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Nearly 300 children, parents, birders, naturalists and volunteers alighted at Tropical Audubon Society’s 2.2-acre wooded campus on Saturday, Feb. 15, for an engaging afternoon of music, games, crafting, prizes and bird encounters that comprised the conservation organization’s 11th annual Bird Day.
Fun and enriching activities designed for participants of every age illuminated bird protection programs, native habitat gardening and bird identification.
Staged across the society’s Steinberg Nature Center grounds, located at 5530 Sunset Dr., and chaired by TAS Education & Advocacy director Stephanie Clements, the annual February Bird Day event celebrates the late winter/early spring northbound flight of nearly 350 species of migratory birds stopping in South Florida on their return from points south to their North American nesting grounds.
To monitor their migration for science, TAS field trip coordinator Brian Rapoza tutored 18 attendees on how to participate in the annual Great Backyard Bird Count, a global event that took place Feb.14-17. Rapoza capped the indoor power-point primer by loaning Leica Store Miami binoculars and leading a mini bird walk along the nature trails that thread the society’s pine rocklands and hardwood hammock demonstration forests.
A large crowd gathered for the enthralling release of four raptors rehabilitated by Wildlife Rescue of Dade County founder Lloyd Brown and his team, while curious children lined up at the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station table to meet “Mowgli,” a rescued Eastern screech-owl that now serves as an ambassador animal for the organization.
Bird Day visitors of every age tried their hand at Nature Journaling and honed their binocular skills. Kids crafted Piping Plover “chicks,” took part in owl pellet dissection, learned about South Florida flora and fauna, and “ate like birds.”
Their parents toured the historic 1932 Doc Thomas House with TAS board member and resident historian Dan Jones. By day’s end, children who completed eight activities received commemorative Bird Day T-shirts and stickers.
The afternoon festivities also featured music by esteemed folk artist and storyteller Grant Livingston, whose anthology of songs highlights wildlife, the Everglades and other South Florida ecosystems.
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