New Year's Day Birding Open

St. Petersburg Audubon Society to Host New Year's Day Birding Open at Ft. DeSoto County Park.
Proceeds to benefit Audubon of Florida's Coastal Islands Sanctuaries Program
Contact: Ann Hodgson or Ann Paul, Audubon of Florida, 813/623-6826
Mauri Peterson, St. Petersburg Audubon Society, 727/398-4124 or maurip@aol.com).

December 18, 2007. Tampa, FL - Bird-watchers and nature appreciators are invited to participate in the Rich Paul New Year's Day Birding Open, hosted by St. Petersburg Audubon Society at Ft. DeSoto County Park, on Tuesday January 1, 2008. The Birding Open is a species-counting competition, with each person and team participating on the honor code. Bird species located from the toll bridges of Tierra Verde on the Pinellas Bayway, Highway 682 south (including the shores, woods, and habitats of Ft. DeSoto County Park) on Tuesday, January 1 2008, 6 am to noon, will count towards winning trophies for most species seen, as team and individual participants, and other categories, some of them "mystery" categories. Bird species counters will have the period from 6 am until noon to record their sightings. Then, the tally and awards ceremony will occur at East Beach Picnic Pavilion #13, where contestants will have lunch and share stories of their morning adventures. Participants are asked to make a $20 donation to Audubon of Florida's Coastal Islands Sanctuaries Program and bring their own picnic lunch.

The New Year's Day Birding Open, sponsored by St. Petersburg Audubon Society for 15 years, has raised over $10,000 for Audubon of Florida's Coastal Islands Sanctuaries Program. Audubon's Sanctuaries Program works to protect the colonial waterbirds of Florida and the habitats that support them. For the last two years and this New Year's Day, the Birding Open has been dedicated in memory of Richard T. Paul, former Sanctuary Manager, who died in 2005 of cancer.

Participants can expect to see at least 50 species of birds in this part of southern Pinellas County in the time frame of the Birding Open contest. More experienced bird watchers may spot over 75 species, including herons, ducks, sandpipers, warblers and hawks.

To participate, or for more information, please contact Mauri Peterson, president of St. Petersburg Audubon Society at 727/398-4124 or http://us.f502.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=maurip@aol.com.