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Brochure Will Guide Birders At Preserve

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT

yhammett@tampatrib.com

Published: December 31, 2008

SUN CITY - Back when row crops dominated the landscape along the shores of Cockroach Bay, there wasn't much there to attract birds winging their way toward South America for winter.

A lot has changed since Hillsborough County's Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program purchased the property more than a decade ago and transformed a chunk of the 8,000 acres back into oak and pine hammocks.

In the past few years, ecologists have documented 40 species of neotropical migratory songbirds using the area.

The same scientists will document their findings for the public, creating a brochure by summer to let birders know what they might find on a trip to the Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve, west of U.S. 41 off Gulf City Road.

Quest Ecology received a $3,800 grant from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program to create an educational field guide to neotropical migratory songbirds found in the area. The money comes from Tampa Bay license plate sales, often referred to as tarpon tags.

Quest Ecology is a Wimauma-based business that specializes in ecological studies, environmental permitting and natural resource management.

Ecologist Lauren Deaner has spent long days during the past two winter and spring migrations camped out among the oaks and pines fishing for birds with delicate mist nets strung between trees. She nets, weighs, measures and identifies each bird before releasing it.

"We wanted to take it one step further with this tri-fold guide," she said. "The use of created coastal habitat by neotropical birds is what makes this different."

The area, replanted with native vegetation 11 years ago, is still considered a young habitat. "We've done two complete years of that (mist net) study," Deaner said. And as time goes by, she said, she expects to find an even larger variety of birds using the area.

"At one point in time, this was entirely cleared of all forested habitat," she said. When the natural habitat disappeared, so did most of the birds that depended on it.

Today, Deaner sees towhees, palm warblers, ruby crowned kinglets and the rarer gray-cheeked and Swainson's thrushes, both from northern Canada and Alaska.

"Some of these birds migrate through on their way to South America, and others come to winter and breed here," she said.

More and more, birders are discovering Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve, now listed as an official section of the Great Florida Birding Trail, said Richard Sullivan, who manages the preserve.

"I've probably seen half of the species Lauren has identified myself," Sullivan said.

"I'd love to be able to have a brochure like that to give all the birders that come here," he said. "We've been an official part of the state birding trail for a couple of years now."

Technically, the preserve is already open to the public, though it is accessible only through a gate that is kept locked when county employees are not on site. And because restoration is still in progress, there are times when visitors can only access certain areas, Sullivan said.

So call ahead for birding visits. The office number is (813) 671-7754, ext. 202.

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 865-1566.

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