Have you noticed the bright rusty-red cones that are popping up around the Rookery pond? In the fall, coontie plants (Zamia integrifolia) form seed cones that are a food source for blue jays, mockingbirds, grackles, and other large birds. This fern-like plant with stiff, glossy leaves is a gymnosperm and reproduces by seed and pollen cones instead of flowers and fruits. Specialized beetles that have coevolved with coontie carry pollen from the male plants to the female plants, and other insects, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals benefit from its low-growing cover.

The only native cycad in the United States, coontie was a staple food for indigenous people, who knew how to remove its toxins during preparation. Coontie was then commercially exploited and almost extirpated from Florida in the early 1900s. It is a larval host plant for the endangered Atala butterfly, thought to be extinct until 1979, as well as the Echo moth. This iconic Florida plant can be viewed in natural areas and botanical gardens and is carried by native nurseries around the state – check out plantrealflorida.org. 

- Kristin Hoffschmidt

Billions of birds flew South this past month. Most will return, hopefully. The journeys are getting more challenging as humans alter habitats, and climate changes are making foraging more difficult. Plants are changing their time of blossoming and seeding. The Anthropocene era is ours and it is past time to worry about what we Homo sapiens have done and continue doing to our eco-systems.

When I was born we were a world population of 2.3 billion. As a sixth grader in 1955 I lay on a classroom floor congested with smog-filled lungs in East Los Angeles. Later I wrote and spoke publicly as an environmental information representative of the Southern California Edison Company. It was the first and second year anniversary of Earth Day. Our message was simple. Which sources of energy should be used to supply the demand for electricity?

Each has its consequences. Coal and No. 1 crude oil give off horrendous amounts of CO2 (Carbon dioxide), SO3 (Sulphur trioxide), and oodles of other noxious gasses. So does natural gas. Nuclear wastes endure thousands of years. Solar panels require mining rare earth elements. Wind propellers kill birds. Back then, cost and benefit analysis rarely considered air and water pollution. Smog blanketed Los Angeles and later almost every major urban area around the Globe. Humans have been leaving scarring footprints and are consuming limited resources.

What can each of us do to reduce our unwanted environmental impacts? At Venice Area Audubon Society (VAAS) we monitor birds and their habitats, a fair measure of where earth's health is going. Doug Tallamy urges us to grow native plants in our landscape. Thousands of biologists, ecologists, and other scientists are watching mother earth ever more closely and reporting. To see healthy, fully functioning eco-systems VAAS is visiting Ecuador this coming Spring. Hopefully we will return this Spring better prepared to decide our part in our planet's fate. 

- Roy Musick, VAAS Co-President

The official Bald Eagle breeding season in Florida begins on October 1.  Birds are already returning to nesting territories around the state and will begin  engaging in mating, nest-building, and raising young throughout the fall and into the spring.   

Audubon Florida's EagleWatch Program begins its 31st season of nest monitoring involving volunteers, both new and returning,  to observe nest sites and submit data to Audubon Florida throughout the breeding season.  If you're interested in participating in this amazing community science effort to document our state's Bald Eagle population, EagleWatch is for you!

Information about EagleWatch is available on Audubon Florida's EagleWatch Program page.  Training for new and retuning but lapsed volunteers is required.  Training is free but registration is required.  Click the links below to register for the date/time that best suits your schedule.

• Sunday, September 24 - 2-4 PM EST via Zoom:   https://audubon.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwkc-moqT4qGtxs9Vtpotj2Mhqrgcr8z0El
• Sunday, October 1 - 2-4 PM EST via Zoom: https://audubon.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYtf-2tpzMpG9XzTAyQh5HtyANAZjU_kFcz

Our monthly meeting and program nights are now taking place on the third Tuesday of the month from September through May (except for November 14, 2023) at Venice United Church of Christ's Naar Hall, 620 Shamrock Blvd, Venice. There is ample parking and accessible entry to Naar Hall, which offers a large and spacious meeting room for our group's needs. We begin our monthly gatherings as usual at 6:00 PM with light refreshments, followed by a brief meeting and the program beginning at 6:30 PM.

This year's program topics are listed on the Programs page under the Education heading. As you plan your calendar, we hope you're able to join us each month as we explore a variety of topics. Please feel free to invite family, friends, and guests! All are welcome, whether they are Audubon members or not. It's our hope that everyone in attendance can take home a bit of new and interesting information every month. If you have suggestions for future topics or speakers, please let us know.

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A second VAAS birding tour to exotic Ecuador has been arranged for March 13-22, 2024. Due to the overwhelming interest in the January tour, Holbrook Travel has arranged another VAAS group tour, for which only 6 openings remain. We hope you'll be able to join the 10 day tour to the lush region around Mindo Valley, home to 500 species of birds including Andean Cock of the Rock, Squirrel Cuckoo, Masked Trogon, Flame Faced and Glistening Green Tanagers.

The itinerary will be similar to our January trip and includes hotel, meals, local transportation, expert guide and our own ecologist and group leader, Eileen Gerle. The cost for our group will be slightly less than $3000 plus about $500 for round trip airfare from Miami to Quito. Carpooling to Miami will enable us to fly together.

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The Rookery was featured on WWSB ABC7's Good Morning Suncoast show recently. 

We’re not just paving over paradise, we’re also paving over the places that our beautiful Suncoast birds like to nest and breed, year after year. The Venice Audubon Rookery is doing everything it can to give the birds a sanctuary for years to come!

Take a look!