February 6, 2025 • 33 mins
Talked with Sabeena Beg, Executive Director and Autumn Kioti, Education and Outreach Director, Audubon Everglades. Their mission is to educate and inspire people to conserve wildlife, especially birds, and the environment that supports them. "We offer a variety trips, events, and activities in which everyone may participate: Birding Field trips are especially popular. Monthly meetings, on the first Tuesday of each month, include informative programs. An active conservation group keeps constant vigil. Education is an integral part of Audubon Everglades. We also co-sponsor the annual Everglades Day festival at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, a free event that highlights the importance of this outstanding and unique ecosystem.In 1979, the chapter established a world class Ornithological Library, housed at the main library on Summit Blvd in West Palm Beach. Grants, bequests and donations fund this ongoing project. The Audubon Everglades Audubon Collection has become the largest publicly accessible ornithological collection in the Southeast." Listeners can come meet them at the Natural Areas Festival on the 15th at Winding Waters. They can also, get more info, donate, sign up to be a volunteer at www.audoboneverglades.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
iHeart Communities Presents Palm Beach Treasure Cost Perspective with Dad
and NEP.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good morning, welcome to Palm Beach Pressure Coast Perspective. I'm
your host, dev Nev. Thanks for spending your weekend with me.
All kinds of great things happening, and if you haven't,
then you definitely want to head over to the Fence Center.
They've got all kinds of cold programs happening and coming up.
They are hosting an Eat Smart, Live Strong nutrition education
series for older adults and it's going to be starting
(00:26):
on Tuesday, February eighteenth at eleven am. It's called Reach
your Goals that Day, step by step here on the
benefits of different fruits and veggies and how much you
should eat a week, participating of course, in thirty minutes
of physical activity every day, all those good things, and
helping you set goals and evaluate how you want to
make your progress. The follow up one will be Tuesday
February twenty fifth with challenges and solutions. March fifth is
(00:50):
colorful and classical Favorites March twelfth. If you Eat Smart.
For more information, give them a call seven seven to
two four six to two seventeen ninety one and Eric
can give you more information. And also they've got this
cool thing going on you're doing for quite a few
years now. It's part is sponsored by the United Way.
It's called Vida Tax Assistance, so it's volunteer tax assistance
(01:14):
and it's available in Palmbage, Saint Lucis County throughout the country.
If you make I believe it around seventy sixty seven
thousand or less a year, they can help you do
your taxes for free and submit them for you online.
You can call them at seven seven two two zero
zero one four one eight for more information and if
that Lember's busy, call them at seven seven two three
(01:37):
four zero five six zero six. And it's first come,
first serve. They're walking locations, they're all throughout the counties
and they will tell you what paperwork you need to bring,
like your W two's and all that kind of stuff.
But please be patient. It is a free service. I've
actually used it, super helpful, super nice bote folks, and
they are trained by the irs or they are the
most up to date on all the latest laws, which
is really cool. Oh, they're also doing their eighth annual
(02:00):
art show and Festival for the Highwaymen Heritage Trail and
that's coming up on Saturday, February fifteenth from ten am
starting at ten am at four thirty five North seventh Street.
For more information, call them at seven seven to two
for six seven thirty one sixty one, or you can
go to cityof Fort Pierce dot com and they have
(02:21):
more details on there for you for that one. And
of course the Saint Lucy County Libraries always helping folks out.
They have all kinds of book groups, all fun things
like that yoga in the library, and they're also offering
technology systems, so if you've got a new iPhone for
Christmas or for your birthday, they can help you learn
how to use it. Oh a friend from a reminder
from your friends. At Boca Ballet Theater, they've got a
(02:42):
fun season going on, and of course are always trying
to do fun fundraisers. So coming up Saturday, February twenty second,
they're doing their Best of the Belgians beer Fest, so
so popular last year they brought it back again. So
if you go to Boca Ballet dot org and get
more information, you can see the different shows that are
coming up for the seas, and while you're there, you
can find information about their Parkinson's program where they offer
(03:04):
the dance classes to help folks with Parkinson's and they
can go virtually online or in person on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Totally a free program, very helpful for folks that have that.
I've tried the classes. They're actually fun. I definitely recommend that.
Speaking of fun, oh talk to the folks from Palm
Beach Drama Works. They're enjoying their twenty fifth season. Coming
up February fourteenth through March second is The Humans. If
(03:27):
we want to check that out, go to Palm Beachdramaworks
dot org and all the information is right there for you.
And we talked to Benji from pump Beach County Environmental
Resource Division. They've got great things happening, all their winter
adventures happening coming up on February. Coming up on February thirteenth,
(03:49):
it is Sunset and Meditation under the Oaks, and then
on the fifteenth is their big Natural Areas Festival. Deferent
check that out. There'll be a lot of fun and
then be able weeding and trash clean up for the birds.
That's going to be at Tarpanco on Wednesday, February nineteenth,
a weed wrangle at Winding Waters Natural Area, so lots
(04:09):
of cool things. And then they also have coming up
on February twenty fourth, Invasive Species one on one for
children and that one has an ACA American Sign language
interpret available for that walk, so that's pretty cool. Go
to PBCERM dot com and all the details are right
there for you to find out about the different hikes
(04:30):
and paddles and walks and fun events and festivals that
are going on. And of course things also happening in
the palmat County Parks. They have got fun things happening
over at Mounts Botanical they got their Rivet exhibit going on.
They have indoor archery for beginners at Westgate Park and
Rec Center. They have on February fourteenth Birding one oh
(04:52):
one Birds in Love happening in the Daggerwing Nature Center.
On the sixteenth and fifteenth and sixteenth Jupiter ci feod
Fasti at the Seabreeze Amphitheater in Carlon Park. And then
on Saturday February fifteenth, it is Dearly Loved Hearts and
Crafts at the Oka Hilly Nature Center. So lots of
cool things happening that they'll be like summer camps for
the teens, all the good things like that Taichi functional fitness,
(05:15):
all the good things. And of course make sure you
put this one on your calendar. This is a fun fundraiser.
It is for suits for seniors and they're doing their
sixth annual golf and give fundraiser on Wednesday, February twelfth
from a six to nine pm at Drive Shack And
it's always such a fun one hung way to raise
funds for the kids. So I love that one. And
(05:36):
of course, like I said, lots of fun things happening
at Mounts Botanical. They've got watercolor in the park, all
the different exhibits and you can go to do them
and do force in soundbathing. Go to Mounts dot org
and check them out. And they also have the big
plan of bluesa sale, all the good things going on.
Oh it's speaking of fen Center. They are hosting Black
History Month Art Expo all month long at Wick. Constant
(05:58):
is going to be there, Marie Morrow's gonna have stuff,
Tina Pfeiffer, just to name a few. Simpy go to
Saint Lucyco dot gov and you can see all the
different artists and stuff that are going to be there
and the hours that it is open for you to
check it out, and of course that is free to
go check that out. Speaking checking things out, we have
things happening at the Kravit Center. They've got the Writer's
Academy with Julie Gilbert when we talked to her in
(06:19):
a few weeks. Find out more about that. Peter Pantan
the Musical Broadway Musical February twelfth through the sixteenth. Ziggy
and Miles Guitar duo coming on the twelfth, and then
on the thirteenth through the sixteenth. It's the nineteenthh African
American Film Festival featuring jazz legends and cinematic icons this year,
so lots of cool things happening and everyone check it out.
(06:42):
Coming up on the twenty fourth and the twenty fifth,
it's an evening with Isaac Musrahi and he's very well
known for his fashion, but he is also an incredible singer,
so he's gonna come and perform his music. Don't put
that one on your calendar and check it out. And
then of course we also have on the twenty fifth
trailblazing women of Country, a tribute to Patsy, Loretta and Dolly,
(07:04):
and that's part of their Adults at Leisure series. Again,
go to Cravis dot org and get all the details
and information right there. Speaking of getting information that brings
me to my guest today, I would like to invite
my guests, Sabina Beg and Autumn Chiote from the Audubon
Everglades groups. Good morning, good morning, Thank you for having us,
(07:26):
Thanks for coming in. So, Sabina, tell me what is
it you do with Audubon?
Speaker 3 (07:31):
So with Audubon, I'm the new executive director of Audubon
Everglades and I pretty much oversee the organization's conservation, education,
advocacy efforts and also to ensure that our program's effectively
supporting conservation.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And okay, and miss Autumn, what is it that you
do with Audubon.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
I'm the director of Education and Outreach, which is just
what it sounds like.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Sounds it sounds like fun, but it sounds.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Like it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun,
all right.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
So tell the listeners and I, well, what exactly is
Audubon Everglades? Because I think of Audubon, I think of birds.
But that's pretty much it. That's all I know.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
So Audubon Everglades is an organ nonprofit organization and our
goal and miss mission is to educate and inspire and
conserve wildlife, especially birds. And so the organization has is
(08:29):
several decades old. It started back in the well.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
I think it's been operating in the region since the fifties,
but they properly incorporated I believe in the sixty six.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Sixty six. Yeah, we were known as the Audubon Society
of Everglades and it was kind of a grassroots organization
at the time. So we're continuing on that that but
focusing more on the oh well, enhancing the conservation and
(09:03):
education for you know, all generations, future future.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Oh absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
I think one of the things we want people to
know is, yes, we're a birding society, but that's the
large part of what we do is birding and burning
bird conservation. Maybe in conservation or whatever, but but we
want people to know that without conserving the environment that
surrounds the birds, you won't have the birds. So we
want to I think Sabina and I have been taking
(09:32):
a more holistic approach to the organization because I think
everything is connected in our world, right, So, so I
think that's like the direction that we've been going in.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Just I feel it's so important to bridge that gap
of what you know of the bird versus the you know,
the habitat and the conservation. How important it is to
look at it in the overall picture.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
So oh yeah, because like the listeners, and I know,
we talked with Shelley that work with the Purple Martins,
and she encouraged the listeners to build the little Purple
Martin houses because the Purple Martins are one hundred percent
reliant on humans to build that house for them. They
don't build houses, so they would die out. So thanks
to everybody who's building the houses. That's just such an
(10:18):
awesome thing. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yeah, the Purple Martin program and Shelley Rosenberg in particular,
that's that's one of our signature programs. She's amazing. And
I think it's a crazy, crazy thing that there are
these little birds that are completely and they're wild, totally wild,
but not they're not you know, pets, they're not, but
they are completely dependent on in this area anyway, on
(10:40):
humans to provide them with their housing. And it's a
it's been a really successful venture with the autumn that
we've been doing this. We've got Purple Martin houses all
over the county fire stations. We talked to Hoa's, we
put them in there, and like, I think Shelley's program
has been a really excellent way to get people involved
(11:05):
with Sabina and I's greater mission of conserving the environment
around the birds. Because once people put these houses in
and they see the birds, I think they get like
enchanted by the birds, right, and then like that's how
we get to you know, we hook in and then
and then and then they want to learn more and
more and more. I mean that's I'm a total burd
nerd and it's you know, they hook you and you
(11:27):
get really interested. So so yeah, that this really important
signature program that I think is helps love.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Oh yes, speaking of birds, you have brought a little
guest with you today.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
This is my lab assistant, Cheryl. She She is a
Turkey vulture and I sometimes so As the director of
Education and Outreach, I so I have a character that
I sometimes is my alter ego, Professor Screech. And Professor
Screech of course needs an assistant because Professor Screech is
(11:58):
an official expert. They have an O MG and an
L O L and expertology. But you know they can't
do everything. So so Cheryl is uh is the Turkey Vulture.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Lab assistant, and she said, very lovely. Plus you just
have hy She's no actual live turkey fault in this, No, no, unfortunately. Yeah,
they're rather large though I've driven by them on the road,
like whoa like.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Six ft wingspan on those guys.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
That was like, I was gonna ask you how long
the wingspan is because I was like, I think their
wingspan is wider than I am tall.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
They're they're big birds.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Yeah, yeah, it's pretty much. I'm not.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Yeah, it's big, it's big.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And what is there?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
What is their function in nature?
Speaker 4 (12:36):
You want me to go Cheryl Cheryl? Well, if Cheryl
could answer, unfortunately her mouth has a little stitching on it,
but if she could answer, she would tell you they
are great at cleaning up as sometimes people I think
so u grous vultures or they're bad. They're bad, they
mean bad things. I think there's like maybe some negative connotation,
(12:57):
but vultures to me, well, they're some of my favorite
I think Turkey vultures are the coolest. But also without
animals like a vulture, who they eat, you know, recently,
dead things. Without without guys that eat the dead stuff,
we'd be piled up in dead stuff, you know. So
they really there are their nature's clean you know, one
of the things that are nature's cleaners. So I love
(13:19):
a turkey vulture.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I think that's fantastic. I did a tree planting with
the Arthur R. Marshall folks many years ago to help
re establish the watershed. And while were they out there,
there's all these birds flying around, and I was like,
what is that?
Speaker 4 (13:32):
What is that?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
And they would tell you. When I saw one one
those like black and had a little red on the wings,
I'm like, what's that. One called them like, oh, red
wing blackbird, and I was waiting for like Kingfisher, really
elaborate name.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
But no, no, sometimes they help you out, not all.
Sometimes you get like the crazy names or you're like,
I have what but that one's unless you're looking at
a female though. See that's it's an interesting thing about birds.
I digress for a moment. But they generally the birds
for the male of the species, right, So they say
red wing blackbird, well, that's only the male. The female
(14:05):
looks nothing like that. You would not if you didn't know,
you wouldn't know, I think, And I just find that
an interesting, interesting scientific.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Well, and for listeners who want to find out more,
there's all kinds of events you guys do right where
they can like actually come out and meet you, like
like you guys are going to be at I believe
the big Natural Areas Festival on the fifteenth, right, Yeah, no.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
We absolutely. We try to offer as many variety of
programs and outreach so that everyone can participate, whether it's
from their living room or it's in person virtually. And
also you know our events and outreach programs and we
tried to cater it to everybody, so from the youngest
(14:50):
little enthusiast to the season birder. So there's an opportunity
that we provide to everyone. We are going to be
at the Natural Areas Festival with you had mentioned earlier
with Benji Stute, and so we're excited about that. We'll
have h we'll have booths set up with both educational
(15:12):
and interactive games and uh, it's like our scat or
you have to guess the scats who scat is that?
Who scat is that? And I think Professor Screech will
be Professor Screech might be there. But also there may
or there may be an al pellet dissection, which is
(15:32):
always very exciting.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I have a friend that's in middle school science teacher
the most popular class. Okay, it's al pellet. There's two.
There's the alpel owl pellet dissection and the mentos and
the diet coke somewhat blows up and the mettos and
outside definitely outside of that, I.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Do al pellets dissections all the time that I still
get to us about doing, and I'm like, look at this.
It's always like a surprise.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
It iss.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Well, you never know until you do. Yeah, it's very cool.
But but yeah, the kids really like that.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Yeah, yeah, super so I can.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
See the exciting especial when they come out to see that.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
So you guys are one of the one of the
exhibitors that day. So there's gonna be lots of other
environmental folks out there. Benji's like, everybody come out again,
totally free. Yeah, except for the food trucks that you
have to pay for, but everything else free. And if
you and no reservations required unless you want to do
the run. You want to do the fund Trail run,
right that you need to reregister, register, pre register for
(16:36):
that thing. But like the kayaking and things like that,
you can register when you get there. So just reminder folks.
And that's a Winding Waters.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Yeah, yep. And there will be lots of other stuff too.
There's gonna be experts giving tours and it's a really
great festival. And you know, we fully support Beach County
arm where we partner with them in certain things like
the Adoptee Island and their conservation initiatives for the island restorations.
(17:05):
So we're partnered with them or with Tarpan Cove and
they do such a wonderful job in restoration.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, he was saying that when we chatted that there's
one of their events they do is they go out
and they they basically go in a boat, they go
to the island they clean up the birds nests as
part of their I don't know the read wrangle which
one it is, and that way the birds will come
and nest there a hand this year and so it's
like basically you're just tiding the house up for them
to come, which I think is what a fun thing
to do for the birds.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Yeah, and we actually have some events with them. It's
called Reading for the Birds, right, and February first and
March first, which is Tarpin Cove and that would be helpful,
you know, there are events so that you go out
on the boat and then you go out there to
weed for the nesting birds that are out there.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Yeah, it's it's a super it's super fun and and
it's interesting because you can only do it for a
certain until a certain time of the year, right, because
once the birds come, you're not they don't want you
there you're not well yeah, so because you'll disturb the birds.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
So so it's a special thing if you can sign
up for it, and you can go to PBC firms event, right,
and you can you can actually sign up. They have
a limited amount of spots, but you can do it
for free. You go out there and you can help
us out because we're partnered on that, like we adopted
that island. And and it's like a super cool thing
because it's something you don't get to see very much.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
If you're doing it for the birds.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, I love for the love of the birds. I
like it, So of course you guys would be the
one New Waters Natural Festival. Then you have other ones
coming up, and I know Savida you said that they
have virtual ones as well as in person ones. So
your next virtual one to believe is Fireflies of Florida.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
So we have a really popular series called the Virtually
There Series. It's a it's a member meeting that's online,
it's live, and it's the first Tuesday of every month
between the season of September to June, and we bring
in top experts and scientists and best selling authors from
around the world really to talk about bird conservation research
(19:13):
and environmental issues, but all from your living room or
if you're right driving home or.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
What have you.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
And so we have March fourth, around at seven o'clock,
we're going to have Richard Joyce. And Richard Joyce is amazing.
He is coming to us from New York City and
he's going to teach us about the threats to fireflies,
how to help how to participate in the Firefly at List,
which is like a community based science project. He's part
(19:41):
of the Zerce Society, which is an really incredible community
and we're just gonna learn about fireflies and how we
can protect them because, as you know, fireflies are not
as visible as they were when some of us were
growing up.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
I remember catching them in jars and letting them go later.
They're so fascinating. Your little kids catch them in the
big nation doors and be like a little light. Yeah,
and then of course we let them go before we
go inside. But I'm very fine.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Yeah, and people, I think people forget that we have fireflies.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
I think also there's so much light pollution that they
don't really see them. Unless we're more out in a
more natural country area, you wouldn't see them.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Yeah. So speaking of Palm Beach County arm you can
actually see fireflies at a certain season out in the
pine Jog Pine Jog natural area. So it's it's going
to be a great presentation because it will give some
insights to where you can see them.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
So, of course it's virtual and it's for the group,
but it's for anybody as well. It's free to join.
How do people join? Do they go to a website?
Do they call you? How does that work?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
So you go to our event right, which is Autumn
Everglades event, right, and most of our programming is there.
Almost all of our programming is there, and this virtually
their series is free. It's free to anyone and you.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Can anywhere around the world.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Anywhere around the world. We have people who have joined
us for certain presentations far as Australia to Alaska to Malaysia.
It's great and it's a great opportunity to be able
to interact and ask the questions that you want to
with these leading experts and authors.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Oh that's fantastic. So of course if people want to
come in person, I know its automy. You've got some
fun things coming up as well, so talk to me.
It's gonna be this sounds like one I might be
for pub trivia. What's the name of that one?
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Very excited about this. This is bird Brain Trivia. We're
going to be do it. Thank you. We're going to
be doing it on the fourth Tuesday of every month
starting February twenty five rights and I'll be hosting it along.
We're partnering up with an organization called bird Note.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Yeah, it's pretty exciting. Yeah, a nationally known organization.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
And syndicated podcasts that it's been around for a long time.
They're great and so we partnered up on creating some
burd Neard trivia. We're going to be at Civil Society
Brewing in West Palm Beach. There are two locations. We're
going to be at the West Palm each location. You
don't have to know anything I want. I want to
assure everyone you don't have to know anything to do right.
(22:07):
We love it, We love it when a complete novice
comes in. We have prizes. We're gonna have prizes. We're
gonna have swag from bird Note is offering some swag,
some cool swag, and and it's just meant to be
a super fun night. You can come, you can come
with a bunch of friends and have a team. You
can come by yourself and be your own team, whatever
(22:27):
you want. It's just it's fun. It starts at six pm,
so it's something you can do on your way, you know,
if you've got a bunch of friends, you want to
stop buying your way home from work.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Sounds good. And of course they can meet, and they
can meet.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
They can meet Cheryl possibly Professor's.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Screech and BB from bird and BB from bird.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Note, who's been helping us out on this.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
She's amazing, Oh fantastic, so of course that's one of
the things. And then you have other events coming up,
tell me about those.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
So we always have events coming up. We're gonna be
at the so so aside from the we're always a festival, right.
We've got the Native Plant Expo coming up, which is
sponsored by the Native Plant Society.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Yeah, it's the Palm Beach Florida Native Plant Society. Yeah,
and it's a it's a Native Plant Expo which will
be at it's a Palm Each State College, sorry, Palm
Beach State, Yes, the.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Same thing is still Yeah, so PBCC.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
It used to be PBCC, but now it's PBSC. Yeah.
The gardens campus the PGA campus, not one in down
South And it's a one day thing on the second,
the twenty second, and it's gonna be a great conference.
There's all kinds of cool speakers. If you want to
know how to make your yard a bird sanctuary, whether
(23:42):
you have whether you have like a little porch outside
your apartment or you've got a whole big yard or
you're in an h o A. We're gonna have information
about that. They're going to have all kinds that they're
They're keynote speaker is George Gamm who's he's an internationally
recognized authority on conservation and restoration. So that's super awesome.
That one is not free, that's one you gotta pay
(24:03):
so but it's totally worth it if you're really into
plants and learning about native plants and attracting native wildlife.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
And we can plant like for the for the butterflies.
Yeah that as well.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
Yeah, so we and we talk. We have a speaking
of that. We also so we have a lot of
we have a lot we have a few signature burdens.
So we have the Purple Martins with Shelley. Then we
also have a create your Own Bird Sanctuary UH program
that goes around a lot of times. They do a
great job talking to hoas and helping hoas learn about
(24:35):
how to make their uh their neighborhoods more bird friendly,
more pollinator bigot birds and pollinators that come together right,
more friendly and because people, you know, sometimes you know,
you've got these large expanses of lawn and they want
to put in uh things that are not necessarily native,
(24:56):
but then you lose all the native wildlife, you know.
And so we've got great people like Mary Young and
Helen Lawrence, and who she's amazing, who all talk about
how you rather than having these great expanses of lawn,
you can make it a thriving ecosystem that will attract
the beautiful birds and bugs and all the cool stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Yeah, and it's also drought resistant when you do.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Right because it's made for people. For people forget this,
like it's made when when you plant something that's made
for this area, it's gonna do better. It's not going
to take the water, it's not going to take the care.
And you know, the reason it attracts more stuff is
because it's native, so that that stuff has also adapted
(25:41):
those that wildlife has adapted to live with that plant
more than it's adapted. Like you may get some you know,
butterflies on uh, you know, some kind of tropical plant
that doesn't belong here. You may get some, but they're
not evolved to live with it. You know, they'll do
much better on native. So that's what we try and
encourage people.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Of course, if you kind of plant plant something native,
it makes totally to me, well because I'm terrible with plants.
They always dye of me. But if you plant something native.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Exactly exactly, and we have we have a partnership with
Bush Wildlife where we have h an example of native
how you could landscape with native plants there as well.
So our program is pretty diverse and we have some
really great partners. Uh. That conference that we were talking about,
(26:32):
that's basically most of Florida's experts that we'll be speaking
there and working with homeowners and uh you know, also
we'll be giving uh talks autumns. We'll be talking she
will be one of the speakers. We're also giving live tours,
so showing you the plants in actual areas such as
(26:52):
the natural areas and what birds thrive on those those
native plants. So it's a pretty incress the first annual
Native Plant Expo. It's going to be great. I really
encourage people to come. It's it's a wonderful way to
get all the resources in one day.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Yeah, and we're super fun.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
And that's the un events, right.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
It's presented by the Palm Beach County Chapter of the
Florida Native Plant Society and your website FNPs Chapters dot
org and that's where you're gonna find more information about it.
So Florida Natural Native Plant Society.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
And of course another fun thing. I know you guys
are looking for volunteers, like those students need their community
service hours, what a fun way to get them.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
We love volunteers, We love volunteers of all agents. But
if you're a student and you need volunteer hours, we
want to have you. We have our group of school
aged teenage te teens young thirteen to thirteen to eighteen,
all the conservation crew, and that I can't tell you.
(27:53):
The kids, the young adults that are involved in this
have been integral in doing outreach with me because I
can't I can't do it by myself, Sabina and I
can't do it by ourselves, so they come out they
learn about the birds. That so if you join us
and do what they do, you get some hands on
knowledge learning about learning about birds and about the environment.
(28:16):
And it's not just birds like I have like my
my whos scat is that game we talk about we
talk about We teach all all different kinds of it's
kind of a holistic environmental education. And the kids that
work with us get to learn all of this. They
get to, if you're interested, actually become teachers. And because
I think the best way to teach young people is
(28:37):
to have other young people talk to them. You know,
the best way to get them interested in it is
to see that other that not just me and not
just Sabena, but people that are younger into it, you know.
And they've been helping us with that, like immensely.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Yeah, if you come to our outreach boots at any
of the events, you'll see them leading, leading all the
programs and the information. So that's pretty amazing group. And
it doesn't necessarily have to be in person as well.
We offer remote experiences for for for both college age
and high school students. And there are internship opportunities as well.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Yeah, oh very yeah, yeah, yeah, we've got some right now.
We've got some great college interns that are that are
helping me out a lot. You know, they come out
with me, so I lead. I don't just do we
don't just do public events that you can sign up for.
We do a lot of those, and the majority are
offered free to the public, just just so you know,
we try and make it accessible to everyone, you know,
(29:32):
and I think we're doing a pretty amazing job of
making it accessible absolutely so. So most of our programming
is is free. We survive off of you know, grants
and donations and our membership.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
All right, so how do people like sign up to
become a volunteer or to maybe make a no donation?
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Awesome? So, uh, the best way to learn about being
a volunteer is if you can you can remember volunteer
at autobun Everglades dot org email that will send you
out a survey. You can fill out that survey and
we'll find out what you want to do and we'll
get you involved. If you want to become a member,
you can find us in person. The best way is
(30:13):
to come to one of our events like the one
coming up on the yeah, the National Areas Festival, and
you can sign up with us in person. You can
also you can visit our website.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yeah, you can visit our website as well, and there's
an opportunity for you to become a member on there
as well. And it's relatively inexpensive.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
It's twenty five dollars for a single membership for a year.
That's insane, like for a whole year, and if you're
a family, it's what it's thirty five.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
What you get with that membership too, is amazing. So
you'll get first opportunities to some of our amazing programs
that sell out very quickly, and we have access to
some of the areas that the public can't access, so
we offer tours in there with partnerships with some of
the organizations just the South Water Water Management District and
(31:03):
start other areas and stuff, and so members will get
first opportunity to sign up for those very popular programs
that sell out within a day or two.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
So and then and then we also we come, we
come to you, so if people are interested in having
a program, you can contact me and we will provide programming. Again,
it's primarily offered free. We accept donations, but we make
we want to make it accessible to all. So I
have we have a great burd nerding one O one
(31:33):
program where we teach you how to be bird nerd
and and we will come. We work with homeschools, We
work with all different kinds of diverse groups of people
to take them outside or do a presentation inside. Whatever
your ability is, and you're your level of what you know,
you want to be outside, you don't want to be outside,
(31:54):
you know what. We cater to pretty much anybody, And
we also just want to mention if you go to
our event right autumn Everglades event right. We have a
million amazing field trips all the time, primarily again primarily free.
Our field trip coordinator Paula Gatrell has set up an
amazing program. I can't believe how many field trips we
(32:15):
do a week.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
It's like insane, Say within a season, it's like ninety
field trips.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
Yeah, it's crazy. So if you want to if you
want to go out and see the birds, if you
want to meet people that do the birding and learn,
if you just want to go outside and have fun,
go out with them, check out our event right and
check out our field trips.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
That's fantastic. Well, thank you ladies for coming in sharing
all this with us today. So cool, very nice thing
you do in the community. Very much needed and appreciate it.
So thank you. And if you need more information, reach
out to me Palm Beach Perspective at iHeartMedia dot com.
Happy to forward on the details and don't forget. You
can always download the show as a podcast on our
iHeartRadio app. Hope everybody has a wonderful weekend. I'm dev
(32:53):
Nev and this has been my perspective. Remember life is good,
so be your healthiest you, and let's get out there
until next week.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Enjoy iHeart Communities, the community engagement arm of the station,
champions critical issues and causes in the area of health
and wellness, social impact, education, literacy, and music and art.
Join us next week from Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective
iHeart Communities Presents Palm Beach Treasure Cost Perspective with Dad
and NEP.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good morning, welcome to Palm Beach Pressure Coast Perspective. I'm
your host, dev Nev. Thanks for spending your weekend with me.
All kinds of great things happening, and if you haven't,
then you definitely want to head over to the Fence Center.
They've got all kinds of cold programs happening and coming up.
They are hosting an Eat Smart, Live Strong nutrition education
series for older adults and it's going to be starting
(00:26):
on Tuesday, February eighteenth at eleven am. It's called Reach
your Goals that Day, step by step here on the
benefits of different fruits and veggies and how much you
should eat a week, participating of course, in thirty minutes
of physical activity every day, all those good things, and
helping you set goals and evaluate how you want to
make your progress. The follow up one will be Tuesday
February twenty fifth with challenges and solutions. March fifth is
(00:50):
colorful and classical Favorites March twelfth. If you Eat Smart.
For more information, give them a call seven seven to
two four six to two seventeen ninety one and Eric
can give you more information. And also they've got this
cool thing going on you're doing for quite a few
years now. It's part is sponsored by the United Way.
It's called Vida Tax Assistance, so it's volunteer tax assistance
(01:14):
and it's available in Palmbage, Saint Lucis County throughout the country.
If you make I believe it around seventy sixty seven
thousand or less a year, they can help you do
your taxes for free and submit them for you online.
You can call them at seven seven two two zero
zero one four one eight for more information and if
that Lember's busy, call them at seven seven two three
(01:37):
four zero five six zero six. And it's first come,
first serve. They're walking locations, they're all throughout the counties
and they will tell you what paperwork you need to bring,
like your W two's and all that kind of stuff.
But please be patient. It is a free service. I've
actually used it, super helpful, super nice bote folks, and
they are trained by the irs or they are the
most up to date on all the latest laws, which
is really cool. Oh, they're also doing their eighth annual
(02:00):
art show and Festival for the Highwaymen Heritage Trail and
that's coming up on Saturday, February fifteenth from ten am
starting at ten am at four thirty five North seventh Street.
For more information, call them at seven seven to two
for six seven thirty one sixty one, or you can
go to cityof Fort Pierce dot com and they have
(02:21):
more details on there for you for that one. And
of course the Saint Lucy County Libraries always helping folks out.
They have all kinds of book groups, all fun things
like that yoga in the library, and they're also offering
technology systems, so if you've got a new iPhone for
Christmas or for your birthday, they can help you learn
how to use it. Oh a friend from a reminder
from your friends. At Boca Ballet Theater, they've got a
(02:42):
fun season going on, and of course are always trying
to do fun fundraisers. So coming up Saturday, February twenty second,
they're doing their Best of the Belgians beer Fest, so
so popular last year they brought it back again. So
if you go to Boca Ballet dot org and get
more information, you can see the different shows that are
coming up for the seas, and while you're there, you
can find information about their Parkinson's program where they offer
(03:04):
the dance classes to help folks with Parkinson's and they
can go virtually online or in person on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Totally a free program, very helpful for folks that have that.
I've tried the classes. They're actually fun. I definitely recommend that.
Speaking of fun, oh talk to the folks from Palm
Beach Drama Works. They're enjoying their twenty fifth season. Coming
up February fourteenth through March second is The Humans. If
(03:27):
we want to check that out, go to Palm Beachdramaworks
dot org and all the information is right there for you.
And we talked to Benji from pump Beach County Environmental
Resource Division. They've got great things happening, all their winter
adventures happening coming up on February. Coming up on February thirteenth,
(03:49):
it is Sunset and Meditation under the Oaks, and then
on the fifteenth is their big Natural Areas Festival. Deferent
check that out. There'll be a lot of fun and
then be able weeding and trash clean up for the birds.
That's going to be at Tarpanco on Wednesday, February nineteenth,
a weed wrangle at Winding Waters Natural Area, so lots
(04:09):
of cool things. And then they also have coming up
on February twenty fourth, Invasive Species one on one for
children and that one has an ACA American Sign language
interpret available for that walk, so that's pretty cool. Go
to PBCERM dot com and all the details are right
there for you to find out about the different hikes
(04:30):
and paddles and walks and fun events and festivals that
are going on. And of course things also happening in
the palmat County Parks. They have got fun things happening
over at Mounts Botanical they got their Rivet exhibit going on.
They have indoor archery for beginners at Westgate Park and
Rec Center. They have on February fourteenth Birding one oh
(04:52):
one Birds in Love happening in the Daggerwing Nature Center.
On the sixteenth and fifteenth and sixteenth Jupiter ci feod
Fasti at the Seabreeze Amphitheater in Carlon Park. And then
on Saturday February fifteenth, it is Dearly Loved Hearts and
Crafts at the Oka Hilly Nature Center. So lots of
cool things happening that they'll be like summer camps for
the teens, all the good things like that Taichi functional fitness,
(05:15):
all the good things. And of course make sure you
put this one on your calendar. This is a fun fundraiser.
It is for suits for seniors and they're doing their
sixth annual golf and give fundraiser on Wednesday, February twelfth
from a six to nine pm at Drive Shack And
it's always such a fun one hung way to raise
funds for the kids. So I love that one. And
(05:36):
of course, like I said, lots of fun things happening
at Mounts Botanical. They've got watercolor in the park, all
the different exhibits and you can go to do them
and do force in soundbathing. Go to Mounts dot org
and check them out. And they also have the big
plan of bluesa sale, all the good things going on.
Oh it's speaking of fen Center. They are hosting Black
History Month Art Expo all month long at Wick. Constant
(05:58):
is going to be there, Marie Morrow's gonna have stuff,
Tina Pfeiffer, just to name a few. Simpy go to
Saint Lucyco dot gov and you can see all the
different artists and stuff that are going to be there
and the hours that it is open for you to
check it out, and of course that is free to
go check that out. Speaking checking things out, we have
things happening at the Kravit Center. They've got the Writer's
Academy with Julie Gilbert when we talked to her in
(06:19):
a few weeks. Find out more about that. Peter Pantan
the Musical Broadway Musical February twelfth through the sixteenth. Ziggy
and Miles Guitar duo coming on the twelfth, and then
on the thirteenth through the sixteenth. It's the nineteenthh African
American Film Festival featuring jazz legends and cinematic icons this year,
so lots of cool things happening and everyone check it out.
(06:42):
Coming up on the twenty fourth and the twenty fifth,
it's an evening with Isaac Musrahi and he's very well
known for his fashion, but he is also an incredible singer,
so he's gonna come and perform his music. Don't put
that one on your calendar and check it out. And
then of course we also have on the twenty fifth
trailblazing women of Country, a tribute to Patsy, Loretta and Dolly,
(07:04):
and that's part of their Adults at Leisure series. Again,
go to Cravis dot org and get all the details
and information right there. Speaking of getting information that brings
me to my guest today, I would like to invite
my guests, Sabina Beg and Autumn Chiote from the Audubon
Everglades groups. Good morning, good morning, Thank you for having us,
(07:26):
Thanks for coming in. So, Sabina, tell me what is
it you do with Audubon?
Speaker 3 (07:31):
So with Audubon, I'm the new executive director of Audubon
Everglades and I pretty much oversee the organization's conservation, education,
advocacy efforts and also to ensure that our program's effectively
supporting conservation.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And okay, and miss Autumn, what is it that you
do with Audubon.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
I'm the director of Education and Outreach, which is just
what it sounds like.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Sounds it sounds like fun, but it sounds.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Like it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun,
all right.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
So tell the listeners and I, well, what exactly is
Audubon Everglades? Because I think of Audubon, I think of birds.
But that's pretty much it. That's all I know.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
So Audubon Everglades is an organ nonprofit organization and our
goal and miss mission is to educate and inspire and
conserve wildlife, especially birds. And so the organization has is
(08:29):
several decades old. It started back in the well.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
I think it's been operating in the region since the fifties,
but they properly incorporated I believe in the sixty six.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Sixty six. Yeah, we were known as the Audubon Society
of Everglades and it was kind of a grassroots organization
at the time. So we're continuing on that that but
focusing more on the oh well, enhancing the conservation and
(09:03):
education for you know, all generations, future future.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Oh absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
I think one of the things we want people to
know is, yes, we're a birding society, but that's the
large part of what we do is birding and burning
bird conservation. Maybe in conservation or whatever, but but we
want people to know that without conserving the environment that
surrounds the birds, you won't have the birds. So we
want to I think Sabina and I have been taking
(09:32):
a more holistic approach to the organization because I think
everything is connected in our world, right, So, so I
think that's like the direction that we've been going in.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Just I feel it's so important to bridge that gap
of what you know of the bird versus the you know,
the habitat and the conservation. How important it is to
look at it in the overall picture.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
So oh yeah, because like the listeners, and I know,
we talked with Shelley that work with the Purple Martins,
and she encouraged the listeners to build the little Purple
Martin houses because the Purple Martins are one hundred percent
reliant on humans to build that house for them. They
don't build houses, so they would die out. So thanks
to everybody who's building the houses. That's just such an
(10:18):
awesome thing. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yeah, the Purple Martin program and Shelley Rosenberg in particular,
that's that's one of our signature programs. She's amazing. And
I think it's a crazy, crazy thing that there are
these little birds that are completely and they're wild, totally wild,
but not they're not you know, pets, they're not, but
they are completely dependent on in this area anyway, on
(10:40):
humans to provide them with their housing. And it's a
it's been a really successful venture with the autumn that
we've been doing this. We've got Purple Martin houses all
over the county fire stations. We talked to Hoa's, we
put them in there, and like, I think Shelley's program
has been a really excellent way to get people involved
(11:05):
with Sabina and I's greater mission of conserving the environment
around the birds. Because once people put these houses in
and they see the birds, I think they get like
enchanted by the birds, right, and then like that's how
we get to you know, we hook in and then
and then and then they want to learn more and
more and more. I mean that's I'm a total burd
nerd and it's you know, they hook you and you
(11:27):
get really interested. So so yeah, that this really important
signature program that I think is helps love.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Oh yes, speaking of birds, you have brought a little
guest with you today.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
This is my lab assistant, Cheryl. She She is a
Turkey vulture and I sometimes so As the director of
Education and Outreach, I so I have a character that
I sometimes is my alter ego, Professor Screech. And Professor
Screech of course needs an assistant because Professor Screech is
(11:58):
an official expert. They have an O MG and an
L O L and expertology. But you know they can't
do everything. So so Cheryl is uh is the Turkey Vulture.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Lab assistant, and she said, very lovely. Plus you just
have hy She's no actual live turkey fault in this, No, no, unfortunately. Yeah,
they're rather large though I've driven by them on the road,
like whoa like.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Six ft wingspan on those guys.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
That was like, I was gonna ask you how long
the wingspan is because I was like, I think their
wingspan is wider than I am tall.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
They're they're big birds.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Yeah, yeah, it's pretty much. I'm not.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Yeah, it's big, it's big.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And what is there?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
What is their function in nature?
Speaker 4 (12:36):
You want me to go Cheryl Cheryl? Well, if Cheryl
could answer, unfortunately her mouth has a little stitching on it,
but if she could answer, she would tell you they
are great at cleaning up as sometimes people I think
so u grous vultures or they're bad. They're bad, they
mean bad things. I think there's like maybe some negative connotation,
(12:57):
but vultures to me, well, they're some of my favorite
I think Turkey vultures are the coolest. But also without
animals like a vulture, who they eat, you know, recently,
dead things. Without without guys that eat the dead stuff,
we'd be piled up in dead stuff, you know. So
they really there are their nature's clean you know, one
of the things that are nature's cleaners. So I love
(13:19):
a turkey vulture.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I think that's fantastic. I did a tree planting with
the Arthur R. Marshall folks many years ago to help
re establish the watershed. And while were they out there,
there's all these birds flying around, and I was like,
what is that?
Speaker 4 (13:32):
What is that?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
And they would tell you. When I saw one one
those like black and had a little red on the wings,
I'm like, what's that. One called them like, oh, red
wing blackbird, and I was waiting for like Kingfisher, really
elaborate name.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
But no, no, sometimes they help you out, not all.
Sometimes you get like the crazy names or you're like,
I have what but that one's unless you're looking at
a female though. See that's it's an interesting thing about birds.
I digress for a moment. But they generally the birds
for the male of the species, right, So they say
red wing blackbird, well, that's only the male. The female
(14:05):
looks nothing like that. You would not if you didn't know,
you wouldn't know, I think, And I just find that
an interesting, interesting scientific.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Well, and for listeners who want to find out more,
there's all kinds of events you guys do right where
they can like actually come out and meet you, like
like you guys are going to be at I believe
the big Natural Areas Festival on the fifteenth, right, Yeah, no.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
We absolutely. We try to offer as many variety of
programs and outreach so that everyone can participate, whether it's
from their living room or it's in person virtually. And
also you know our events and outreach programs and we
tried to cater it to everybody, so from the youngest
(14:50):
little enthusiast to the season birder. So there's an opportunity
that we provide to everyone. We are going to be
at the Natural Areas Festival with you had mentioned earlier
with Benji Stute, and so we're excited about that. We'll
have h we'll have booths set up with both educational
(15:12):
and interactive games and uh, it's like our scat or
you have to guess the scats who scat is that?
Who scat is that? And I think Professor Screech will
be Professor Screech might be there. But also there may
or there may be an al pellet dissection, which is
(15:32):
always very exciting.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I have a friend that's in middle school science teacher
the most popular class. Okay, it's al pellet. There's two.
There's the alpel owl pellet dissection and the mentos and
the diet coke somewhat blows up and the mettos and
outside definitely outside of that, I.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Do al pellets dissections all the time that I still
get to us about doing, and I'm like, look at this.
It's always like a surprise.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
It iss.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Well, you never know until you do. Yeah, it's very cool.
But but yeah, the kids really like that.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Yeah, yeah, super so I can.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
See the exciting especial when they come out to see that.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
So you guys are one of the one of the
exhibitors that day. So there's gonna be lots of other
environmental folks out there. Benji's like, everybody come out again,
totally free. Yeah, except for the food trucks that you
have to pay for, but everything else free. And if
you and no reservations required unless you want to do
the run. You want to do the fund Trail run,
right that you need to reregister, register, pre register for
(16:36):
that thing. But like the kayaking and things like that,
you can register when you get there. So just reminder folks.
And that's a Winding Waters.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Yeah, yep. And there will be lots of other stuff too.
There's gonna be experts giving tours and it's a really
great festival. And you know, we fully support Beach County
arm where we partner with them in certain things like
the Adoptee Island and their conservation initiatives for the island restorations.
(17:05):
So we're partnered with them or with Tarpan Cove and
they do such a wonderful job in restoration.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, he was saying that when we chatted that there's
one of their events they do is they go out
and they they basically go in a boat, they go
to the island they clean up the birds nests as
part of their I don't know the read wrangle which
one it is, and that way the birds will come
and nest there a hand this year and so it's
like basically you're just tiding the house up for them
to come, which I think is what a fun thing
to do for the birds.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Yeah, and we actually have some events with them. It's
called Reading for the Birds, right, and February first and
March first, which is Tarpin Cove and that would be helpful,
you know, there are events so that you go out
on the boat and then you go out there to
weed for the nesting birds that are out there.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Yeah, it's it's a super it's super fun and and
it's interesting because you can only do it for a
certain until a certain time of the year, right, because
once the birds come, you're not they don't want you
there you're not well yeah, so because you'll disturb the birds.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
So so it's a special thing if you can sign
up for it, and you can go to PBC firms event, right,
and you can you can actually sign up. They have
a limited amount of spots, but you can do it
for free. You go out there and you can help
us out because we're partnered on that, like we adopted
that island. And and it's like a super cool thing
because it's something you don't get to see very much.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
If you're doing it for the birds.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, I love for the love of the birds. I
like it, So of course you guys would be the
one New Waters Natural Festival. Then you have other ones
coming up, and I know Savida you said that they
have virtual ones as well as in person ones. So
your next virtual one to believe is Fireflies of Florida.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
So we have a really popular series called the Virtually
There Series. It's a it's a member meeting that's online,
it's live, and it's the first Tuesday of every month
between the season of September to June, and we bring
in top experts and scientists and best selling authors from
around the world really to talk about bird conservation research
(19:13):
and environmental issues, but all from your living room or
if you're right driving home or.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
What have you.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
And so we have March fourth, around at seven o'clock,
we're going to have Richard Joyce. And Richard Joyce is amazing.
He is coming to us from New York City and
he's going to teach us about the threats to fireflies,
how to help how to participate in the Firefly at List,
which is like a community based science project. He's part
(19:41):
of the Zerce Society, which is an really incredible community
and we're just gonna learn about fireflies and how we
can protect them because, as you know, fireflies are not
as visible as they were when some of us were
growing up.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
I remember catching them in jars and letting them go later.
They're so fascinating. Your little kids catch them in the
big nation doors and be like a little light. Yeah,
and then of course we let them go before we
go inside. But I'm very fine.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Yeah, and people, I think people forget that we have fireflies.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
I think also there's so much light pollution that they
don't really see them. Unless we're more out in a
more natural country area, you wouldn't see them.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Yeah. So speaking of Palm Beach County arm you can
actually see fireflies at a certain season out in the
pine Jog Pine Jog natural area. So it's it's going
to be a great presentation because it will give some
insights to where you can see them.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
So, of course it's virtual and it's for the group,
but it's for anybody as well. It's free to join.
How do people join? Do they go to a website?
Do they call you? How does that work?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
So you go to our event right, which is Autumn
Everglades event, right, and most of our programming is there.
Almost all of our programming is there, and this virtually
their series is free. It's free to anyone and you.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Can anywhere around the world.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Anywhere around the world. We have people who have joined
us for certain presentations far as Australia to Alaska to Malaysia.
It's great and it's a great opportunity to be able
to interact and ask the questions that you want to
with these leading experts and authors.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Oh that's fantastic. So of course if people want to
come in person, I know its automy. You've got some
fun things coming up as well, so talk to me.
It's gonna be this sounds like one I might be
for pub trivia. What's the name of that one?
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Very excited about this. This is bird Brain Trivia. We're
going to be do it. Thank you. We're going to
be doing it on the fourth Tuesday of every month
starting February twenty five rights and I'll be hosting it along.
We're partnering up with an organization called bird Note.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Yeah, it's pretty exciting. Yeah, a nationally known organization.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
And syndicated podcasts that it's been around for a long time.
They're great and so we partnered up on creating some
burd Neard trivia. We're going to be at Civil Society
Brewing in West Palm Beach. There are two locations. We're
going to be at the West Palm each location. You
don't have to know anything I want. I want to
assure everyone you don't have to know anything to do right.
(22:07):
We love it, We love it when a complete novice
comes in. We have prizes. We're gonna have prizes. We're
gonna have swag from bird Note is offering some swag,
some cool swag, and and it's just meant to be
a super fun night. You can come, you can come
with a bunch of friends and have a team. You
can come by yourself and be your own team, whatever
(22:27):
you want. It's just it's fun. It starts at six pm,
so it's something you can do on your way, you know,
if you've got a bunch of friends, you want to
stop buying your way home from work.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Sounds good. And of course they can meet, and they
can meet.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
They can meet Cheryl possibly Professor's.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Screech and BB from bird and BB from bird.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Note, who's been helping us out on this.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
She's amazing, Oh fantastic, so of course that's one of
the things. And then you have other events coming up,
tell me about those.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
So we always have events coming up. We're gonna be
at the so so aside from the we're always a festival, right.
We've got the Native Plant Expo coming up, which is
sponsored by the Native Plant Society.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Yeah, it's the Palm Beach Florida Native Plant Society. Yeah,
and it's a it's a Native Plant Expo which will
be at it's a Palm Each State College, sorry, Palm
Beach State, Yes, the.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Same thing is still Yeah, so PBCC.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
It used to be PBCC, but now it's PBSC. Yeah.
The gardens campus the PGA campus, not one in down
South And it's a one day thing on the second,
the twenty second, and it's gonna be a great conference.
There's all kinds of cool speakers. If you want to
know how to make your yard a bird sanctuary, whether
(23:42):
you have whether you have like a little porch outside
your apartment or you've got a whole big yard or
you're in an h o A. We're gonna have information
about that. They're going to have all kinds that they're
They're keynote speaker is George Gamm who's he's an internationally
recognized authority on conservation and restoration. So that's super awesome.
That one is not free, that's one you gotta pay
(24:03):
so but it's totally worth it if you're really into
plants and learning about native plants and attracting native wildlife.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
And we can plant like for the for the butterflies.
Yeah that as well.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
Yeah, so we and we talk. We have a speaking
of that. We also so we have a lot of
we have a lot we have a few signature burdens.
So we have the Purple Martins with Shelley. Then we
also have a create your Own Bird Sanctuary UH program
that goes around a lot of times. They do a
great job talking to hoas and helping hoas learn about
(24:35):
how to make their uh their neighborhoods more bird friendly,
more pollinator bigot birds and pollinators that come together right,
more friendly and because people, you know, sometimes you know,
you've got these large expanses of lawn and they want
to put in uh things that are not necessarily native,
(24:56):
but then you lose all the native wildlife, you know.
And so we've got great people like Mary Young and
Helen Lawrence, and who she's amazing, who all talk about
how you rather than having these great expanses of lawn,
you can make it a thriving ecosystem that will attract
the beautiful birds and bugs and all the cool stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Yeah, and it's also drought resistant when you do.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Right because it's made for people. For people forget this,
like it's made when when you plant something that's made
for this area, it's gonna do better. It's not going
to take the water, it's not going to take the care.
And you know, the reason it attracts more stuff is
because it's native, so that that stuff has also adapted
(25:41):
those that wildlife has adapted to live with that plant
more than it's adapted. Like you may get some you know,
butterflies on uh, you know, some kind of tropical plant
that doesn't belong here. You may get some, but they're
not evolved to live with it. You know, they'll do
much better on native. So that's what we try and
encourage people.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Of course, if you kind of plant plant something native,
it makes totally to me, well because I'm terrible with plants.
They always dye of me. But if you plant something native.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Exactly exactly, and we have we have a partnership with
Bush Wildlife where we have h an example of native
how you could landscape with native plants there as well.
So our program is pretty diverse and we have some
really great partners. Uh. That conference that we were talking about,
(26:32):
that's basically most of Florida's experts that we'll be speaking
there and working with homeowners and uh you know, also
we'll be giving uh talks autumns. We'll be talking she
will be one of the speakers. We're also giving live tours,
so showing you the plants in actual areas such as
(26:52):
the natural areas and what birds thrive on those those
native plants. So it's a pretty incress the first annual
Native Plant Expo. It's going to be great. I really
encourage people to come. It's it's a wonderful way to
get all the resources in one day.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Yeah, and we're super fun.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
And that's the un events, right.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
It's presented by the Palm Beach County Chapter of the
Florida Native Plant Society and your website FNPs Chapters dot
org and that's where you're gonna find more information about it.
So Florida Natural Native Plant Society.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
And of course another fun thing. I know you guys
are looking for volunteers, like those students need their community
service hours, what a fun way to get them.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
We love volunteers, We love volunteers of all agents. But
if you're a student and you need volunteer hours, we
want to have you. We have our group of school
aged teenage te teens young thirteen to thirteen to eighteen,
all the conservation crew, and that I can't tell you.
(27:53):
The kids, the young adults that are involved in this
have been integral in doing outreach with me because I
can't I can't do it by myself, Sabina and I
can't do it by ourselves, so they come out they
learn about the birds. That so if you join us
and do what they do, you get some hands on
knowledge learning about learning about birds and about the environment.
(28:16):
And it's not just birds like I have like my
my whos scat is that game we talk about we
talk about We teach all all different kinds of it's
kind of a holistic environmental education. And the kids that
work with us get to learn all of this. They
get to, if you're interested, actually become teachers. And because
I think the best way to teach young people is
(28:37):
to have other young people talk to them. You know,
the best way to get them interested in it is
to see that other that not just me and not
just Sabena, but people that are younger into it, you know.
And they've been helping us with that, like immensely.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Yeah, if you come to our outreach boots at any
of the events, you'll see them leading, leading all the
programs and the information. So that's pretty amazing group. And
it doesn't necessarily have to be in person as well.
We offer remote experiences for for for both college age
and high school students. And there are internship opportunities as well.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Yeah, oh very yeah, yeah, yeah, we've got some right now.
We've got some great college interns that are that are
helping me out a lot. You know, they come out
with me, so I lead. I don't just do we
don't just do public events that you can sign up for.
We do a lot of those, and the majority are
offered free to the public, just just so you know,
we try and make it accessible to everyone, you know,
(29:32):
and I think we're doing a pretty amazing job of
making it accessible absolutely so. So most of our programming
is is free. We survive off of you know, grants
and donations and our membership.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
All right, so how do people like sign up to
become a volunteer or to maybe make a no donation?
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Awesome? So, uh, the best way to learn about being
a volunteer is if you can you can remember volunteer
at autobun Everglades dot org email that will send you
out a survey. You can fill out that survey and
we'll find out what you want to do and we'll
get you involved. If you want to become a member,
you can find us in person. The best way is
(30:13):
to come to one of our events like the one
coming up on the yeah, the National Areas Festival, and
you can sign up with us in person. You can
also you can visit our website.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yeah, you can visit our website as well, and there's
an opportunity for you to become a member on there
as well. And it's relatively inexpensive.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
It's twenty five dollars for a single membership for a year.
That's insane, like for a whole year, and if you're
a family, it's what it's thirty five.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
What you get with that membership too, is amazing. So
you'll get first opportunities to some of our amazing programs
that sell out very quickly, and we have access to
some of the areas that the public can't access, so
we offer tours in there with partnerships with some of
the organizations just the South Water Water Management District and
(31:03):
start other areas and stuff, and so members will get
first opportunity to sign up for those very popular programs
that sell out within a day or two.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
So and then and then we also we come, we
come to you, so if people are interested in having
a program, you can contact me and we will provide programming. Again,
it's primarily offered free. We accept donations, but we make
we want to make it accessible to all. So I
have we have a great burd nerding one O one
(31:33):
program where we teach you how to be bird nerd
and and we will come. We work with homeschools, We
work with all different kinds of diverse groups of people
to take them outside or do a presentation inside. Whatever
your ability is, and you're your level of what you know,
you want to be outside, you don't want to be outside,
(31:54):
you know what. We cater to pretty much anybody, And
we also just want to mention if you go to
our event right autumn Everglades event right. We have a
million amazing field trips all the time, primarily again primarily free.
Our field trip coordinator Paula Gatrell has set up an
amazing program. I can't believe how many field trips we
(32:15):
do a week.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
It's like insane, Say within a season, it's like ninety
field trips.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
Yeah, it's crazy. So if you want to if you
want to go out and see the birds, if you
want to meet people that do the birding and learn,
if you just want to go outside and have fun,
go out with them, check out our event right and
check out our field trips.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
That's fantastic. Well, thank you ladies for coming in sharing
all this with us today. So cool, very nice thing
you do in the community. Very much needed and appreciate it.
So thank you. And if you need more information, reach
out to me Palm Beach Perspective at iHeartMedia dot com.
Happy to forward on the details and don't forget. You
can always download the show as a podcast on our
iHeartRadio app. Hope everybody has a wonderful weekend. I'm dev
(32:53):
Nev and this has been my perspective. Remember life is good,
so be your healthiest you, and let's get out there
until next week.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Enjoy iHeart Communities, the community engagement arm of the station,
champions critical issues and causes in the area of health
and wellness, social impact, education, literacy, and music and art.
Join us next week from Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.