Thursday, February 17, 2011

Hendry Bird Count This Weekend


Join the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), the Hendry-Glades Audubon Society and thousands of avian enthusiasts
across the nation for the 14th annual Great Backyard Bird Count.

Each year, "citizen scientists" submit checklists to help researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, N.Y., and the National
Audubon Society study and protect birds.

Florida has ranked first among participating states and provinces in reporting the most birds. Clewiston, just south of Lake Okeechobee, was among the top 10 localities in reporting the greatest number of individual birds in 2008, 2009 and 2010. During the 2010 count, participants turned in more than 97,300 checklists online, observed 603 species and 11.2 million individual bids in the overall count.

While anyone can join the count from their own backyard or park, the SFWMD and Hendry-Glades Audubon will take birders on three separate days to an Everglades Stormwater Treatment Area (STA) in Hendry County that has become nationally known as a bird watching spot. STAs are the water-cleaning workhorses of Everglades restoration. They have also become renowned havens for wildlife and outdoor enthusiasts alike.

The gate at STA-5 is located on Blumberg Road in Hendry County, 12 miles south of the intersection of Blumberg and County Road 835. Blumberg Road ends at the gate after 10 miles of asphalt and 2 miles of dirt.

Contact Margaret England of Hendry-Glades Audubon. (863) 517-02021 email: sta5birding@embarqmail.com

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