Projects & Volunteering
Project Colony Watch – Three Rooker Island & North Anclote BarDescription and physical requirementsA cooperative Clearwater Audubon project with the Florida Park Service and Audubon of Florida, conducted year-round, to census and protect nesting and wintering shorebird and seabird species. Approximately 3000 pairs of birds of 9 species nest on the island between late April and July. Boat transportation to the island, located between Honeymoon Island and Anclote Key in the Gulf west of Pinellas County, is provided for volunteers. You must be able to get in and out of a motorboat or pontoon boat and wade to and from shore in knee-deep water. Generally involves walking about one mile on sand beach. Summer heat is extreme and sun protection and drinking water are required. Trips last approximately 4-5 hours.Volunteer opportunities
Volunteers with bird scopes and post hole digger.
Shorebird and wading bird identification, bird counts, data recording, monitoring of nesting activities and fledging of young birds. Beginning birders are welcome. Beach clean up involves walking on island with a plastic garbage bag and picking up trash that has washed ashore or has been discarded on the island. Maintenance of signs and twine demarcating nesting areas. (Materials provided by Clearwater Audubon and the Florida Park Service.) This task may involve posthole digging and erection of signs, drilling holes to mount signs and inspection and simple repairs to twine strung between signs. Public education concerning nesting and resting birds and their interactions with leashed and unleashed dogs on the island. Park Service regulations do not allow dogs on the island.  Royal Terns Sterna maxima Three Rooker Bar June, 2003
ContactDana Kerstein 727.441.1609, email hkerstein@tampabay.rr.com |
Roof-nesting Least Tern Rescue – Across Pinellas CountyDescription and physical requirementsA cooperative Clearwater Audubon project with St Pete Audubon and Beth Forys, PhD, from Eckerd College conducted during the nesting season from April through July. Requires driving within the county, chasing down chicks in parking lots with a butterfly net, and lifting them back onto rooftops using a locally designed chick-a-boom. Irene Hernandez captured this Least Tern
chick
fallen from its rooftop nest earlier this summer. Click to email Irene. Volunteer opportunitiesTo help chase these sometimes hard-to-rescue chicks down, Jane Williams has organized a northern Pinellas contingent of chick-a-boomers who worked at the AUTOWAY buildings on Highway 19.Susan Traub and Mike MacDonald were among those last year who helped Jane save chicks through some of the hottest months of the summer. Monique Abrams from St. Pete Audubon organized the overall effort for Pinellas. Beth Forys, PhD, from Eckerd College is doing research based on data compiled from a three year study of these and other colony nesting birds. ContactJane Williams, email jwilli56@tampabay.rr.com |