Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges

No Lull in Activities after Annual Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:14:00 +0000

Following our website, you might think there has been a lull in Friends activities after the Annual Meeting. Not really. Actually there was enough going on that nobody found time to post about it. So, what has been happening?

The Ibis ----- Our print newsletter, edited by Jay and Donna Bushnell, came out in April. Click here to read it. If you are a member and want a print copy mailed to you, email friends@friendsofrefuges.org to let us know.

Festivals ----- Friends and the Refuges had shared information booths at both the Town of Suwannee Stone Crab Festival and Cedar Key's Old Florida Celebration of the Arts. More than a hundred people visited our booths to learn about the refuges, to sign up for Friends activities, and many to support the Friends by buying shirts, earrings, and planning sets of the Paddling Panels.

The Inventory and Membership Committees are just getting caught up from all the activities generated at the festivals and Annual Meeting.

Planning for a Group Paddle in June ----- Assuming good weather on Saturday, June 30, we will gather at the beach in Cedar Key for a Group Paddle to Atsena Otie. We will meet at 10:00 to catch the best tides. Watch for more information here or in the email News Brief.

Planning for the Hidden Coast Paddling Festival -----In October, the Lower Suwannee Refuge will be the site of this major regional paddling event. The theme will be "Wildlife Encounters on the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge." Mark Gluckman, chair of the Friends Paddling Project Committee and many other Friends members are involved in the initial planning. Opportunities for more of us to be in on the ground floor are coming soon.

Annual Meeting Report

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 23:24:00 +0000

The Annual Meeting drew a big crowd to the refuge headquarters on Saturday March 24. The Deputy Regional Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Mark Musaus, was among the visitors. Thanks to all the Annual Meeting volunteers and to Michelle Pearson and Sean Dowie for photos.

The new tee shirts, hats, visors and earrings created a buzz at the Friends Booth and flew off the tables. We sold more in that one day than in all of 2011. We will be re-ordering before the Cedar Key Arts Festival and Suwannee Stone Crab Festival.

The Welcome Team had revamped the sign-in process and it went smoothly, with few bottlenecks this year. Forty-five members joined or renewed their memberships that day bringing the membership total for 2012 to 220, compared to 210 at the end of last year.

The HUGE Silent Auction was a great success and brought in almost $1200, as well as generating lots of fun and competition. Special thanks to Donna Bushnell for taking the lead on the auction. Thanks to all the Silent Auction donors.

We all missed Chef Kenny's cooking, but the catered part of the meal provided by Ada Blue Cafe was praised by all. Many, many members contributed to the Pot Luck side dishes and desserts, making the meal a definite highlight.

The featured speaker, Dr. Nick Whitney was taught us much about Motion in the Ocean: The Secret Lives of Marine Animals with many laughs and stories.

Members were delighted to see the results of the Paddling Project that began at last year's annual meeting. The new paddling guide panels were greatly admired as they were passed around for inspection among the members.

After lunch the hayrides, the group paddle, boat rides, visits to the Special Operations Resource Team trailer and fire equipment demo, Tree Identification Walk, and mini-workshops on vole research, a new naturalist project, archaeology and shell mound, and biting fly research captured everyone's attention...at least until the rains arrived. thanks to Richard Herman for these photos of wildlife spotted on the boat ride.

If you missed it...you missed a good time. Mark your calendar for next March!

April Nature Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Donna Thalacker) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:34:00 +0000

Because of the warmer weather, this month’s nature walk featured butterflies,and the thirteen people who showed up for the walk got plenty of warm weather – and more deer flies than any of us cared to experience! We started the walk with a little tick identification, as the first flower we saw had a Lone Star tick on it. Soon thereafter, someone spotted a little snake, which we later identified as a Blue Striped Ribbon snake, and all of this before we spied many butterflies! But the butterflies showed up, and we counted about 15 different kinds of butterflies, including swallowtails, crescents, skippers, satyrs and hairstreaks. In addition to the fleabane wildflowers and white sweet clover in bloom, there was still some blue flags and lyre leaf sage wildflowers and wild petunias in bloom. On the way out, a few of us stopped by the new observation deck and were surprised to see Swallowtail Kites, Little Blue and Tricolor Herons, Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets, Lesser Yellowlegs, and 4 baby alligators and a one big alligator! Taking a walk in the refuge is always fun. We may go for a nature walk intending to see butterflies, but there never fails to be something new and different to see and learn about in our precious Lower Suwannee NWR!

John and I have enjoyed leading the first Monday of the month nature walks in the refuge. We will be leaving soon to head north to Iowa, but are already looking forward to leading walks in the refuge next fall. Have a wonderful summer and we hope to see you in the fall!

Upcoming Butterfly Walks

noreply@blogger.com (Donna Thalacker) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 11:46:00 +0000

There will be two butterfly walks in the refuge coming up in early April. Since the flowers and butterflies are in abundance right now, both walks promise for lots of butterfly viewing. Please join us for one or both of the walks. The first will be on Monday, April 2 and will be led by Donna and John Thalacker. Meet 10am at the entrance to Barnett Creek Road, toward the south end of the refuge. It is quickest to enter the south entrance to the refuge. Barnett Creek Road is on the left, 2 – 3 miles into the refuge. The second walk will be led by Barbara Woodmansee, member of NABA (North American Butterfly Association). Barbara is a well known butterfly enthusiast and is probably the most knowledgeable "butterflier" around. Her butterfly walk will be on April 7. Meet her at the south entrance to the refuge at 9:15am. See you at one or both walks!

Annual Meeting is This Saturday!

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 16:52:00 +0000

Friends Annual Meeting and Refuge Open House
Saturday March 24

10:00 to 4:00

at Refuge Headquarters (directions here)

Preliminary Program

10:00

Arrival, Sign-In, Pick up Event and Lunch Tickets

Silent Auction and Friends Booth Open

10:30

Friends Welcome, Peg Hall, Friends president

Refuge Welcome, Andrew Gude, Refuge manager

Election and Installation of Board members

11:00

Paddling Project Update & Presentation of Paddling Panels,

Mark Gluckman & Russ Hall

11:30

Motion in the Ocean: The Secret Life of Marine Animals

A presentation by Nick Whitney of the Center for Shark Research at the MOTE Marine Lab in Sarasota

12:30

Pot Luck Lunch, barbecued pork, ribs, and chicken provided

1:45

Silent Auction Winners announced

2:00

Boat rides on the Suwannee, Paddling at Sandfly Creek, Fire equipment demo, Hayride, Mini-workshops on upcoming volunteer projects

Are You Willing to Volunteer?

We need volunteers to help with Sign-in, Silent Auction, Friends Booth, and the Food Line. If you could work an hour or so, please email friends@friendsofrefuges.org
Pot Luck Lunch

Free for 2012 Renewed Members. You can renew at the door.
$10 for Not-Yet-Members

Our wonderful Chef Kenny McCain is not able to cook this year. The main course barbecue will be catered by Ada Blue Cafe and we are sure it will be delicious. Members of the Board of Directors will bring side dishes. We also would welcome all members to bring a side dish, salad, or dessert. Contact Marci at friends@friendsofrefuges.org for information.

Silent Auction

The items will tempt you. Remember to bring your check books. Here is the list as of today.

Paddling in the Afternoon

A limited number of spaces are available for a group paddle from Fletcher's Landing to Sandfly Creek. You must have your own kayak or canoe. To reserve a place, email friends@friendsofrefuges.org.

March Nature Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Donna Thalacker) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:09:00 +0000

About 20 people joined John and Donna Thalacker for a two hour nature hike at Shell Mound on Monday, 5 March. The weather was perfect, with sunny blue skies and enough of a breeze to ensure zero biting insects. We saw plenty of birds, including white and brown pelicans, avocets, plovers, sandpipers, terns, gulls and several types of warblers. In addition, with the help of Russ Hall, we were able to identify most of the plants along the trails. It was a beautiful day to be out and about on our fabulous wildlife refuge!

Please join us next month for a nature walk featuring butterflies. We will meet at 10am on Monday, April 9 at the entrance to Barnett Creek Road. To get to Barnett Creek Road, enter the Lower Suwannee NWR at the south entrance and drive about 2 ½ miles. Barnett Creek Road will be on your left. We look forward to seeing you then!

Kudos for the Paddling Project

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:41:00 +0000

The homepage of the website of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Refuge System features our Paddling Project. Our refuges are quite a place wonderful for kayaking. Check it out!

We have another website dedicated just to paddling. Visit Paddle Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys Refuges here.

First Monday Nature Walk Coming Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Donna Thalacker) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:47:00 +0000

Please join us for our next walk on Monday, March 5 at 10am. This time we will meet at the parking lot at Shell Mound. We will walk out to the boardwalk to look for shore birds, then walk the trail over the mound and into the woods. Please note this is a time change from our previous 8 am first Monday of the month walks. There is even a chance we may see a swallowtail kite on our walk. The last few years, they have been arriving at the refuge during the first week of March.

More Than 60 Participate in Butterfly Talk

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:18:00 +0000

Friends member Barbara Woodmansee wowed the audience on Saturday February 11 at the Cedar Key Public Library with her photos and her descriptions of the butterflies of the refuges. A standing-room only crowd learned about the families of butterflies and their host plants, and then had the chance to ask many questions and give many comments. We are grateful to Barbara for all the work she put into helping us appreciate the wonderful creatures. If you had to miss the talk, or just want a reminder, Babara has made the photos available here.

On Saturday, April 7th, you can join Barbara for a day of spring sunshine (we hope!) on the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge's Nature Drive. She has been surveying this part of the LSNWR monthly for the past 3 years, and has compiled a list of 64 species of butterflies recorded on the Nature Drive. A group from the Gainesville chapter of the North American Butterfly Association will meet at the south entrance for a 4-6 hour drive and walk of the areas where the most diverse butterfly species have been seen. Last year they saw 44 species of butterflies in one day in early April, including 21 Sweadner's Juniper Hairstreaks, Dion, Obscure and Aaron's skippers, Appalachian Brown and Gemmed satyrs. Check here for more information.

Paddling Project Update

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:31:00 +0000

The Paddling Panels are at the printer!

Get a preview by clicking on the Paddling Project tab at the top of the page.

Photo Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:15:00 +0000

Our first monthly "4th Tuesday Photo Walk" was led by Friends Board member Michelle Pearson on Tuesday January 24 at the Dennis Creek Trail on the refuge. We learned about lighting, best use of various camera styles, tripod use, angles of the photos, macro and micro photo composition. Michelle shared many design tips and other photo skills with all of us by email after the walk. It was a super class. The next will be on the 4th Tuesday of February, the 28th. Call Michelle at 352-325-0134 for information.

Refuge Night

noreply@blogger.com (Donna Thalacker) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:47:00 +0000

Andrew Gude, Refuge Manager of The Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges and five of his staff of twelve, hosted a community discussion at the Cedar Key Public Library to approximately 40 attendees. Larry Woodward, Deputy Refuge Manager; Pam Darty, Visitor Services and Outreach Manager; Vic Doig, Fire Management Officer; Daniel Berrand, Refuge Forester; and Kenny McCain, Law Enforcement Officer took turns explaining their programs, plans and priorities to those in attendance. Andrew Gude summed things up by talking about his desire to build a stronger connection to the community, his hopes to integrate more educational programs and to expand conservation of our precious resources more through deed restriction and conservation easements than through outright purchases of land. Andrew is also interested in getting greater staff presence in Dixie County. Numerous questions were answered by all of staff members present. Refreshments were served by Friends of the Library and Friends of the Refuges.

Florida Whooping and Sandhill Cranes Talk Big Success

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:02:00 +0000

More than 50 people came to learn about the Florida whooping cranes and sandhill cranes from Marilyn Spalding, wildlife disease expert and Friends member. The participants had many questions about the fascinating information Marilyn gave about the resident and migratory cranes.

Gopher Tortoise Survey a Success

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:58:00 +0000

On January 4 and 5, more than 20 Friends members volunteered to help the Refuge with a Gopher Tortoise Survey. The Refuge will soon be thinning some areas of the forest to improve the habitat for wildlife. When the equipment comes in to do cut the trees, the drivers want to avoid running over and crushing gopher tortoise burrows. So, the volunteers, under the leadership of Refuge staff, fanned out and walked in a grid through the sections to be logged. They marked all burrows with flagging tape to make them easy to spot. Almost 50 burrows were flagged in the two days of work. Hard work, good fun, and a task worth the effort!

January Nature Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Donna Thalacker) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:28:00 +0000


Photo by Friends member Ed DeHaan

This morning’s nature walk in the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge included Joyce and Ed DeHaan, Peg and Russ Hall, Roger McDaniels, Carmelo Echevarria, Donna and John Thalacker. As we gathered at the entrance to Cabin Road, we pondered the wisdom of meeting at the often quite cool, and definitely early, hour of 8am. But soon we were rewarded by our early morning diligence with the sighting of two river otters at “play”. Of course, the presence of eight nearby onlookers interrupted the otters, but rather than disappearing, we were able to hear a considerable amount and variety of otter sounds as the larger of the two otters sat on a log and growled and barked (well, not exactly like a dog bark). The other otter was even more vocal squeaking loudly out of sight behind the same log. After five minutes or so of watching the otter, most of the group walked on and the noise level increased considerably as the larger otter disappeared behind the log. At first the sound level increased in what seemed to me to be urgency, and I became almost convinced that one of them was in trouble, except that very soon thereafter both otters reappeared in the water twisting and turning together. This time it was apparent the “play” was reproductive behavior and they were indeed mating. This went on for at least 20 minutes before we also moved on to continue our nature walk. By that time, the sun was up enough to warm us and the birds became more active. We were able to spot and/or hear Catbirds, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Pileated Woodpeckers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Cardinals and Chickadees. Sighting a River Otter on any walk is a treat, but this was a special morning indeed.

Please join us for our next walk on Monday, March 5 at 10am. This time we will meet at the parking lot at Shell Mound. We will walk out to the boardwalk to look for shore birds, then walk the trail over the mound and into the woods. Wonder what we will find next time! Please note that the next walk will be in March, not February. Hope to see you then!

Cat Island Paddle

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:35:00 +0000

The weather finally smiled and we paddled the last trail of the 12 planned for the Paddling guide...Cat Island. It had been too hot, too cold, too windy, too rainy on the previous four attempts. But last Tuesday was perfect to test out this paddle...80 degrees, fun waves, lots of sunshine, just enough adventure, shore birds and even a dolphin family.

The Great Suwannee River Cleanup

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:29:00 +0000

On Saturday December 3, the Friends turned out to clean up the last 20 miles of the Great Suwannee River. At Camp Azalea, Fowlers Bluff, and Town of Suwannee, boats and volunteers gathered...104 volunteers in 23 boats collected almost 2 tons of trash. There were chicken coops, floating docks, chairs, lots of waterlogged styrofoam, many 55-gallon drums, many tires, and one 300 pound chunk of old rubber. The good times were abundant; it was a trash-pickup adventure. If you missed out this year, plan to come next year...first Saturday in December.

Bandaid Botany

noreply@blogger.com (Donna Thalacker) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:08:00 +0000

Linda Curtis, retired college botany instructor and author of two books, Aquatic Plants and Woodland Carex of the Upper Midwest, entertained a group interested in learning about Bandaid Botany. Though many of us were not sure what bandaid botany might be, we soon learned all about the majority of spiny, prickly, and poisonous-to-the-touch common plants in our local area. Linda has a great collection of pictures and incredible knowledge of the plants and told us all about them in a most entertaining fashion. By far the most interesting of the plants she described, is the Tread Softly or “finger rot stinging hairs plant”(Cnidoscolus stimulosus). Afterwards, audience members took turns telling personal stories about their experiences with “bandaid botany” plants.

Linda and her husband, Jim, are both interested in the botany of our Lower Suwannee NWR and have offered to return to give more botany talks for us! We hope to see her again soon.

Friend's Board member John Thalacker introduced Linda and Donna Thalacker provided the refreshments.

December Nature Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Donna Thalacker) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:32:00 +0000

The Lower Suwannee Refuge is always a joy to walk in and this day was no exception. Ed DeHaan and Roger McDaniels joined Donna and John Thalacker for the Friends group monthly nature hike in the woods along Barnett Creek Road. We started the walk at 8am, and though it was a little cool and very quiet, we were soon rewarded with the sighting of a Barred Owl sitting on an overhanging branch. Because of the cool weather, we didn’t see any snakes or alligators but there were plenty of still fresh, muddy otter tracks to keep us occupied. As the weather warmed up, we saw a Titmouse, several Pine warblers, and woodpeckers along the way to the creek. Once we arrived at Barnett Creek, we birders were pretty excited at the chance to spend about 5 minutes looking at and photographing the secretive Sora. By 9:15am, even the butterflies were out. We had plenty of opportunities to photograph Monarchs, Gulf Fritillaries and even a Queen butterfly. Please join us January 9 for our monthly nature walk. We don’t walk far, and we don’t walk fast – otherwise we would miss too much! Meet us at 8am at the entrance to Cabin Road. The easiest way to find it is to enter the refuge at the South Entrance to the Lower Suwannee Nature Drive. Go approximately 1½ to 2 miles to Cabin Road. Cabin Road will be on your left and is well marked. Have a happy, safe holiday and we hope to see you in January!

Bandaid Botany Coming December 10

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 21:18:00 +0000

Linda Curtis, Botanist and Author

www.curtistothethird.com

Saturday, December 10

10:30 AM @ Cedar Key Public Library

A presentation about the thorny and spiny plants in Levy County, with a few spiny insects and caterpillars included. Most thorny plants have beautiful flowers, to invite the bee pollinators, but not large grazing animals.

Nature Walk December 5

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:29:00 +0000

Donna and John Thalacker will lead the regularly scheduled first Monday of the month Nature Walk will be at 8:00AM on December 5.

This month we will take a walk on Barnett Creek Rd. Those interested in attending, meet us at the entrance to Barnett Creek Road, which is about a mile or so from the south entrance to the Lower Suwannee Nature Drive. See you then!

Sandfly Creek Paddle

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:58:00 +0000

Following up on the scouting trip last week, after the Board meeting on Monday Nov 7, several Friends members paddled the Sandfly Creek to prepare the maps and biozone information for the Paddling Guide. It is a beautiful creek and wonderful paddle. Ed DeHaan and Mark Gluckman provided the photos.

The Nov 7 Nature Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:38:00 +0000

Monday, November 7, was our monthly nature/bird/butterfly walk in the Refuge and was attended by Marci Wilcox, Ed and Joyce DeHaan, Jennifer Bruckler, Jay Bushnell, and Russ Hall. We had cool, overcast weather, so it wasn’t the best for butterfly or bird watching, but that was not a problem for our small enthusiastic group of seven! Donna and John Thalacker led the walk, but Jennifer Bruckler and Russ Hall assisted in helping name the wildflowers and other plants we encountered along the road to Refuge headquarters and the River Walk. Much progress was made in our attempt to name all the plants on the walk! And, as the weather warmed up and the sun came out, so did the birds and butterflies. We were able to identify a Ruby Crowned Kinglet, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, and many Titmice, as well as lots of Gulf Fritillaries and Monarch butterflies.

For the next Nature Walk, we will take a walk on Barnett Creek Rd. Those interested in attending, meet us at the entrance to the road at 8am on the first Monday of December, Dec 5. The entrance to Barnett Creek Road is about a mile or so from the south entrance to the Lower Suwannee Nature Drive. See you then!

November Board Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 19:44:00 +0000

The new refuge manager, Andrew Gude, was on hand for the Board meeting last Monday. And our founding president, Joan Stephans joined us too. Several Friends who participated in the Nature Walk earlier that morning stayed for the meeting. It was a lively meeting with ideas flowing fast and rich. There are 14 Board members. Three couldn't attend, but with all our visitors, we had 18 people there for all or part of the time.

Among other topics, we discussed nominations for next year's Board, planning for 2012, the Great Suwannee River Cleanup on Dec 3, and our Friends Talks in November and December, and what I learned as your president at the Friends Academy.

Our next meeting is Monday, December 5 from 10 to 11:30. It will again be preceded at 8:00 by a Nature Walk starting at the Barnett Creek. (Get directions on the Events tab at the top of this page) The meeting will be a planning meeting for 2012. Come and bring ideas for initiatives and activities.

Gulf Sturgeon and Scouting Sandfly Creek Access

noreply@blogger.com (Peg) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:30:00 +0000

Sturgeon Presentation

Not surprisingly, the Cedar Key Public Library meeting room filled with folks wanting to learn about Gulf Sturgeon. Dr. Ken Sulak’s presentation did not disappoint. It was full of detail and anecdotes about these fascinating animals. We learned that they were almost fished to extinction in the early 1900s, came back reasonably well over the subsequent 50 years, but could not reach sustainable population size while fishing continued, and have now become a viable population again since they have been protected. About 15,000 sturgeon now come to the Suwannee in the summer months. We learned about their spawning behaviors and areas, that they don’t eat all summer while in the River, that they hang out in deep holes in the River when not spawning and those are the areas where they jump. We even heard the calls they make when jumping.

Donna Bushnell’s homemade cookies topped off a well-received presentation.

Sandfly Creek---Scouting Good Access

The Friends Paddling Project will have a variety of fresh water and salt water paddling trail options on the Refuge. There will be trails with access from each side of the Suwannee River. Sandfly is a lovely fresh water trail located on the Levy County side of the River but currently access from that side requires carrying your kayak or canoe quite a long distance from the road.

A group of Friends members and refuge staff walked a couple of possible access routes yesterday to assess whether they might provide better access. They weren’t perfect, but perhaps can be adapted to provide better access at least during times when the unimproved roads are dry.