Spotting Banded Black Skimmers in an Unusual Winter Location

The Orlando space is busy—Disney theme parks, a number of new building, and the interstate, filled with individuals coming and going. One of many final issues most vacationers take into consideration is seaside birds. However one January day, amidst the patrons and resort company clambering for some sunshine at Cranes Roost Park off I-4, tons of of Black Skimmers loafed the day away just some dozen toes from the strolling paths, plaza with fountain present, and floating amphitheater.

Jeff Percell was shocked. Visiting from the Boulder, Colorado space for a enterprise journey, Percell at all times appears to be like for alternatives to see new birds. “The 220 Black Skimmers I noticed had been truly a life fowl for me,” he says.

Black Skimmers are coastal birds discovered alongside seashores and nearshore waters protected against heavy wave motion, akin to lagoons, estuaries, and inlets. Throughout migration, the Florida resident inhabitants of skimmers swells with birds from breeding areas alongside the Jap Seaboard and Gulf Coast, usually resting on quiet seashores and secluded inland lakes.

The Black Skimmers Percell noticed had been primarily resting on a floating dock platform in the midst of the lake, sometimes retreating to skim the water for meals.

Much more thrilling was the treasure hunt that adopted—upon reviewing his pictures, Percell seen that a number of of the birds had been carrying leg bands of varied colours.

He eagerly reached out to us and the USGS with the band info and discovered that the birds with blue bands got here from New Jersey, yellow from New York, and white from Virginia. Curiously, not one of the birds had inexperienced bands, indicating they got here from Florida. Audubon Florida biologists have acquired reviews of Black Skimmers banded in Florida at different Central Florida places, together with Lake Okeechobee, however none have been reported as far north as Seminole County.

Percell acquired certificates from the USGS for six of the birds he reported, together with Yellow ABK, banded by Katharine Goodenough with the Larid Analysis and Conservation Group on the College of Central Oklahoma. She informed us that the fowl, which hatched in 2020 or earlier, was banded close to Lido Seashore in Nassau County, NY, on July 21, 2022. Goodenough additionally indicated that a number of people she has studied used the world from Wekiva Springs, Lake Apopka, Lake Jessup, and over to the coast at Cape Canaveral.

Goodenough collaborates with Audubon North Carolina and Audubon Delta to coach coastal biologists in tern and skimmer seize and GPS and MOTUS deployment alongside the Mid-Atlantic Coast and the higher Gulf of Mexico in Mississippi.

Now that it’s April, the birds are on the brink of fly again to their breeding seashores to supply the following era. Between right here and there, they have to navigate conservation challenges akin to communication towers and lightweight air pollution, however the largest problem they face yearly is discovering a quiet place on the seaside to boost their younger.

Fortunately, right here in Florida, Audubon is defending the locations that birds want at the moment and sooner or later. At beach-nesting websites, workers and volunteer stewards make sure that beachgoers don’t enter fragile nesting areas and educate guests in regards to the outstanding species that depend on Florida’s shores for survival.

We’d like your assist.

In the event you take pleasure in spending time on the seaside and interacting with the general public, we encourage you to volunteer. Learn more and sign up here.