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INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Birding the Gulf Stream By: Don Ware


Conservation pg 2
Corner I returned from our January birding trip to NE Brazil
with 4997 species on my life list. The 5000th is a
Destin's Flamingo pg 2
big milestone for world birders, because then you
Birding cont.. pg 3 know you have found over half of the birds of the
Education Funds pg 3 world. In March Carol and I went to Nebraska with
Fun Things the Audubon group in Pensacola for the Sandhill
Crane spectacle, and there we watched Greater
To Do Outside pg 4
Prairie-Chickens and Sharp-tailed Grouse on
their breeding lek - # 4998 and 4999.
CALENDAR OF The closest new bird
EVENTS:
for me was then off
EVENTS
shore,so I registered
CAS monthly meetings are held the First Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM at for a pelagic trip off
NFSC Niceville Learning Resources Center (LRC), Room 128. Non members are Cape Hatteras on
welcome. August 8th.I offered
CAS Programs: my CAS friends a ride
to North Carolina if
Oct 2: Patrick Gault, Central Curator, Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge will bring they wanted to join me
animal ambassadors to share the mission of the Refuge; arranged by Thelma on the Stormy Petrel
Phillips. II, and Bob Penhollow
Nov 6: Elam S. Stoltzfus, cinematographer-Producer will present on filming nature; decided that would be
arranged by Nonie Maines. fun. He registered and
booked a motel for us
December 9: “Rare CBC Birds and the IBW Search" Celebrate the season
there on the 7th, and I
during our Christmas Party lakeside in DeFuniak Springs where local birding expert
arranged for us to stay
and CAS Bird Count Coordinator, Don Ware will show slides of birds that we may
see during the Christmas Bird Count and he’ll update us on the local IBW search.
with my daughter in
Conyers, GA on the
Field Trips and Bird Walks trip up and back. Our
Oct. 3: Eventure at 6:30 p.m. at Topsail State Park in Santa Rosa Beach. RSVP to Nonie at birding on the barrier
862-9588 island on August 7th
only netted us 35
Oct. 4-16: Fall Banding, Fort Morgan, AL species, but it was
Oct. 11: Destin Bridge area / Jetties Guided by Lenny Fenimore Meet under the bridge, good to explore that
west side at 7:30am historical place and
Nov. 7: Eventure at 5:00 p.m. at Oak Tree Nature Park in Mary Esther. RSVP to Nonie at make sure we knew
862-9588 where to get breakfast
at 5:30 the next
Nov. 8: Bird Walk - FWB area City Parks meet at Uptown Station 7:30 AM. morning before a 6 AM
December 15: Christmas Bird Count, to volunteer call Don M Ware 862-6582 departure, with a
February 13-16, 2009: CAS annual retreat, Port St Joe, watch website for more details. brown bag lunch.
Continued on page 3

CAS is dedicated to the protection of bird and wildlife habitat, environmental education, and a greater appreciation of NorthwestFlorida’snatural beauty.
Conservation Corner
By:Gary Parsons, Conservation Chair
The conservation committee has drafted a brochure that includes some 16 local birding sites.
Most of these are county and city parks and out of the way places where we go on our annual bird
counts. Our intent is that the brochure serve as a supplement to the Great Florida Birding Trail which
covers Gannon Park, Henderson Beach and some of the more popular areas though they may not be
especially important birding areas (IBAs). The brochure is in the hands of Dill Beaty, a local artist and
layout designer. Dill is securing quotes for the printing and design. We hope to get approval for
complete reimbursement from the Okaloosa and Walton TDCs for the project as it should be very
useful for visitors and residents.
Bob Penhollow and Gary Parsons attended the Okaloosa County Parks Advisory Committee
meeting in Crestview on 3 Sep. We want keep on top of recommendations from the committee to the
Commissioners relative to wildlife impacts. We are especially interested in the Okaloosa Island Park
(former par 3 golf course). This 15 acre park has great potential with fresh and brackish water
wetlands, dunes, bay beach and slash pine forest. The committee is very supportive of our involvement.
Native plantings could greatly enhance the attractiveness to wildlife and migrants and, at our
Conservation Committee meeting also on the 3rd; we approved a project to investigate the design and
completion of park improvements.
Don Ware and Gary attended a review of the draft EIS for the Eglin/Hurlburt housing construction.
This proposed privatization project has been moved away from Poquito Bayou either to upland
property or property previously developed for housing. As many in the audience stated,“They (Eglin
housing authorities) finally got it right”.
On the 15th of October Nonie Maines and Gary plan to attend the Panhandle Shorebird Working Group
Meeting in Panama City. This is a day long technical meeting that consolidates reports on the status of
shorebirds from Naples to Pensacola. We expect to get a nationwide report on the Snowy Plover.

Greater Flamingo at Destin!


By:Thelma Phillips
The phone rang early on Saturday morning of September 6th and soon I
heard Don Ware’s cheerful voice, “ There’s a flamingo at Holiday Isle
Pond. You want to go?” I was already on my feet and changing my
clothes when I said “Sure”. We stopped by Lois Gilman’s house and
invited her to join us. She was ready almost instantly and we were on
the road to Destin. Holiday Isle is private property and it was a little
difficult to get by the new guard at the gate, but Don wasn’t about to be
turned away and his persistence paid off. We were were thrilled to see
the first Greater Flamingo recorded in Okaloosa County. This adult bird
with worn plumage was feeding at the west end of the pond when we
arrived. It looked perfectly beautiful to us even though it obviously had
been beaten up by hurricane winds. Photo by Nick Tomecek
NW Florida Daily News
Continued from page 1.....Naturally, a small sub shop at the dock provides for the
early birders. There were 14 people who had paid Brian Patterson $145 for the 11-hour
trip across the Gulf Stream, and his local assistant, Kate, and a Nature Conservancy
expert, Dave, were quite helpful as spotters and in confirming or correcting our species
calls. The pelagic species tally was: 44 Black-capped Petrels (my 5000th species), 45
Cory's Shearwaters, 63 Wilson's Storm-Petrels, 14 Red-necked Phalaropes, 2 Sooty
Terns, and 5 Bridled Terns. We also counted one Common Tern, 3 Black Terns, lots of
Royal Terns, and 1 Great Blue Heron 30 miles off shore, heading west. He was really
lost. After docking we drove up to Pea Island Nature Preserve on the way to Manteo to
look for the Curlew Sandpiper that had been reported the day before, but the mosquitoes
almost carried us away as we ran back to the car. We logged only 47 species that day,
but they included my 5000th species and seven life birds for Bob. I consider that good
birding, and also more fun moments to remember.

Pictured above left: Don Ware and Bob Penhollow; right: Black-capped Petrel

Education funds needed for a life giving project!


By: Nonie Maines
After years of collecting road killed birds as a volunteer for Wildlife Rehabilitators
Partnership, I’ve found a taxidermist to bring them back to life! The cost to resuscitate
them will be about $100 a bird and there are 16, ranging from hawks to warblers.
Specimens will be permitted through Northwest Florida Wildlife Rehabilitators
Partnership and will be available to any Walton or Okaloosa educator to teach
identification and demonstrate the basics of bird evolution and adaptation. There are
many possibilities for display in between use. If you have additional ideas or would like
to donate to the bird specimen fund, please send your donations to CAS- P.O. Box 1014
FWB 32549.
fUN THINGS TO DO OUTSIDE:
Come join us for the fun at the annual ROY HYATT ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER
OPEN HOUSE in conjunction with the
Emerald Coast Volkssport Association’s “Trek Through the Trees”
Saturday, October 18, 2008, 8:00 am to 3:00 pm
This event is FREE to the public! RHEC will have the entire facility open to the public. Come
stroll through the butterfly garden, climb aboard the one-of-a-kind “Bird Bus” and do
some bird watching, walk our nature trail, see the endangered White-top pitcher plant,
meet our resident reptiles, tour the replica of a one-room school house and the replica of
a dog-trot farm house, visit our microscope lab, bird classroom, water pollution exhibit,
and more!
We will have interesting hourly presentations as well as information tables:
The Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida; The Department of Environmental Protection;
Francis M. Weston Audubon Society; Washington High School Marine Science Program;
Florida Turtle Conservation Trust; Diamondback Terrapin Working Group……and more!
There will be activities for the children: face painting, designing butterfly rings, making a
turtle shaker, drawing fingerprint animals, making pinecone owls, plus other fun activities!
Cantonment Rotary will be selling food!
“Trek through the Trees” t-shirts and RHEC t-shirts will be on sale!
There will be hourly door prizes!
“Trek Through the Trees” is a FREE 5k or 10k walk through the trails at the Roy Hyatt
Environmental Center. Walkers may register from 8:00 to 12:00. The trail closes at 3:00. This
event counts toward International Federation of Popular Sports (IVV) credit and is
sanctioned by the American Volkssport Association (AVA), sanction #81035.

Hi Birders and Nature Lovers,


As many of you may know, the first annual Forgotten Coast Black Bear Festival is going to be held in
Carrabelle on October 18th (for details visit http://www.carrabelle.org/bearfestival/). As part of the bear
fest, I will be leading a shorebird birding tour to McKissick Beach (a local hot spot). There is NO charge
for the tour, and it is limited to 15 participants. If you have any questions or to register for the bird tour,
contact me at alan.knothe@dep.state.fl.us or (850) 653-8063.
Alan Knothe
Education & Training Specialist Apalachicola Naional Estuarine Reserve

South Walton's Seventh Annual Back to Nature Festival: Our Welcome Night is Oct. 17 at Bud and Alley's in
Seaside starting at 7 pm. We will have a Native American flute ensemble, critters from the Emerald Coast
Wildlife Refuge, snack food and cash bar. Registration for Back to Nature events will be available. Many of
last year's Back to Nature events will be repeated and there will be many new ones. There will also be a
Family Fun Day at the Lyceum on Saturday, October 18, from 10-4. For more information visit:
http://www.sowal.com/bb/showthread.php?t=27534
President: Thelma Phillips
TCMagures@aol.com….........651.0508
Vice President: Carole Goodyear
carolegoodyear@msn.com….897-2666
Treasurer: Karen Newhouse
newhouse@earthlink.net….....897.3745
Recording Secretary: Kathy Tidwell
Mysty6266@aol.com..............651-5156
Corresponding Sec: SharonWeaver
slw243@cox.net…………….897.5464
Bird Count Coordinator:
Donald M. Ware…………....862.6582
donware@embarqmail.com
Conservation: Gary Parsons
parsonskg@cox.net ………....678-1461
Education: Nonie Maines
nonie@noniesark.com……....862.9588
Field trips Coordinator:
Bob Penhollow…...................729-2602
bobpenhollow@cox.net
Hospitality: Sharon Weaver
slw243@cox.net………….....897.5464
Membership: Trish Reynolds
phreynolds@cox.net
Publicity: Nonie Maines
nonie@noniesark.com……...862.9588
Programs: Thelma Phillips
TCMagures@aol.com…....…651.0508
Shorelines Editor: Theresa Dennis
tinkinneverland@yahoo.com
Historian: Pat Baker
flabirder@cox.net .…………..678.2953

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