Nature Coast Shorebird Partnership

2015 Post-nesting season meeting

10/1/15

Meeting Participants: Ashley Ballou (FWC), Kevin Oxenrider (FWC), Blair Hayman (FWC), Maria Sgambati (UF – Seahorse Key), Joyce Kleen (USFWS), Ann Paul (Audubon), Janell Brush (FWRI), Naomi Avissar (FWC), Amanda Anderson (FWRI), Jamie Letendre (DEP – Aquatic Preserve), Lisa Davenport (UF), Adam Kent (Alachua Audubon), Scotland Talley (FWC)

Review from last meeting

-Nesting season surveys

-Boat ramp signs were created (Janell and Bobbi) about nesting shorebirds and distributed to boat ramps in the vicinity of the Barge Canal; a couple were posted. Working out how to move forward with this, will revisit next year.

-Jamie posted one at a boat ramp with kayakers/local boaters, and the sign disappeared

Florida Shorebird Database Data Summary – Naomi Avissar

-8 routes created, 7 routes surveyed at least once in 2015

-Seeppt for detailed nesting information

-FSD will reopen for data entry March 2016 (but it’s always open for data retrieval)

-International piping plover survey: Jan 18-Feb 1

-Annual winter shorebird survey: Feb 5 (may be combined with piping plover survey)

-Breeding Bird Atlas going on now – Adam Kent

  • FOSBBA.org – information about breeding birds in the state
  • Big Bend is an area with some gaps, they could use information on some of the inaccessible areas. Talk to Adam.
  • Area around Barge Canal is covered (Janell)

A Summary of the 2015 American Oystercatcher Breeding Season along the Nature Coast – Amanda Anderson and Janell Brush

-See ppt

-Cedar Key and Barge Canal nesting

  • AMOY on all Barge Canal islands except Recreation Island

-Surveyed each site once a week, observed whether adult was incubating a nest, nest searching/GPS of nest

-Need to increase survey efforts if we want to find nesting on the Little/Big Pine Island/Horseshoe Beach route. Nesting was documented on the jetties at Horseshoe beach.

  • Good roosting for non-breeding shorebirds

-Main objective of this season: increase trapping efforts of adults: noose carpets and box traps

  • 11 adults and 4 chicks trapped

-Cedar Key Discussion

  • Gomez Key
  • 7 breeding pairs – number increased as season progressed
  • Overwash caused 50% of nest failures
  • 64% of nesting attempts for the study area
  • Corrigan’s Key
  • Pair laying infertile eggs
  • Banded one of the adults
  • Horseshoe Jetties
  • Possible raccoon predation
  • Should raccoons be trapped in the future? Is it worth the effort/resources to survey?
  • Proactive removal of raccoons right before nesting season starts?
  • Jetties are too close to land/getting swamped by boat wakes?
  • Increase in scalloping activity north of Steinhatchee, people could have been using that ramp more
  • How many times will they re-nest? Something to think about next year.
  • McClamory and Rattlesnake Keys
  • Documented many nest scrapes but never confirmed nesting
  • Saw raccoon on McClamory Key
  • Fishermen, kayakers, helicopter (McClamory), dogs on beaches
  • Possible causes of failure include overwash, predation, human disturbance
  • Nest attempts on adjacent shell rakes but overwashed

-Barge Canal Discussion

  • Predator problem
  • Raptors (owls, peregrine falcons)
  • Night crowned herons
  • Grackles, crows
  • Uncertainty about human disturbance
  • Surveyed power plant jetties – 2 pairs and 1 brood (fledged chick)
  • Refrained from banding additional chicks because of ectoparasites
  • Pair incubating a rock for 1.5 months

-Final Thoughts

  • Increase monitoring efforts to identify uncertainties
  • Document predation events and human disturbance
  • What is driving habitat selection by adults in Cedar Key?
  • Enhance low lying nesting areas
  • What’s limiting chick survival at Barge Canal?
  • Replace worn FWC signs

-McClamory is an aviation hot spot – planes/helicopters like to land there

-Is overwash because of climate change? Lots of work to document changes to oyster reefs. Offshore reefs are declining significantly. Derrick Key has already disappeared, Gomez Key is currently disappearing. This is a huge issue.

-Hoping for oil spill funds to fund some of the important projects needed in this area.

-Has anyone looked at subsidence of land in this area due to climate change?

  • This is probably being incorporated into ongoing projects/proposals
  • Seahorse Key is starting a new project with a geoscientist, may be based on this question

-Friends of Cedar Key group is hoping to get citizen science involved in this area, using it as a tool to engage people in what’s going on and helping provide solutions. Maria is involved with the Friends group

Updates/Issues

-Blair will be speaking to LE right before the season starts about shorebird issues. What are the specific issues that people are seeing that need enforcement action? Are there stewarding opportunities/needs in this area?

  • Education/outreach to public for voluntary compliance is most important
  • It’s dangerous to approach someone doing something illegal and tell them they can’t do it, unless you have some type of authority. Can’t ask volunteers to do this.
  • Better to create guides that describe the rules/regulations to hand out. LE can do this. Or could hand these out at boat ramps.
  • Volunteers can document disturbance to inform LE
  • Need to educate judges/attorneys that would be prosecuting about the issues
  • Crystal River has a volunteer program with a huge training program that go out and educate people/report disturbance for manatees. Could model something after this program…
  • Casey Ray (?) – coordinates avian volunteers/education in the Gulf area
  • Nancy Douglass is working with her on a large grant for the FL coast
  • St. Johns County Partnership worked with LE and said voluntary compliance is the key to lowering disturbance

-A partner sent a concern about winter roosting sites in this area. Is anyone seeing this issue?

  • Use increases significantly in Crystal River area in the winter. There’s a lot of offshore roosting areas for birds that aren’t being disturbed.
  • Need education for this, especially for tourists.
  • Placemats in restaurants, TV stations, books/pamphlets in housing lodging rentals, at boat ramps, at kayak rental companies
  • Only 10 offshore high tide roosts in Cedar Key area, and then when people use those areas then birds have to use suboptimal roosts.Adult mortality is a huge issue with long-lived birds. Need education to increase voluntary compliance!
  • Most people don’t understand what roosting is/what the importance is/what birds we have here. Need education for locals. Educational venue through the winter lecture series at the Cedar Key library. Primarily wintering people.

-Let Blair know if there are any rooftops that are still suitable for nesting. What is being surveyed and what hasn’t been?

  • Ann checked the rooftops, none were used