Green Cay Nature Center hosted its second annual Migration Day on Saturday, October 18th. Despite having laryngitis last year, I was apparently popular enough as a speaker to be invited back for a second time! This time I was able to go around the boardwalk once before my talk, which was very nice. It gave me a chance to practice digiscoping in ideal conditions: lots of light, wide open vistas, and stationary birds. Here are a few shots:
My lecture, on some of the migratory shorebirds of Palm Beach County and the various threats facing them due to global warming and sea-level rise, went fairly well. I had some good questions, and some good feedback. I railed against the evils of habitat loss and destruction, the problem of coastal “hardening” as a response to rising sea levels, and against the practice of offsetting carbon consumption by inappropriate planting of trees.
Nothing wrong with planting trees, as long as it’s the right tree in the right place. Don’t plant a melaleuca tree in the Everglades, for example. And Australian Pines, as beautiful and as shade-giving as they are, are simply the wrong tree for a healthy south Florida landscape. Migrating birds need trees that provide them food for their journey, and resting places when they’re in your neighborhood.
Do your homework. Visit the Florida Native Plant Society website; go to a local chapter meeting (in Palm Beach, Broward, or Dade county). Learn what to do, when, and how. Then get out there and help!
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