A Day in the Life: Everglades Research Station Bird Biologist

With a loud splash, Shauna Sayers drops the anchor, then plops the primary kayak into the shallow waters round Sandy Key in Florida Bay. Sayers, a wading chicken specialist at Audubon’s Everglades Analysis Station in Tavernier, makes common visits to this island and 62 different keys every spring to watch the nesting efforts of wading birds. One species particularly, the Roseate Spoonbill, is focused as a result of it could inform us concerning the well being of the Everglades ecosystem.

On any given day, Sayers expertly captains a small vessel, loaded with kayaks, different gear, and a small staff, by a maze of channel markers denoting shallow waters, no-wake zones, and seasonal no-entry zones established by the Nationwide Park Service. It’s a one-hour-and-fifteen-minute boat experience to this distant island the place quite a lot of birds cease to relaxation throughout migration, roost in a single day, or elevate their households.  

“We had a complete of 42 spoonbill nests right here this 12 months,” says Sayers, “and we come again each seven to 10 days to watch chick improvement by 21 days of age, after which level, if a minimum of one chick continues to be alive, the nest is taken into account successful.”  Nesting season for Roseate Spoonbills is wrapping up, however different birds are simply getting began.

From the island, the sounds and smells of birds waft on a light-weight breeze. The staff, which has permission and permits to do that work, makes use of the kayaks to cross the shallow flat that successfully protects this place from unauthorized boat entry. They hear squeaky calls of Pink-winged Blackbirds, twittering warblers, and guttural squawks of Tricolored Herons from deep contained in the mangrove-covered key. Sayers and Senior Biologist Kaliegh Schendler prepared their gear whereas Seasonal Analysis Assistant Alli Mallouk begins recording all chicken species noticed on her datasheet.

Fastidiously strolling by the maze of mangrove prop roots and squishy mud, Sayers spots the primary nest. She watches for any indicators of grownup or younger birds earlier than extending her telescoping mirror to peek inside. That nest is vacant, however on the subsequent nest, a younger Reddish Egret begins to stir.

“We’ve one chick at stage two,” calls Mallouk. Schendler trains her zoom lens on the gangly younger chicken peering down at her as she swats away a horde of biting bugs.

They proceed on to file a complete of 31 species, with Double-crested Cormorants, Ruddy Turnstones, and Tricolored Herons probably the most quite a few. In addition they recorded twelve “young-of-the-year” Roseate Spoonbills.

As a important indicator species for Florida Bay and the Everglades, Roseate Spoonbills have been on the coronary heart of Audubon’s wading chicken monitoring program for many years. As a result of these birds depend on particular circumstances, particularly water ranges, to have the ability to feed and lift their households, their nesting success or failure is used to evaluate the outcomes of Everglades restoration in addition to the impacts of local weather change.

Habitat loss—made worse by the escalating affect of local weather change—is driving chicken declines all through the hemisphere. Along with devoted Roseate Spoonbill research, the staff additionally paperwork nesting efforts of Tricolored Herons in partnership with the Nationwide Park Service.

Audubon’s Everglades Analysis Station shares knowledge collected on all wading birds with quite a lot of companions for the aim of restoring and defending the River of Grass. These efforts assist make sure that we perceive which areas are most crucial to chicken inhabitants success, the threats these areas face, and the way we are able to finest safeguard the well being and longevity of these habitats whereas respecting the wants of native communities.