Birdwatchers know how to be patient.
It can take several minutes, hours or even days for the species of bird they want to see to get within binocular range.
The birdwatchers at the Pelican Island Audubon Society know how to be patient, too. Nobody stepped up to donate the pontoon boat that was the group’s “12 Days of Christmas” wish last year.
Pelican Island Audubon Society logo.
Pelican Island Audubon Society logo. (Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY PELICAN ISLAND AUDUBON SOCIETY)
That’s OK. The chapter members are patient and are asking for the boat again this year.
The group is looking for an 11-person pontoon boat with a deck that’s 8 feet wide and 22 feet long, pushed by a 90 horsepower motor.
They need the boat so members can continue their work monitoring osprey nests at Blue Cypress Lake in western Indian River County.
More: Pelican Island Audubon wins 2017 Conservation Award
The lake is home to more than 200 osprey nests that society members have geo-mapped and will keep an eye on this winter for the fourth consecutive year.
“It’s probably the largest concentration of osprey nests in the world,” said Richard Baker, the chapter president.
The boat also would be put to use on the Indian River Lagoon. The chapter’s “Audubon Advocates” program offers after-school activities for up to nearly 100 fifth-graders, and its 10-week summer camp attracts about 150 students.
Audubon members take students to a spoil island just north of the Oslo Road boat ramp that’s a nesting site for 15 to 20 species of birds and a major rookery for brown pelicans. They’ve been going by kayak.
The group wouldn’t launch the boat from the Oslo Road boat ramp, Baker said with a chuckle. The group has stridently opposed work to enlarge the ramp, which currently can handle only paddlecraft and small power boats.
“We’ll use another one of the ramps on the lagoon,” he added.
More: Is muck removal project back at Oslo Road boat ramp?
The boat also could be used for “Spoonbill Watch,” a citizen-scientist project the group developed to monitor a recently discovered colony of 140 roseate spoonbill nests on two small islands at the Stick Marsh on the Indian River-Brevard county line. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has designated the islands as critical wildlife area.
“If we had a boat, we’d get a lot of use out of it,” Baker said.
More: See all the Christmas wishes so far
12 Days of Christmas
Who: Pelican Island Audubon Society
Wish: 11-passenger pontoon boat with 90-horsepower engine
How to donate: Contact Pelican Island Audubon Society, 772-567-3520 or piaudubon@yahoo.com
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ABOUT THIS SERIES
Treasure Coast groups that research, protect and restore the Indian River Lagoon need more than holiday cheer to continue their missions of saving the waterway. Find out what they need — and how you can help them — as Treasure Coast Newspapers/TCPalm.com highlights a lagoon-friendly organization each day from Dec. 25 to Jan. 5, aka the 12 Days of Christmas. To see what organizations have asked for in previous stories, go to TCPalm.com/lagoon.
