TAS Board Election / American Oystercatchers Banded

Jun 20

I am pleased to share that last month I was elected to a two year term on the Board of Directors for the Tampa Audubon Society (TAS). I am incredibly grateful and honored to serve TAS in this new capacity.

I joined TAS two years ago primarily because it had a photo club and I thought it would be nice to share some pictures and see what everyone else was photographing. Within a few months, the leader of the Photo Club stepped down and they asked for volunteers to lead the group. As the only volunteer I was appointed and started leading the group the following month.

Although my primary reason for joining TAS was related to the Photo Club, I have really enjoyed the monthly meeting that follows the Photo Club meeting. The highlight of this meeting is an educational presentation related to birds and their habitat. In the past two years I have learned so much about the health of Tampa Bay, butterflies, bluebirds, manatees, trees, and more. I always look forward to each presentation.

Another reason for joining a local chapter of the Audubon Society is to bring a bird photographers perspective to the table. Bird photographers and bird conservationists don’t always see eye to eye, and I certainly appreciate TAS allowing me to bring a photographer’s perspective to the Board. The TAS group has been incredibly supportive of bird photography and show that photography and conservation are both beneficial when everyone treats each other with courtesy and respect.

Here is a link to the announcement and to the TAS Photo Club.

In other news, this past weekend I visited Fort De Soto to check on the American Oystercatcher chicks. They are getting big and I don’t think chick is the right word anymore. Let’s call them juveniles. The two adults and two of the three juveniles were in the roped off lagoon area on North Beach. I don’t know what happened to the third juvenile. Both juveniles are banded now, which is great for conservation but perhaps not so great for photography. Lots of wildlife photographers, including myself, prefer not to photograph banded birds. If I see these banded birds in the future I’ll take a photo for reporting purposes, but that’s it.