Conservation Biology of the Imperiled Southeastern American Kestrel in Florida, with Speaker Ken Meyer

Socializing: 6:45 p.m.

Meeting starts: 7 p.m.

Program starts: 7:15 p.m.

About the presentation: Hear about the research and outreach efforts of Avian Research and Conservation Institute (ARCI) and their Audubon partners to inform the management and conservation of our declining population of this small-but-spectacular raptor. Learn how we all can contribute to protecting these inspiring birds while also helping to ensure the future for other fascinating species that depend on similar prey and habitats. 

About the speaker:  Ken Meyer is Executive Director of Avian Research and Conservation Institute. Dr. Meyer, who received his B.S. in Zoology from the University of Maine and his Ph.D. in Zoology/Behavioral Ecology from the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), has studied the conservation biology of birds in Florida and beyond since the 1980s, beginning with his research on Swallow-tailed Kites, which continues to this day. After serving as a Post-doctoral Associate and then Research Associate at the University of Florida from 1988 to 1992, he conducted studies of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and the bird communities of south Florida pinelands for the National Park Service in Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park. In 1997, Ken co-founded ARCI and soon branched out to other research challenges on a broader range of species. He has served on species status-review committees for state agencies and biological review panels for National Wildlife Refuges; and as a graduate student advisor and committee member in his position as an adjunct Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida. Ken, who received a Partners in Flight Research Award for his contributions to bird conservation, provides frequent university guest lectures, conducts training workshops for conservation professionals, and presents many programs each year to citizen conservation groups on ARCI’s research and its implications for bird conservation. He feels very fortunate that, in his many roles for ARCI, he seems to have found the best of many professional worlds.

Birds Do It, Bees Do It – Migrate, of Course, with Speaker Mary Keith

Socializing: 6:45 p.m.

Meeting starts: 7 p.m.

Program starts: 7:15 p.m.

About the presentation: Mary will discuss why, where, and when birds migrate. She will also explain how we are finding out so much more about migration, and how birds know where they are going.

About the speaker: Mary Keith has been birding most of her life. She grew up in rural Pennsylvania where she spent most weekends in the state parks and woods. She has lived and birded in Florida since 1992. Her degrees have nothing to do with birds (Chemistry and Food Science), but they have supported a life of work around the world where she managed to watch birds as well. She retired from the University of Florida Extension Service and now has more time to lead bird walks for the Tampa Audubon Society (TAS), watch birds, monitor Bald Eagle nests and wading bird colonies, count Florida Scrub Jays, help organize the Florida Birding and Nature Festival, and participate in Christmas Bird Counts. She gives talks to various groups around the area about birds and birding, including helping with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program that TAS teaches annually. She has served as a mentor for Audubon Florida’s Conservation Leadership Initiative, and worked with several local university students or projects. She was president of TAS and currently is serving as the organization’s chair of the Conservation Committee. In 2023 she was elected to the Board of Directors for Audubon Florida as a regional representative for the Gulf Coast region.

What’s Happening to Our Breeding Birds, with Speaker Dave Goodwin

Socializing: 6:45 p.m.

Meeting starts: 7 p.m.

Program starts: 7:15 p.m.

About the presentation: We will discuss what has happened to the populations of breeding birds in Florida over the past thirty years. We will look at changes in both the range and estimated population size.

About the speaker: Dave was born in Greenville, South Carolina, but in 1954 his family moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. In 1965, while still in high school, he began keeping a life list of birds he had seen.

Dave is a founding member and two-term past president of the Florida Ornithological Society (FOS). He was Regional Coordinator for both Florida Breeding Bird Atlas Projects. He was on the FOS Records Committee for seven years. He also served for four years as president of the St. Petersburg Audubon Society. Dave has participated in over 320 Christmas Bird Counts in Florida since 1971. He started and compiled the North Pinellas Count for 10 years. He has participated in the St. Petersburg Christmas Bird Count for 53 consecutive years.

Over the past 50 years he has led hundreds of field trips for Audubon chapters, the Florida Ornithological Society, the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, the Florida Birding and Nature Festival, the Big "O" Birding Festival, and the Wings and Wildflower Festival. He also led many trips for Florida Nature Tours. He participated in or led over 130 pelagic trips into Florida waters, including 30 years to Dry Tortugas. Dave has birded throughout the US, the Caribbean, and Europe, and has a Lower 48 ABA area life list of 720 species. The 492 species on his Florida life list ranks him at number 3. 

Dave is a retired teacher, having taught history for 39 years in the public school system in Pinellas County, Florida. He also is an environmental educator for the Summer Nature Camp program at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in St. Petersburg.

Seagrass, Water Quality, and the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve with Speaker Savanna Barry

Socializing: 6:45 p.m.

Meeting starts: 7 p.m.

Program starts: 7:15 p.m.

About the presentation: Dr. Savanna Barry will cover background information about the designation of the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve and how Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the University of Florida collaborated with community stakeholders to draft the management plan. She will also cover information about the ongoing monitoring programs focused on water quality and seagrasses, as well as highlight some of the current science around seagrass ecology and conservation in the region.

About the speaker: Savanna grew up on a small farm in central Virginia and discovered her interest in marine ecology during family vacations to small fishing towns along the Chesapeake Bay. After earning her B.S. in Biology from the University of Virginia, Savanna split her time between Gainesville, FL and Little Cayman Island to earn her M.S. in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences through the University of Florida. Her M.S. research focused on seagrasses but she was also involved in youth education and public outreach on the island. While in Little Cayman, Savanna completed her Divemaster certification and co-organized an island-wide effort to remove invasive lionfish from local coral reefs. She returned to Gainesville to continue into a Ph.D. program at the University of Florida. Savanna Barry did her dissertation work in the beautiful seagrass meadows of the southern Nature Coast where she investigated the morphology, resilience, invertebrate community composition, and carbon storage of seagrass meadows growing under different rates of nutrient input. Savanna began serving the Nature Coast as a Regional Specialized Agent with Sea Grant and UF/IFAS Extension in February 2016 and is stationed full time at the Nature Coast Biological Station.

Pot Luck Dinner and Members' Favorite Photos

Dinner starts at: 6 p.m.

Program starts: 7:00 p.m.

There will be a pot luck dinner. Bring your own place setting plus a side dish to share.

During a PowerPoint presentation, members will show off their favorite pictures that they have taken during the last year.

To have your pictures included in the program, please send 15 pictures or fewer to Bev:

bevalhansen@gmail.com or 352-686-0460

Swallowtails to Skippers: the Butterflies of Hernando County, with Speaker Don Fraser

Socializing: 6:45 p.m.

Meeting starts: 7 p.m.

Program starts: 7:15 p.m.

About the presentation: The presentation will discuss most of the butterfly species known to still occur in Hernando County, grouped by each of the five families of butterflies found here. It will point out characteristics to differentiate among similar-looking species, and provide life history information on the habitat preferences and general distribution of some of the butterflies found in central Florida, including several very rare ones. Recommendations on resource material for when and where to find butterflies will be provided, as well as tips on how to observe, photograph, and identify them, including field guides and available on-line data sources.

About the speaker: Don Fraser is a retired wildlife biologist who lives in Dunedin. Until he moved to Florida in 2013, he lived and worked in Ontario, Canada, where he first developed what became a life-long love of natural history -- particularly birds -- in his teens. What began as a weekend hobby soon morphed into a full-scale obsession and eventually developed into a vocation, as Don parlayed his passion for wildlife into a long career in environmental consulting. His recent move to Florida has allowed Don to once again return to the hobby side of birding and butterfly study. He is an avid wildlife photographer and has shared over 10,000 observations of fauna on iNaturalist. He has observed over 130 species of butterflies in Florida; over 50% of these have been documented in Pasco and Hernando counties. 

Living with Wildlife, with Speaker Heather LeBlanc

Socializing: 6:45 p.m.

Meeting starts: 7 p.m.

Program starts: 7:15 p.m.

About the presentation: Join Heather from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Assistance Program for a talk about Living with Wildlife. From bears and coyotes to snakes and raccoons, she will discuss different species of local wildlife, ways to find sustainable resolutions to conflict, and strategies to coexist with native wildlife. 

About the speaker: Heather LeBlanc received her B.S. in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida in 2017. She then completed her M.S. in Veterinary Medical Sciences with a concentration in wildlife science, also from UF in 2019. She started her career as a zoo educator and has worked throughout the years in zookeeping, wildlife research, and wildlife rehabilitation. She currently works for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Assistance Program educating Florida residents who are experiencing conflict with local wildlife on how to live successfully with our native species.