get back to us after the 1st of the year about
working with FWC to prevent birds from nesting or install chick fencing on the roof in 2016. Lorraine
thinks the FWC biologists should follow up with the owners and make sure they’re following through.
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Suncoast Shorebird Partnership - Fall Meeting 2015
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David Westmark announced that the sea turtle permit holders guidelines are under revision and
there’s a comment period right now. Encourages the bird people to comment on the guidelines. The
Marine Turtle Permit Holder Guideline draft revisions may be found here (on the right side of the
page): http://www.myfwc.com/license/wildlife/marine-turtle-permit/. The beach nesting bird part is
found in Section 2 (pages 2-11 to 2-12 are most relevant, but the entire section may be interesting to
birders). Comments can also be directed to MTPRule@myfwc.com. There will be another comment
period after the commission approves the draft and sends it to rule-making.
Peter Plage is involved in FWS process of designating Red Knot critical habitat. He will be coordinating
the Gulf side of the Winter Piping Plover and Shorebird Survey. Winter section of the FSD is on hold, so
until then, USFWS is compiling the data. Has good coverage from Anna Maria and Longboat, Holley
Short is doing surveys occasionally at Caladesi, Fred Howard, 3RB, Reddington Shores, Sand Key,
Outback Key. Pete is unsure if anyone is doing regular nonbreeding surveys. Permit conditions require
people to survey for birds 1 year before project and two years after project. There are some areas with
great coverage, but they are hoping to get surveys even from areas that don’t get a lot of birds. Pete
would like to know which beaches do not have Red Knots using them. Recommends surveys twice a
month.
Next steps:
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Minutes and corrected presentation will be posted on FSA website.
Spring 2016 meeting will be on Tuesday, March 1 @ 1-3pm.
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