Rare Bird Alert - report any rare or unusual bird sightings to Tony Menart at (850)234-8042 or e-mail him at amenart@bellsouth.net. Your cooperation and help in keeping the public informed about what birds are in the area is very important. These records are sent to the Florida Ornithological Society for submission to the Florida Field Naturalist publication. They are also sent to the American Birding Association for inclusion in their reports.
Bird Counts - Bay County Audubon Society participates every year in the National Audubon Christmas Bird Count, Great Backyard Bird Count, and North American Migration Counts. For information on how to participate, contact coordinator/compiler Lisa Keppner at 850-769-6247 or lkeppner@bellsouth.net.
Bay County Audubon has participated in the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) since 1965. Our count circle is a 15 mile diameter centered near Airport Road and 19th Street of Panama City in Bay County, FL and our CBC is usually conducted the Saturday between Christmas and New Year’s Day. We welcome feeder watchers within the circle as well as experienced and inexperienced birders to join our field teams. We gather the evening of the count for a nice dinner before compiling results and sharing stories. All of our CBC data can be accessed at http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/. This year it will be held on Dec 27th with an after count tally and dinner at Sonny's BBQ on St. Andrew's Blvd near 23rd Street
The Great Backyard Bird Count is held annually in February. Individuals are encouraged to participate in this count independently but if you need help with bird identification or with data entry, our members are available to help. For more information and to participate, go to http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/.
Bay County Audubon has participated in the North American Migration Count since Fall 2004. Counts are conducted on the second Saturday of May and the third Saturday of September each year. Feeder watchers living anywhere in Bay County and birders of all levels are encouraged to join us for this county-wide count.
Unofficial summary of the BCAS 106th Annual Christmas Bird Count:
Number of participants: 34
Total number of species: 122(105 all time low; 151 all time high)
Total number of individuals: 13,796 (7,000 all time low; 27,000 all time high)
Most numerous birds seen: European Starlings (1,916); Double-crested Cormorants (1,150); and Mourning Doves (1,118)
Birds observed in each of the 10 sections of the count circle: Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, and Laughing Gull
Most unusual species documented: Buff-bellied Hummingbird and Archilochus sp. feeding on Shrimp Plants in a backyard within count circle.
Audubon Travel Adventure Film Series. This is our only fund-raising activity for the year. Each January and February we offer three high quality nature/travel films which are personally narrated by the cinematographer. The films will be held at a new location this year, J.R. Arnold High School on Alf Coleman Road near Back Beach Road at 7:00 PM. Tickets are $6.00 per film; season tickets for all three films are $15.00. For no waiting in line, purchase season tickets at the January membership meeting, by mail, or at the first film. A nice door prize will be given at each film.
The 2009 films are:
Jan 6 -“Superior, Land of the Woodland Drummer” by Tom Sterling.
Jan 27 - “TBA” by Monty Brown.
Feb 10 - “TBA” by Dale Johnson.
Underwriters:
The Jelks Family Foundation
Los Antojitos Restaurant/Harbison Famiy
Peoples First Community Bank and Insurance Company
June 9, Cub Scout Day Camp. BCAS needs volunteers to help in sharing birding skills with Cub Scouts(ages 6-10). Contact Lisa Keppner at 786-6247, if you can participate.
