Enchanted Forest and Wildlife Encounter Field Trip Report – March 18 2018

Five members of our Board of Directors were on board to launch a very large group of 38 folks. We even had a master naturalist from the forest to also chime in. Jim Stahl was there for some plant identification. Carol Hebert, President of the Conradina chapter of the Native Plant Society also pitched in.

It was a great trip. Here’s the bird list…but then I want to talk about the wildlife hospital.

Blue gray gnatcatcher, northern parula, cardinal, Carolina wren, black vulture, yellow rumped warbler, red bellied woodpecker, mourning dove, common grackle, white eyed vireo, red shouldered hawk, blue jay, pileated wood pecker, yellow throated warbler, swallow tailed kite, sap sucker, turkey vulture, osprey, black and white warbler, cormorant, ring billed gull, screech owl, downy woodpecker.

After lunch 3 volunteers with the Florida Wildlife Hospital did a presentation. It was great in that they brought in a snake, 2 tortoises, one of which was released (how cool is that?) , a kestrel, and a barred owl.

During the presentation, Matt started to get a real feel for what they did. Imagine having to deal with more than 4,000 patients per year. Now imagine doing it for free, depending solely on donations. Our chapter does donate by the way.

I urge you to look at their Facebook page, I think you will be simply amazed at what they do and how they do it.

Written by Matt Heyden