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Bay County Audubon Society
P.O. Box 1182
Panama City, Florida 32402
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FROM BIRDWATCHING ...TO THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
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Upcoming Events
Roseate Spoonbill May 26,2018
Camp Helen State Park
Photo by Emily Ellis
"Bay County Audubon Society, Inc. does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations."
Come join Bay County Audubon's exciting and Informative Monthly Meetings!
We will meet in person in the St. Andrews Episcopal Church Parish Hall at 1608 Baker Ct. We are no longer able to provide Zoom.
Thank all of you who continue to support BCAS by participating in our meetings.
Upcoming Membership Meetings:
Monday, September 11. Brian Cammarano, presenter - Shorebirds of Northwest Florida, view from the ground and from above.
Monday, October 9. Donna Cronwell, presenter - Birding with Noah Stryker in Utah and a quick stop at High Island.
Monday, November 13. Dalton Allen, presenter - E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center, its species protection, evolving mission: public programs & education outreach--it "ant" what you think!
Upcoming Field Trips
Friday, September 15: Beginner bird walk at St. Andrews State Park 8:15 a.m. (central time) @ Gator Lake. Possible lunch at Patches Pub near the park. Ron Houser leading.
Saturday. September 16: International Coastal Cleanup, Lake Powell. Norm Capra leading. Volunteers needed.
Thursday, October 5: Birds and Brews, Lake Caroline. 4:00 p.m. central time. Supper afterwards in St. Andrews. Leader to be determined.
Saturday. October 28: Port St Joe/Cape San Blas, Meet at Frank Pate Park and boat ramp by the lighthouse in Port St. Joe at 9:15 a.m. eastern time (8:15 central time). Lunch downtown St. Joe. Ron Houser leading.
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CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION
Black Bellied Whistling Duck Feb 2, 2022 Panama City Beach Conservation Park
Wagon ride at Conservation Park
As we start our new year, Audubon-wise, every September, similar to the start of the academic school year for the younger set, it gets one to thinking about what’s to come in the months ahead after a lazy summer of refuge, well nigh escapism from the problems of the world. Well, here we go again. It’s back to attending new programs, some with unsettling topics which rouse us out of idled complacency. This is serious stuff, after all. It won’t go away in May either when the year ends, Audubon-wise, after the “Year in Review.” After all, there’s always the next September. It’s like the Circle of Life.
A recent example of a scary headline, circa August 24: “For Antarctica’s emperor penguins, ‘there is no time left’”. The sub headline reads: “A new study predicts a bleak future for these iconic birds, which experienced an unprecedented breeding failure last year due to record-low sea ice levels.” The story gets worse; as Auduboners, you have probably read the rest of the story.
Co-President's Message By Brian Dusseault
Headlines, Headliners, & Nature Connection III
This brings us to Noah Strycker, the birder extraordinaire who gave us an uplifting Nature Connection program April 2022 with abundant good news about finding at least 6,042 different birds around the world in his year-long (it was a 12-monther, unlike ours) journey. But the lesson of this undertaking was actually the people he had met along the way who showed him we could all be as one, without borders of separation, no matter the culture or political standards, as they worked in unison to protect those feathered friends everywhere. It was a way to protect ourselves by protecting them.
Before his “Birding without Borders” presentation, Noah brought his vast knowledge and keen wit to several Bay County Schools, giving a lively and engaging “penguin talk” to hundreds of eager elementary students. Mainly as a result of his efforts, our humble Chapter was awarded the Audubon Florida Education Award for the Year.
Noah has continued his study of penguins for years, returning to the Antarctic for many years both scientifically and as a tour guide to brave souls eager to learn about that unique environment, which includes the emperor penguin. There may be less happy feet in the future, if the headline becomes reality. What is really going on here?
Noah has pledged he will be back for our third Nature Connection, early April 2024. He will be a headliner again. Noah will update us on the story of the emperor penguin, from his unique long-range perspective, in film and story. Last summer, he and lucky others spent weeks with an emperor penguin colony, an unbelievably rare event. He will give us the lowdown from down under on these regal courtesans.
And then there is another headline, not so specific to one species as the emperor penguin, but a recurring and sometimes confusing story, and that also involves habitat. What is happening to the wildlife of Africa? To the lions, elephants, wildebeest, crocs, hippos, leopards, hyenas, ants, etc. How about the birds, are they still able to nest or are they losing their homes like the emperor penguins seem to be? Those who attended our first Nature Connection with Nat Geo filmmaker Bob Poole will certainly remember his dramatic story about elephants and the destruction and resurrection of Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. What is really going on in? Africa?
You will soon find out. We will have a real, live, big, safari guide from the Nation of Botswana to tell you the story. So he is also a headliner for our third Nature Connection.
Big Tom Nkwaze has been a professional, fully-licensed guide for about 15 years, guiding mainly in Botswana (slightly smaller than Texas, but with only 2 million people), his home and family just a few kilometers from Victoria Falls, and home to the magnificent Okavango Delta. Do you think he may have seen a thing or two out on those plains from the cockpit of the LandCruiser that guards you from becoming a human sandwich? The Okavango Delta is near Chobe National Park, home to maybe 100,000 elephants. And many lions, and wild dogs, and flamingos, and hippos (biggest killer of humans in Africa, more than crocs), and all the rest of nature’s bountiful, beautiful fauna. Big Tom will tell you story after story, in a clipped British accent (one of three languages he speaks), and through his renowned photography amassed over the years. Unless you go to Africa and do a safari, I guarantee you will never meet a true African Safari Guide, ever. But we are bringing him here so you can meet him one-on-one (if you dare) at our Nature Connection III next April and learn about SAFARI and what is going on with Wild Africa.
We will have a lot more about Big Tom in these pages, so stay tuned. Clear your calendar for Noah and Big Tom, April 6, 2024, at the Holley Center.
Brian Dusseault
bdusseault@aol.com
850-832-7579
