Statewide News

Jay Watch Details Team Efforts to Protect Iconic Florida Scrub-Jay The 2020 Jay Watch season brought unique adaptations to safely monitor 35 sites during the pandemic. Audubon staff and volunteers collected critical data on 455 adult Florida Scrub-Jays, and hope to return to all 45 sites this summer.  In our new Jay Watch report, discover stories on genetic rescue, the consequences of new roads, and so much more. Click here to access our multi-media illustration of the 2020 Jay Watch season!

Photo: Shelly Rozenberg.

Everglades Science Team Surveys Roseate Spoonbill Nests They are pink, they are fuzzy, and they look a lot like little dinosaurs: Seasonal Field Technician Casey King has spotted her first Roseate Spoonbill nest of the day. Each winter, the Everglades Science Team (ESC) conducts surveys of Roseate Spoonbills and wading birds to gauge the health of South Florida populations. Roseate Spoonbills are "canaries in the coal mine" for the Everglades ecosystem as a whole. If they do well, researchers know the Everglades is doing well. Unfortunately, sea level rise and fluctuating water levels have made successful nesting more difficult for this iconic bird. As a species, they are already moving north in search of better breeding territory.  Read more here!

Roseate Spoonbills. Photo: Casey King.

Fiber Artist Draws Inspiration from Raptors at the Center for Birds of Prey in New Quilt Collection When Lauren Austin needed added inspiration for her “Birds are My People” quilt collection, she turned to the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland, Florida.  "I like to sketch and paint the birds to use their images in my art. I make quilts with images of raptors, either from my drawings or from x-rays of the birds in the triage unit,” she says. Traveling to the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey, Austin appreciated that she could spend hours with the birds: “I love that I can sit and observe for as long as I need to work on an image.” Her special favorites are Ronia the Red-shouldered Hawk, Merlin the Barred Owl, Hank the Osprey, and Chopper the Peregrine Falcon. Click here to learn more about the collection, on display through February 28.

A view of one of Lauren Austin's quilts.

Victory as Biden Administration Delays Rollback of MBTA In early 2021, the Biden administration announced it would delay the implementation of a rollback of MBTA protections finalized just weeks before the inauguration. The previous policy change ignored the intent and language of the law to protect and conserve birds. The change by the previous administration centered on the enforcement of “incidental take.” It attempted to limit the MBTA’s protection only to activities that purposefully kill birds, exempting all industrial hazards from enforcement. Any “incidental” death—no matter how inevitable, avoidable or devastating to birds—became immune from enforcement under the law. If this change had been in place in 2010, BP would have faced no consequences under the MBTA for the more than one million birds killed in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. At Audubon, we hope to see Congress pass the Migratory Bird Protection Act, which was passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee in the 116th Congress and had a bipartisan group of 90+ co-sponsors. The bill would secure protections for birds and direct the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to develop a permitting process for “incidental take” through which relevant businesses would implement best management practices and document compliance, further driving innovation in how to best prevent bird deaths. It would need to be reintroduced in this Congress in order to be considered again.

Double-crested Cormorant. Photo: Barbara Saffir/Audubon Photography Awards.

Have You Been Keeping Up with the 2021 Florida Legislative Session? We have! Each week we keep you updated on the bills and policy you need to stay informed and to use your voice to protect birds and the places they need.  Click here to read the most recent Advocate newsletter, and click here to receive updates straight to your inbox.

Wood Ducks. Photo: Michael Schmitt.

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