Audubon Florida Needs Your Eyes and Ears: Look for Sea and Shorebirds on Local Rooftops

It’s essentially the most great time of the yr— shorebird nesting season! Do you know that not all shorebirds nest on the seashore? Some shorebirds use gravel rooftops as a substitute nesting habitat.

Which Fowl Species Nest on Rooftops?

Species like Black Skimmer, Least Tern, and American Oystercatcher make the most of city habitats from March via August. These species are threatened within the state of Florida, and they’re protected by state laws.

Search for them flying, hovering, or touchdown on rooftops. Their calls are high-pitched squeaks, and so they name steadily.

How Do We Shield Them?

It’s unlawful to hurt, harass, or disturb nesting shorebirds and their eggs or chicks, even once they’re on a roof. That features actions that will unintentionally trigger the adults to depart their nests, exposing eggs or chicks to the weather and predation.

All through the nesting season, biologists monitor rooftop-nesting birds and potential nesting websites throughout the Tampa Bay space in partnership with native property homeowners, municipalities, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee. Along with monitoring, some chick safety instruments are used to offer cowl from predators or cut back the probabilities of a chick falling. Volunteers who obtain coaching additionally play essential roles of their safety by conducting ground-based surveys, educating residents, and helping with chick rescues. Monitoring efforts monitor nesting success, tackle disturbances, and guarantee a fast response within the occasion of a fallen chick.

As soon as rooftop nesting season will get underway, Audubon encourages constructing managers, enterprise homeowners, and residents of buildings with flat, gravel rooftops to pay attention to shorebird exercise overhead. Different methods to assist embody retaining dumpsters closed to discourage predators from the realm and retaining an eye fixed out for fallen chicks.

What Can You Do? 

Electronic mail us! In case you discover birds nesting in your constructing, keep away from accessing the roof and attain out to Audubon’s Rooftop Biologist Abby McKay for steerage. 

Are you seeking to volunteer to assist seashore and rooftop nesting birds this yr? Wherever you are in Florida, sign up to volunteer here.