Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges
  • Home
    • Current News
  • About
    • About Friends >
      • Who We Are
      • What We Do
      • Current News
      • Contact Us
    • About the Refuges >
      • Our Refuges
      • Places of Interest
      • Hunting Brochure
  • Join
    • Donate
  • Maps
    • Paddling Guides
    • Refuge Maps
    • Trail Brochures
    • Places of Interest
  • Wildlife
    • Science
  • Hunt & Fish
    • Hunting
    • FWS Hunting Brochure
    • Fishing
  • Search
  • Store
    • Shirts
    • Hats
    • Books
    • Earrings
    • Gift Donation
    • On Sale

Update on Suwannee and other Feathered Friends

5/25/2020

0 Comments

 
Friends board member Debbie Jordan has been out and about checking on the abundant bird life. She sends this report, including an update on Suwannee the Swallow-tailed Kite.
I hope you’ve been able to be outdoors enjoying the spring bird life -- there are so many babies this year!  From cardinals to chickadees to woodpeckers, it’s been quite a noisy show with parents and begging youngsters at the feeders each day.  Our skies have been graced with our favorite soaring birds, swallow-tailed kites, who are now visiting us during their breeding season.  Through National Audubon magazine or our Friends News Brief, you might have heard about the Refuge’s “famous” kite named Suwannee, who was captured and outfitted with a GPS-GSM transmitter last summer.  In August/September, young Suwannee made the incredible 5,000-mile journey from the Refuge to Mato Grosso, Brazil where he over-wintered.  During his journey and while in Brazil, each time he came within range of a cell phone tower, data was transmitted about Suwannee’s location.  In March, we were thrilled and amazed to learn that, after taking a slightly different route, he made the two-month journey all the way back to Florida!
UPDATE: Last week, Refuge Deputy Manager Larry Woodward reported finding two Swallow-tailed Kite nests on the Refuge at the site where Suwannee was captured last year.  Gainesville’s ARCI researcher Gina Kent came out to investigate and found more nests, in addition to four they had documented last year.  Sadly, based on the data points on the map below, Gina thinks if one of the nests was Suwannee's, it may have failed, and he is now just hanging around.  Swallow-tailed Kites, male and females, share nest duties and feeding of the chicks. He would be staying close to a nest, if he had chicks to feed. Maybe next year?  Gina will continue to track the data received from his transmitter throughout the summer and come August, record Suwannee’s journey all the way back to Brazil!
Picture
Map shows data points where Suwannee has been tracked around the Refuge. Red dot is where he was captured last year - blue dots are where he's been tracked. Map credit: ARCI
​Checks to support Suwannee's tracking should be made to Friends of Refuges, and
mailed to:
​Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges
P.O. Box 532
Cedar Key, FL  32625
Please note you are supporting Swallow-tailed Kite research.

T-shirt Anyone? We are thinking of offering online purchase of kite t-shirts to support this effort. Please let me know if you’d like to order a shirt.  Price will be $25 including mailing costs.  We have Men's (S-2XL) and Women's sizes (S-XL)  debbiesturdivant@gmail.com
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Board Holds May Meeting by Telephone

5/22/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
NO - Can't Meet Like This For a While!
Friends' board of directors regularly meets on the third Wednesday of the month. Both February and March meetings were cancelled because of health concerns. In May, the meeting was held by telephone conference call. 

Friends president John McPherson and Refuge Manager Andrew Gude set up the conference call at the refuge. Fifteen of the other 17 board members were able to call in from home and participate. It worked surprisingly well.

Picture
Yes. For now, we will meet by telephone from our homes or offices

Andrew reported that the headquarters office building remains closed to the public, in keeping with CDC guidelines. However, all outdoor areas of the Refuges remain open, as long as social distancing guidelines are observed. There has been no need to close areas to date. Visitors have been more abundant than in past years at the same time of year, especially at Shell Mound and Shired Island, possibly because the Refuge has been open while other recreation areas were closed.

Picture
Although, it does feel quite old-fashioned. Perhaps soon our Refuge will have high speed internet.

Law enforcement officer Sterling Valentine was temporarily re-assigned from the Refuge to the southern US border during the pandemic months. Thankfully, she is returning now. Equipment Officer George Pelt also has returned from a temporary assignment to work on fire equipment and fire mitigation in south Florida and is now working on enhancements to the River and Tram Ridge Trails. Other staff have been on duty onsite throughout these months. Forestry work continues. A new pole barn has been set up. Vandalism along the Dixie Mainline has been addressed.
All board initiatives were discussed with particular attention to starting butterfly surveys, considering linking some trails to create a walk that highlights several contrasting eco-zones of the refuge, and planning the next phase of the Vista project.
The June meeting was scheduled to again be virtual. Friends is adjusting and adapting to the world as it is today. The mission hasn't changed, just the meeting mode.
0 Comments

Atsena Otie Project Described

5/20/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Dr. Ken Sassaman, the Hyatt and Cici Brown Professor of Florida Archaeology at the University of Florida, is working with the Cedar Keys NWR on a project at Atsena Otie. In the current issue of Florida Historical Society Archaeological Institute's magazine, he describes the project's ultimate goal to create a virtual reality platform for exploring the experience and expectation of climate events. In particular, he and a team he has assembled will investigate the 1896 storm that destroyed most of the buildings on the island. The story says the  project will use archival, geospatial, archaeological, and oral historical data in pursuit of insights that might help current community leaders plan for future climate events. Read the full story here.
0 Comments

New Board Member Orientation

5/18/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Barbara Woodmansee
Picture
Peg Hall
Picture
Ginessa Mahar
Picture
Linda Kimball
Picture
Debbie Meeks
Picture
Denise Feiber
Picture
Travis Thomas
Picture
John McPherson
Picture
Matt Chatowsky
On Monday, May 11, the five new Board members met on ZOOM with several current members for a short orientation. The discussion included:
  • Why people joined the Board
  • The relationship between Friends, an independent non-profit organization, and the Refuge, an agency of the federal government
  • Roles and responsibilities of the Board members
  • Opportunities for increasing Friends support for the mission and impact of the Refuge
0 Comments

Checking on Hunting Regulations

5/9/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
Picture
It has been reported that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering expanding hunting of bears, bobcats, mountain lions and many other animals on National Wildlife Refuges across the U.S.
Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys Refuges checked with Refuge Manager Andrew Gude to learn if such a change is likely to affect hunting on our Refuges. We learned that it is not.
Hunting is a refuge-by-refuge decision. It is not easy for a refuge to expand hunting because it is dependent on local factors, and because significant policy bars must be met . . . usually at least a year in advance of any change.
Over the past year, all refuges, including Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys, completed SHOT (Service Hunt/Fish Opportunity Tool) reports, in accordance with a directive from former Secretary of Interior Zinke. One goal was to increase alignment with state hunting regulations to make things easier for hunters and anglers. Our regulations and the State of Florida’s already are in alignment. Another goal was to see what hunting and fishing opportunities could be expanded.
It turns out that Lower Suwannee NWR offers more hunting opportunities than any refuge in the Lower 48, with ten different public hunts and a few special hunts.  Given this information and all the other data gathered for the SHOT report, our refuge managers do not envision allowing any more species to be taken.

Quoting our Refuge manager Andrew, "At the Lower  Suwannee NWR, there will be no hunting bobcats or alligators, not even frog gigging. Our Refuge hunting will continue to be just deer, hogs, turkey, ducks, and small game . . . and hogs, hogs, and more hogs. Shoot all the damn hogs you would like, during the season, of course."

1 Comment
<<Previous

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

Picture
Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges
P. O. Box 532
Cedar Key, FL 32625
friends@friendsofrefuges.org

We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.


  • Home
    • Current News
  • About
    • About Friends >
      • Who We Are
      • What We Do
      • Current News
      • Contact Us
    • About the Refuges >
      • Our Refuges
      • Places of Interest
      • Hunting Brochure
  • Join
    • Donate
  • Maps
    • Paddling Guides
    • Refuge Maps
    • Trail Brochures
    • Places of Interest
  • Wildlife
    • Science
  • Hunt & Fish
    • Hunting
    • FWS Hunting Brochure
    • Fishing
  • Search
  • Store
    • Shirts
    • Hats
    • Books
    • Earrings
    • Gift Donation
    • On Sale