Mark Rachal

Manager, Florida Coastal Island Sanctuaries

Mark Rachal has worked for Audubon since 2006 and is currently the Coastal Islands Sanctuaries Manager. His duties include bird surveys, habitat management and bird sanctuary conservation and he has surveyed and managed the majority of the significant waterbird colonies, including three recently designated as Critical Wildlife Areas by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), along the Gulf Coast of Florida. 

Mark has a Bachelor of Science degree from Davidson College and undertook graduate work at Eastern Michigan University. Mark has worked on  numerous dredging and dredge spoil island construction projects for over a decade in coordination with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Port Tampa Bay, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and FWC staff. Mark has overseen and managed the bird monitoring on these projects to guarantee that the contractors have been in compliance with protection of all bird resource permitting requirements while ensuring projects are not delayed due to environmental conflicts. 

Articles by Mark Rachal

Roseate Spoonbills Shifting Some Nesting to Hooker's Prairie in Tampa Bay Region
Coastal Conservation

Roseate Spoonbills Shifting Some Nesting to Hooker's Prairie in Tampa Bay Region

— Audubon Florida will partner with Mosaic to census the breeding birds at this site and document the nesting effort by the spoonbills and the many other wading birds that nest there.