Parks, Beaches and Birds (part 1)

Magnificent! Spectacular! Amazing! Hackneyed expressions of greatness perhaps, however, I've had the good fortune to visit two special places in the Florida State Park's system; St. George Island and St. Joseph Peninsula and there are not enough superlatives to describe these wonderful protected areas. The Florida Park Service is the only two-time National Gold Medal Winner honouring the best state park system in the United States in 1999 and 2005 from the National Recreation and Park Association. It was also a finalist in 1997 and 2011.

1999 & 2005

Bobbie, Arnie and I visited St. George Island on Wednesday. About an hour's drive east of where we are staying on Cape San Blas it is one of Florida's Gulf Coast barrier islands. Last year, the beach was ranked #4 in Dr. Beach's Top 10 in America, which includes Hawaii. No small feat, (http://www.drbeach.org/top10beaches.html). And no wonder, the park offers nine miles (14.5 km) of pristine beaches, four located along the main drive and five in a special use area accessible only by foot or by vehicle with a special use permit.

St. George Island - Just me and a lone fisher

And guess what I found (scroll down to find out)

Banded Piping Plover

You could have knocked me over with a feather (no pun intended). As many of you know, I am a member of Manitoba's piping plover recovery team, so I was thrilled to find this one. Only 8000 were counted during the 2006 international census. Preliminary results for the 2011 census, indicate that that number has dropped. In terms of bird numbers that is a critically low figure. So you can imagine my surprise when I walked across the boardwalk over the sand dunes from the parking lot and spotted this one straight off. I have sent the band combination to my colleagues and await more information on where he/she was banded. Stay tuned. I also identified two other unmarked birds.

For more information on how Manitoba's piping plovers are doing follow my plover blog at:

www.peep-lo.blogspot.com or follow the plovers on Twitter @peep_lo

KP

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