Audubon protects Tampa Bay's shorebirds

Editor's note: Today is Earth Day, recognized each spring since 1970 to raise awareness about and renew commitment to protecting the Earth's resources. Today's Tampa Tribune features efforts to protect bird species on Gulf and Tampa Bay nesting sanctuaries.

TAMPA - He saw the carnage immediately.

Evidence of wanton destruction of life lay all around him. Young birds, dead and alive, were scattered on the ground amid spent gun shells.

There were empty nests and gruesome signs that birds had been carried away from Green Key by the sackful.

Tampa pathologist H.R. Mills, a member of the St. Petersburg Audubon Society, wrote about the grim discovery in 1933 and shared his findings with other naturalists. Humans had been annihilating bird populations across Florida for years, and it had to stop.

"Colonial water birds were decimated at the height of the millinery trade," said Ann Hodgson, manager of the Tampa-based Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries program. "There was public outrage and the understanding that the birds were totally vulnerable during the nesting period."

The Audubon Society created the sanctuaries program in 1934 to combat the malicious slaughter of nesting birds killed to provide "sea squab" to upscale Tampa restaurants and feather plumes to adorn ladies' hats.

Seventy-five years later, due in large part to the program's watchdog successes, thousands of shorebirds nest and rear their young on the islands in Tampa Bay and along the Gulf coast with little human interference. Among them are great egrets, roseate spoonbills, reddish egrets and cormorants.

The islands and beaches are posted with no-trespassing signs and monitored by Audubon staff and volunteers.

Ethical outrage

The program's success is built on the use of moral persuasion and state and federal laws protecting migratory birds, said Ann Paul, regional coordinator for Audubon of Florida.

"There was an early perception that the resources of North America were completely unlimited," Paul said. But when consumers began to see that thousands of birds were being slaughtered and sent to market, there was a sense of ethical outrage. Some were incensed far sooner, after seeing early 20th century society women wearing hats adorned with entire bird carcasses.

"There were too many bodies, and it created a furor," Paul said.

Audubon hired sworn officers to monitor the islands and continues to do so today - sometimes at the monitors' own peril. Volunteers and paid staff are occasionally threatened by people who don't care to follow the rules.

"A big part of what we do out here is educate boaters," Audubon field biologist Mark Rachal said during a recent monitoring trip on the Bay.

In a matter of 30 minutes, Rachal spotted two boats parked at or running near protected islands. He handed the anglers in one vessel a boaters guide that specifies areas off limits to the public. The other was a commercial crab boat captain who circled near the shoreline, then took off as Rachal approached.

"We've got 25,000 nesting birds in Hillsborough Bay alone," Paul said. "From mid-March to the end of August, they need as much seclusion as possible to nest successfully."

When biologists aren't monitoring the nests, they work with government agencies on issues such as zoning, growth, urban sprawl and wetlands protection.

Audubon managers recently completed a study on seagrass distribution where treated wastewater flows into an estuary that feeds into the Bay. Seagrass helps filter runoff before it reaches open water, serves as a safe haven for young marine life and supplies food to the threatened manatee population.

"We're heavily invested in promoting seagrass restoration since it is the foundation of the food web in the estuary," Hodgson said.

The federal Clean Water Act, enacted in 1948 and amended in the years since, stopped the discharge of raw sewage flowing into the Bay. Audubon has continued coordinating with other groups to keep the Bay waters clean for birds, plants and wildlife.

Nature's alarm clock

Inland wetlands also are of great importance to the coastal bird community because they are a major food source for young birds, Paul added.

She said the Bay area bird population is much like a canary in a mine shaft for the human population.

"The birds are our alarm clock," she said. "They are our warning siren. A healthier Bay means a healthier community. No life in the Bay would mean no life in the community."

"We have a broad mission, and a very important element is coastal conservation," Hodgson said. "How we use the coast has always been a contentious topic. We know that coastal areas with natural mangrove forests lead to better coastal protection, less erosion, and healthier habitat for wildlife and marine species."

FIND OUT MORE

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar released a State of the Birds study March 19, the first comprehensive report on bird populations in the United States. Shorebirds, like those the Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries work to protect, are among the most threatened group. To view a video and the full report, go to www.stateofthebirds.org.