FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 16, 2015
BANDED SPOONBILL AMONG HIGHLIGHTS OF NAPLES CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT
~Bird spotted wading was last tracked in Florida in June 2007~
NAPLES – Research staff with
Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve recorded a
banded roseate spoonbill while conducting the annual Naples Audubon
Christmas bird count by boat between Naples and Marco Island on Dec. 26,
2014.
The faded red metal band on the spoonbill's upper left leg was
seen as the bird was feeding among the mangroves lining the Rookery Bay
backwaters. Bands are color-coded in accordance with the location at which they were banded. There are also letters inscribed on the bands to differentiate species.
“I've looked at
hundreds...maybe even thousands of spoonbill legs over the past ten years and
this is the first one I've found with a band," said Beverly Anderson,
Rookery Bay biologist. "Using binoculars, I was able to make out CV
inscribed on it."
Anderson contacted the Florida Audubon research center in Tavernier and
learned the bird was banded by Audubon
scientists as a chick at the Alafia wading bird colony near Tampa
Bay on April 25, 2007. It was last reported from Alafia on June
21, 2007 and has not been reported again until now.
“Re-sightings of banded
individuals help us better understand where birds disperse to find feeding
grounds, as well as the age at which they mature and their longevity,” said
Tavernier Research Center Manager Peter Frezza.
Other Naples Christmas count highlights were three peregrine falcons, two
common loons and six northern gannets.
Frezza is presenting his work on spoonbills as the keynote
presenter at the Southwest Florida Nature Festival at Rookery Bay Reserve on
Saturday, Jan. 17. For more information about the festival, click here.
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