North County
 
* Rescues & Success
 
South County
 
* Least Terns
 
THE BIRD PAGE
 
* Species Profile:
          Black Tern
 
*Photo of the Day
 
Recent Sightings
 
* Snowy Plovers at FDCP
 
* Louisiana Waterthrush
 
* Long-billed Curlew
 
* Leach's Storm-Petrel
 
* Lesser Black-backed
 
click  the above  headings  to  view
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 SEE AN INJURED BIRD?
   Contact the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary to see
       what you can do!
 
       (727) 391-6211
   To contact the site-owner direct e-mails to:  Ron Smith
 rsmith52@tampabay.rr.com
    THERE'S  ALWAYS  WORK  TO  BE  DONE  AT  SHELL  KEY
Heavy thunderstorms and strong west winds the past few weeks have really been hard on the nesting attempts by Black Skimmers at Shell Key.  High water washed away two nesting attempts by the skimmers and also has washed away many of the posts, signs, and twine that announce the preserve's outer boundaries to visitors.
On Sunday, July 5th, an energetic group of ten volunteers, behind the great leader-ship of Barbie Ranck and Capt. Alva Shorty, visited the preserve to re-twine, re-post, and to check on the bird life at Shell Key.
Dave Kandz was on hand and passed along the photographs you see here.  During the summer of 1999 Paul Blair noted 13 American Oystercatcher nests at Shell Key.  This year there were two.  Above, an adult stands over its youngster.
When the habitat at Shell Key was different, and not as vegetated as it is today, Blair reported ten pairs of Wilson's Plovers nesting on the island.  There were none this year, though nesting was noted at other Pinellas locations.  Interesting, too, was that 20,000 pairs of Laughing Gulls were estimated as nesting there in 2000.  Today, that colony has shifted to Egmont Key, the island at the mouth of Tampa Bay (Hillsborough County).
The hardest working man at Shell Key was Mark Dietrich.  Above, he and Gay Lazuri are shown securing twine to an area in which old twine had blown down due to the high winds.
 
At right, Mark is helping Mauri Peterson-Dietrich figure out the amount of line that will be needed between the next set of poles.
 
Below, Hilary Flower has her hands full with her three kids and organizing the line between poles.  Daughter Nora Jade (back to you in the photo), more than earned her keep with her hard work!
Above, some of the group at work.  (Left to right): Andrea Smith, Hilary Flower, Ken Wilson, Mark Dietrich, Ron Smith, and Nora Jade Flower (back to you).
Below, Ron Smith and his daughter, Andrea, who use to come out to Shell Key in the early 1990's to do the same kind of work when she was just 6 years old, stand with the youngest & best birder in Pinellas, Nora Jade Flower.  Was it mentioned that she is also the hardest worker?