2019 Field Trip Series – Spring Birding at St. Joe Peninsula State Park

WITH DANA BRYAN, RETIRED CHIEF BIOLOGIST, FLORIDA PARK SERVICE The Tallahassee Scientific Society is continuing its 2019 Field Trip Series with a birding expedition to St. Joe Peninsula State Park. The park has received recent national attention when Hurricane Michael severed the peninsula right through the main day use area, leaving the campgrounds and cabins on the newly created island. We will bird the spring migrants and study the rest of the park’s excellent wildlife opportunities. Coming and going, we will drive a big loop to see various areas hit by Michael. Driving time will be unusually long and we will need volunteer carpool drivers. Google Maps says the time to the park will be 2:34 hr. via US-319 and US-98 through Sopchoppy; the return will be 2:36 hr. via Pt. St. Joe, Mexico Beach, Wewahitchka and Blountstown. Because we will be so far afield, please do not “have to be back” exactly on time. This tour is offered to TSS members first and will be opened to the general public if space remains. Please renew your membership (https://tallysci.org), if necessary, before registering. Members interested in the field trip must pre-register by emailing Dana Bryan at dcbgbw@comcast.net. Please provide the names of all those who will attend and include email and cell phone contact information for more trip information and last-minute changes. Dana will reply to your email with your registration status and further trip information. Dana plans and organizes the TSS field trip series and will lead this trip himself. He is an expert birder and served for 30 years in the Florida Park Service, most of those years as the chief biologist. St. Joseph Peninsula stretches 20 miles into the Gulf of Mexico with beautiful sandy white beaches and tall dunes on the Gulf side and marsh on the bay side. The 1,750-acre park is teeming with wildlife, providing vitally important habitats for beach nesting birds including the snowy plover, three species of sea turtles, and two remaining “core” populations of endangered St. Andrews beach mouse. The park is excellent for birding – 240 species of wading birds, shorebirds, migratory birds and birds of prey live or migrate along the undeveloped parts of this barrier island park. The park is documented as the most productive shorebird nesting beach in the panhandle of Florida