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In this Spring 2019 edition, we share some of our amazing volunteer projects including wading bird surveys, Florida State Fair, and blue bird box building. We also feature two of our FWC interns and their role in native species conservation. We're also excited to reveal our new Facebook page where we will be sharing volunteer opportunities and recognizing all the efforts of FWC volunteers in action!
- FWC Regional Volunteer Team
Wading bird breeding season
Top photo: Federally threatened wood stork. Photo by Andrea Pereyra, FWC. Bottom photo: State threatened tricolored heron. Photo by Natasha Warraich, FWC.
It’s that time of the year again! Wading bird nesting season is a time when we are lucky enough to observe wading birds displaying courtship behaviors and fluffy chicks frantically begging for food. Since December 2018, volunteers have assisted FWC staff with monthly wading bird surveys at active breeding sites, sites with courtship behavior, nest-building activities, eggs or young.
Armed with binoculars and data sheets, volunteers record the number of adults, nests, chicks and juvenile wading bird species they observe. These surveys primarily focus on species listed as State Threatened on Florida’s Endangered and Threatened Species List. In addition, volunteers also collect data for wood storks, great egrets, great blue herons and any other herons they observe.
If you enjoy observing wading birds, please remember to keep your distance to avoid flushing birds from active nests and to never enter prohibited areas.
FWC Volunteers, Arthur and Melissa Vercillo. Photo by Andrea Pereyra, FWC.
Like us on Facebook!
The Volunteer Program is excited to introduce our new Facebook page! We are looking forward to using this page to celebrate our volunteers and interns, give updates on volunteer projects across the state and let people know about upcoming events and volunteer opportunities. Please feel free to check us out by searching for FWC Volunteers on Facebook!
FWC interns
Christopher Gallon and Britney Park are FWC interns who have been conducting research projects in south Florida since early January.
Chris is evaluating the effectiveness of different types of traps for the capture and removal of invasive green iguanas from an area where the State Threatened burrowing owl and gopher tortoise are present. The importance of this project lies in what these three species have in common: they all shelter in burrows. FWC staff have observed green iguanas utilizing burrowing owl burrows and gopher tortoise burrows, sometimes forcing these imperiled species to abandon their burrows in search for a new home. Determining how to control the iguana population could help reduce the disturbance exerted on the burrowing owls and gopher tortoises.
Britney is surveying amphibians and reptiles in J. W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area and Hungryland Wildlife Environmental Area. The goal of this project is to produce a list of species present in the different natural communities as per Florida Natural Areas Inventory classification. Eighteen sampling sites, consisting of four artificial cover objects (ACO) and one PVC pipe trap each, are visited weekly. ACOs and PVC pipes are regularly used in herpetological surveys because they attract amphibians and reptiles because they trap moisture and provide shelter. Species observed are recorded, photographed and released onsite. In addition to these visits, a frog call count will be conducted this month to complement the visual encounter surveys.
Britney and Chris have assisted the FWC collecting important data while learning about Florida habitats, wildlife species and fieldwork techniques. Thank you Interns for your time, effort and motivation!
Top photo: Britney Park, FWC intern, and Andrea Pereyra, FWC staff, installing artificial cover objects in Corbett WMA. Middle photo: Britney Park, FWC Intern, by a PVC pipe trap. Bottom photo: Christopher Gallon, FWC intern, carrying a trap to capture green iguanas. FWC photos.
Citizen Science Association Conference
Sharon Tatem (Volunteer Program Manager), Logan McDonald (Northeast Region Volunteer Coordinator) and Emily Hardin (Northwest Region Volunteer Coordinator) participated in the 2019 Citizen Science Association Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. Logan and Emily were accepted as presenters to share best practices and projects that the FWC has implemented using volunteers and interns to enhance conservation programs within the agency. They had a wonderful time sharing and learning about other citizen science projects across the globe! The FWC Volunteer Program joined the newly formed CSA natural resources working group which includes partners such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, North Carolina Fish and Wildlife, the South Atlantic Fisheries Council and more.
Top photo: Emily Hardin, and bottom photo, Logan McDonald, FWC staff, presenting at the CSA conference.
Purple martins and bats!
A big thank you to a hard-working group of Eagle Scouts who recently constructed and donated purple martin houses and bat houses for Hungryland Wildlife Environmental Area (WEA)! Eagle Scouts built and installed three purple martin houses and six bat boxes within the WEA. FWC biologists hope the houses attract these desired wildlife and plan to monitor the structures to determine if purple martins and bats are using their respective man-made houses.
Eagle scouts preparing a purple martin house for installation. Photo by Jackie Gomar, FWC.
Eagle Scouts installing a bat house. Photo by Jackie Gomar, FWC.
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