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Thanks to partners like Florida State Parks, who routinely commit to multi-year action plans, efforts to protect and grow Florida Scrub-Jays are showing terrific results.
In 2019, more than 200 volunteers were trained and participated in Jay Watch surveys.
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Tucked away in Ocala National Forest, Hughes Island is a “donor site”- one with a stable population that can donate ScrubJays for relocation elsewhere in the state. Led by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, state officials began a Scrub-Jay translocation program just last year in an attempt to save this imperiled species.
Hard-working volunteers and partners helped Audubon restore vital Scrub-Jay habitat in Manatee County by removing sand pines. While it might seem unusual to remove trees to help birds, tall sand pines and thickets provide the perfect perches for predators of the Florida Scrub-Jay like hawks.
The Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) and collaborating land developers are pressing forward with a destructive plan that would route part of the new Osceola Parkway through the Split Oak Forest Wildlife and Environmental Area in Osceola County. The initial proposal cut through the heart of Split Oak Preserve and ran directly through the middle of valuable scrub habitat, home to several Scrub-Jay families.
The federally Threatened Florida Scrub-Jay is the Sunshine State’s only endemic bird species – found nowhere else in the world. Bold, curious, and living in cooperative family groups, most jays never venture more than a few miles from where they hatched.
2017 was a great year thanks to Auduboners! Thank you to our supporters and volunteers who give so generously to Audubon.