Kayakers Conduct Bird Survey of Virginia Key

The orange and yellow kayaks were lined up neatly along the shoreline of the Marine Stadium basin, the turquoise waters of the lagoon lapping up against them under a cloudless blue sky. With gear in hand - cameras in dry bags, binoculars and clipboards holding the survey lists- about a dozen volunteers had gathered to begin the first of several wildlife expeditions into the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildife Area (BSCWA) of Virginia Key.

“There’s a bird walking along the shoreline. Does that count?” someone asked, pointing to a cormorant surveying the group.

“Nope,” said Laura Reynolds, executive director of the Tropical Audubon Society and coordinator of the trip. “It has to be in the Critical Wildlife Area, and after we get in the kayaks.”

Audubon volunteers joined Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) biologists on a recent Saturday in the first of many wildlife surveys planned to document the birds that forage, roost, nest or even merely fly over the 700-acre area that includes submerged lands, two spoil islands, intertidal mudflats and bars and tidal swamp forests along Virginia Key’s northwest shoreline. This part of Virginia Key contains the largest remaining portion of unaltered mangrove forest and unaltered, submerged lands.

The Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area received its state designation, one of the few in the state, to protect the extraordinary habitat values of the area. As such, it carries with it a prohibition against entry by people and vessels. The kayakers entered the area only with a special permit from the Florida DEP.

Since its designation in 1990 there has been little data collected - either on the inhabiting birds, submerged underwater vegetation or manatees.

This trip will help remedy that.

The kayaking volunteers paddled across the basin and alongside the shoreline of the CWA, parallel to the mangrove fringes, weaving through the vegetation islands, observing and recording their observations.

Ospreys, great blue herons, snowy egret, ibis, cormorants, anhingas and brown pelicans were among the many species found. A look was also taken underwater to document the health of the seagrasses - including Johnson’s seagrass (Halophila johnsonii), which the federal government lists as a threatened species.

“We need to accurately document abundance, diversity and function of birds using the area,” said Jennifer Baez, an environmental specialist with DEP’s Coastal and Aquatic Managed Areas division, who brought along a special underwater camera and GPS. “The information collected through these surveys will show why this area is critical for many marine organisms.”