Conservation
Our Support for Conservation
Florida Nature Tours and all of its leaders have been long time supporters of organizations that advocate bird protection, conservation, scientific research and the promotion of the hobby and sport of birding.
For our 2012 season we will make a donation of $100.00 from the price of each trip booked in the name of every Dry Tortugas tour participant to the birding/conservation organization of their choice.
We will also be donating a Dry Tortugas tour to each of the three following birding festivals to help raise money for various conservation programs.
1. The Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in Titusville, Florida:- January 25-30, 2012 (Tel: 321-268-5224)
We will be sharing a booth with one of our leaders, David Simpson of 'Birding With David Simpson'.
A number of our Florida Nature Tours trip leaders will be leading field trips at the festival.
2. The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in Harlingen, Texas:- November 9-13, 2011 (Tel: 956-357-3457)
Be sure to stop by our booth & say hi!
3. The Midwest Birding Symposium in Lakeside, Ohio:- September 15-18, 2011 (Tel: 800-879-2473)
Congratulations to this year's winner: Claudia Anders of Ohio
The Herb Kale Award
Not only does Florida Nature Tours support the organizations that work for what we love, we support the people who have made such important contributions over the years. In the spirit of respect and gratitude for what the following five people have done for all of us we are giving each of them a free trip to the Dry Tortugas this spring:
Bruce Anderson of Orlando, Florida
Bruce Anderson has lived most of his life in Florida and has been studying birds for over 50 years.
He co-authored the state bird book, The Birdlife of Florida and is currently writing a major treatise on his favorite bird, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. As one of the most prolific and dedicated chroniclers of Florida ornithology, he is currently the Florida Region co-editor for the American Birding Association’s journal North American Birds and co-editor, Florida, for the National Audubon Society’s American Birds Christmas Bird Count.
Bruce is active with the Florida Ornithological Society, having served as its president, and currently serving on its records committee as well as being a regional editor for the FOS Field Observations Committee.
Despite his many duties and responsibilities pertaining to Florida ornithology, he still manages to travel extensively throughout North America and elsewhere in pursuit of birds.
Michael Brothers of Ponce Inlet, Florida
Michael Brothers has been birding in Florida for 40 years, with a special interest in the pelagic birds and the gulls of Florida. Mr. Brothers has over 35 years experience as a professional interpretive naturalist and is currently director of the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet, Florida. He developed the pelagic birding tour program at the Marine Science Center that has been conducting Florida’s only regular pelagic birding tours to the Gulf Stream and beyond. He has led birding tours throughout Florida as well as Kenya, South America and the Galapagos Islands. He is currently a member of the Florida Ornithological Society Records Committee and the Robertson Fellowship Award Committee of the Florida Ornithological Society. Michael has documented the birds of Volusia County for nearly 40 years and has found 341 species in Volusia County.
Mr. Brothers is the former Executive Director of the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach; he also served as Executive Director of the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon, Georgia and as the Curator of Education and Statewide Services for the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee, as well as 10 years as Curator of Science at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach. He has organized major exhibitions includingThe Great Asian Dinosaur Exhibition from the Russian Academy of Sciences and Mysteries of Egypt from the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Mr. Brothers served for nine years as visiting associate professor at Florida State University in the graduate program in Museum Management.
We wish to thank Michael for his permission to use many of his photographs throughout the site.
Andy Kratter of Gainesville, Florida
Ann Paul of Tampa, Florida
Ann Paul is the Tampa Bay Regional Coordinator for Audubon of Florida.
From 1991 through 2002 she was Assistant Manager of the Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries, and is an active partner in sanctuary manager work. She received her undergraduate degree in biology from Cornell University and her master's degree in biology from Trinity University in San Antonio.
She worked for the Texas Nature Conservancy as Assistant Land Steward, managing nature preserves to protect rare species and the Hillsborough County Resource Management Office, which manages the conservation lands purchased through the county's Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program.
She is past president of the Tampa Audubon Society and currently vice president of the Florida Ornithological Society.
Since 2001 she has served as a Governor's Appointee on the Board of the Florida Institute for Phosphate Research and is also a Governor’s Appointee for the Non-Mandatory Phosphate Lands Reclamation Board.
Ann is an expert on the colonial waterbirds of Florida and management of nesting colony sites.
She is a widow and has four children.
Father Tom Pincelli of Brownsville, Texas
Father Tom hails from Connecticut where he was ordained in 1970. Two years later he became hooked on birds, so when in 1980 he was offered a church in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas he jumped at it. The old valley has never been the same since!
The North American birding community has always been aware of the area’s outstanding birding opportunities because of its proximity to Mexico. If you’re going to see all the birds in the ABA area there are several places that you will have to visit, and South Florida, Southeast Arizona and South Texas are at the top of the list, although Tom would most assuredly reverse that order.
The majority of the people living in the valley had no idea of the monetary value of the local bird populations, but with the help of a few friends Father Tom set out to change all that. Over the last 30 years no one person has done more for the birds of South Texas than a Connecticut Yankee named Tom Pincelli, or “Father Bird” as he is known. His non-stop promotion of the Rio Grande Valley as a prime birding location has over time led to the realization by the business community that “birds mean bucks,” and that protecting the birds and their habitat is very good for the economy.
Through his work with Frontera Audubon Society, his weekly newspaper articles, which appear in several local papers, his PBS radio and television programs, and his leadership and guidance in every aspect of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, Father Tom has truly improved the lives of the birds and of the people of South Texas.
From a birders perspective It’s impossible to know how many species are on one’s North American list because of the efforts of Father Tom, but there is no doubt that his starting the local rare bird alert in 1981 has made a huge difference. For an in depth interview with Father Tom click here or for a shorter version click here
The Herb Kale Award consists of an expense free Dry Tortugas birding tour courtesy of Florida Nature Tours and is awarded to persons who over the years have distinguished themselves in the fields of ornithology, conservation, eco-tourism, and the promotion of the hobby and sport of birding.
In memory of Herbert W. Kale II, 1931 – 1995
Herb Kale was for twenty years the Vice President for Ornithology of the Florida Audubon Society. He was the complete birdman, involved in scientific research, teaching, conservation, eco-tourism and the pure joy of birding. Herb’s warmth and openness was infectious, but he was a dogged fighter for conservation. For 22 years Dr. Kale was Chairman of the Special Committee on Birds for the Florida Committee on Rare and Endangered Plants and Animals. He was a founding member and President of the Florida Ornithological Society, (1975-77) and President of the Colonial Waterbird Society, (1990-91). He served on numerous boards, commissions, task forces, and committees furthering the work of protecting Florida’s bird population.
He was a colleague, mentor, birding and work companion, and life long friend. His last life bird was a Red-billed Tropicbird found by Eugene Stoccardo. It was May 11, 1995 and we were aboard The Yankee Freedom in the waters between Key West and the Dry Tortugas during the last hour of the last day of the last FNT Dry Tortugas tour of the year. The bird sat on the water fifty feet from the boat for a half hour.
In the memory of our dear friend on that wonderful day we establish the Herb Kale award.
To learn more about Herb Kale click this link, and see The Auk Volume 113, Issue 3 July.
