Annual South Florida Wading Bird Report for 2014

After a nine month hiatus I'm now back and ready to blog; my goal is to write at minimum a weekly update on the bird life of the Everglades.  

First I want to direct you to the 2014 South Florida Wading Bird Report. This multi-institutional effort is where all nesting data from south Florida, collected by various agencies, non-profits and universities, are summarized into a single report. Wading birds are primary indicator species for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and one of my jobs is to collate, distill and summarize this information so we can keep the public updated on the status of restoration. 

In general 2014 wasn't a good year for wading bird nesting. In my summary section I discuss why the water wasn't right for wading bird foraging and in turn how this limited nesting; I also summarize the long-term nesting trends, the declining health of the Everglades ecosystem and what this all means for restoration.

The full report can be access below:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ta9ye9wefcdwtp9/SFWBR_2014_Final.pdf?dl=0

There's also quite a good summary of the report from the Palm Beach Post: 

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/ap/ap/florida/state-reports-below-average-year-for-wading-bird-n/njtMs/