Summer at Crosby

Summer is a great time at Crosby. Maybe not for people, due to heat and bugs, but the flora and fauna are very active and thriving! Our work out there is mainly restricted to early morning invasive exotic plant control sessions. Please call 536-4806 if you are interested in participating.

We had several Florida Youth Challenge Academy workdays in May before the summer heat really kicked up. Thank you Scott Davis and all the young men and women cadets who participated. They did quite a bit of work spreading mulch, weeding, and picking up trash that continually washes onto the sanctuary from neighborhood drainage ditch.

Thank you Ed Rutherford for meeting them out there and hauling excess trash and debris to the Clay Co dump. Thanks also for your early attack on the air potato vines this year!

Spring at Crosby Sanctuary

Prothonotary Warbler

Beaver gnaw on sweetgum tree!

Spring is finally upon us and the leaves and buds are popping at Crosby. Ed and I will continue to work on picking up trash, controlling invasive plants, and general improvements to the sanctuary during unscheduled work days during the week and on weekends. Please call Pete Johnson at (904) 536-4806 if you are interested in participating in work days, or just visit the sanctuary for a nature walk. The Prothonotary Warblers should be returning in April!

An interesting thing we learned this winter is that there are North American Beaver living in the Swamp at Crosby.

4th Annual First Coast Air Potato Roundup

The 4th annual Air potato roundup will be held at Crosby Sanctuary from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on January 16, 2010. Please go to www.duvalaudubon.org for more details.

May through August (Summer 09)

The summer is generally a slow season for birding and activities at Crosby. This is mainly due to the summer heat, mosquitoes, and less birds to see. Our next official fieldtrip/workday will be around November 15, 2009. Please check the Duval Audubon website for exact date/details.

Thanks go out to Scott Davis and the FL Youth Challenge Academy boys for spreading many yards worth of mulch in the native landscaping demo area!! FYCA rocks! Cheers

Air Potato Roundup a Success!!

The 3rd Annual First Coast Air Potato Roundup was a big success!  Twelve volunteers collected 500 pound of air potatoes over approximately 8 acres.  A media story ran in the Clay Today.

For pictures of the event see my web album on Picasa.

3rd Annual First Coast Great Air Potato Roundup

February 28th, 2009

9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

427 Aquarius Concourse

Orange Park, FL

Air potato is an exotic plant that is invasive to native plant communities in Florida.  Their reproductive structures are potato-like bulbils that can easily be collected and disposed of in the winter time. 

Bring heavy duty garbage bags, sturdy shoes, gloves and water.

Prize for the largest potato collected (all NE FL sites) is a free Kayak trip for 2 by Kayak Amelia.

See the Nature Conservancy website for more info about the roundup.

Next Fieldtrip/Workday November 8

The next field trip/workday will be on Saturday November 8, 2008, starting at 8:00AM and ending at around 12:00 PM.  Please bring gloves and pitchforks/shovels and wheelbarrows for spreading mulch.  If you don't have these items, then that's OK just bring yourself and we'll put you to work (after the bird walk of course)!  Meet at 427 Aquarius Concourse, Orange Park, FL.

Thanks and hope to see you there.

Pete Johnson

Sanctuary Director

Fieldtrip-Workday Report from Sept 28

The first Crosby Sanctuary field trip/workday this season was a success.  Many thanks to all who participated including Pat Anderson, Ellen Allen, Larry Gilliland, Bill Lapierre, and Inez Everett and Kenneth Upchurch, a student from FCCJ!  They all graciously stayed to help weed and pick up around the native landscaping areas at the entrance to the sanctuary.

We were treated with some really good looks at Tennessee Warbler and House Wren.  Please see the eBird report below.

Location:     Crosby Sanctuary
Observation date:     9/28/08
Number of species:     29

Anhinga - Anhinga anhinga     1
Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias     2
Great Egret - Ardea alba     3
Little Blue Heron - Egretta caerulea     1
White Ibis - Eudocimus albus     1
Wood Stork - Mycteria americana     1
Red-shouldered Hawk - Buteo lineatus     1
Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis     1
Barred Owl - Strix varia     1
Chimney Swift - Chaetura pelagica     5
Belted Kingfisher - Megaceryle alcyon     2
Red-bellied Woodpecker - Melanerpes carolinus     10
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens     3
Pileated Woodpecker - Dryocopus pileatus     4
White-eyed Vireo - Vireo griseus     4
Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata     8
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos     4
Carolina Chickadee - Poecile carolinensis     5
Tufted Titmouse - Baeolophus bicolor     5
Carolina Wren - Thryothorus ludovicianus     7
House Wren - Troglodytes aedon     2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - Polioptila caerulea     6
Gray Catbird - Dumetella carolinensis     10
Northern Mockingbird - Mimus polyglottos     7
Brown Thrasher - Toxostoma rufum     1
Tennessee Warbler - Vermivora peregrina     5
Northern Parula - Parula americana     1
Eastern Towhee - Pipilo erythrophthalmus     1
Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis     15

Duval Audubon Fieldtrip and Workday

Crosby Sanctuary: Fall Migration #1
Sunday, September 28 2008, 8:00am - 12:00pm

Seasonal Progression Series Trip #1

This series of fieldtrips is designed for birders looking to spend a few hours close to home on a citizen science and "low-carbon", local fieldtrip. Each field trip date includes a 2 hour field trip followed by a 2 hour work session to maintain native landscaping and nest boxes. Participation in work sessions is optional, but fun!

The Crosby Sanctuary is a "Hotspot" on eBird.com, with bird observation data going back to 1984. We have recorded over 80 different bird species from Crosby. We could use your help to expand our species list!

Location: Crosby Sanctuary - 427 Aquarius Concourse, Orange Park, FL Contact: Pete Johnson @ 904-536-4806

Crosby Sanctuary eBird Hotspot

Crosby Sanctuary is listed as a hotspot on eBird. There are over eighty species of birds recorded from Crosby. Please go to eBird and look up Crosby Sanctuary as a hotspot by clicking on "eBird " in the Links section of this blog. You will have to register yourself on eBird to gain access, but it's well worth the trouble. The beauty of eBird is that it lets you look at this information (data) in various ways. For instance, you can see when the first time a bird species was observed, the last time observed, and the high count (most of each individual species seen at one time) by location, hotspot, or region. It's a great way to record your bird observations, keep track of your favorite spot, and prepare for a birding trip to any of the listed hotspots. Many famous birding spots are listed hotspots and kept up to date with observations!

Clay County Ditch Work

Clay County Public Works has decided it's time once again to clean out the ditch running along the entrance to the sanctuary. They made a mess of things for a while and are still not done. We had to file a complaint with the county for their sloppy work. Hopefully, all can be resolved in a manner beneficial to both parties. They have agreed to replant the banks and keep the ditch clean of invasive exotic plants, with a little help from Audubon volunteers.

The ditch up the hill from the sanctuary actually contains a seepage spring that constantly flows crystal clear water. This ditch also drains a good sized portion of the neighborhood nearby. As such, it has been lined with concrete in the past and recently re-lined for stabilization. The county really did a sloppy job as evidenced by the pictures.

This entire ditch run would be a great stream restoration project. A functioning stream/natural ditch would slow the water down and help treat it on the way down to the sanctuary swamp. Anyone interested in helping with such a project? It probably wouldn't be that hard to get grant funding. Just need the people to help organize and get it together.

Prothonotary Warblers at Crosby

Prothonotary Warblers are back as of mid May. One has been spotted in the swamp and the nest box appears active as of May 25. These beautiful yellow birds with blue wings are as pleasant to see as their sweet song is to hear! They are unfortunately listed as a declining species throughout their range of SE US and Central/South America. We are lucky to have them at Crosby!

2nd Annual First Coast Great Air Potato Roundup

The 2nd Annual First Coast Great Air Potato Roundup on March 1, 2008, was a huge success! We collected two and a half large trash bags of potatoes (approximately 300 pounds). Thank you to Barbara Beyerl, Andrew Thornton, Pat Anderson, Larry, Nikki and Taryn Fenwick, Lenore McCullough, Gerry Murphy, and John Mikl0s. Everyone had great fun searching out air potatoes of all shapes and sizes. It was kind of like an Easter egg hunt, only all the eggs were the same color! The largest potato of all roundup sites was found by Andrew Thornton and Barbara Beyerl. It measured 16.5 inches in circumference! Andrew generously let Barbara claim the grand prize of a guided kayak trip for two for half a day from Kayak Amelia.

See you there next year!

Feb. 2 -- Fieldtrip/Workday Report

Our Fieldtrip was a huge success! We had 11 Duval Audubon members out on a beautiful, cool February morning for a bird walk and work session. A big thanks go out to the following members for their help: Patrica Knowles, Duffy Kopriva, Karen Barnum, Melinda Eckert, Rachael Sulkers, Gerald Sim, Pat Anderson, John Miklos, Gerry and Cheryl Murphy! Special thanks to Gerry Murphy, John Miklos, Rachael Sulkers and Gerald Sim for their help installing a Wood Duck nest box (see picture)! Extra special thanks to Pat Anderson, Duffy Kopriva, Cheryl Murphy and Trisha Knowles for pulling a giant bag of weeds from the native plant bed!

The group spotted 25 bird species including such notables as Great Blue Heron, Red-shouldered Hawk, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, American Crow, and Black-and-white Warbler. Other evidence of wildlife included white-tailed deer tracks, wild hog tracks, river otter scat and uneaten bowfin skull. The swamp was well inundated with water, which was flowing slowly to the east.

Mark your Calendars for March 1 Air Potato Roundup

2nd Annual First Coast Air Potato Round-Up

We need the help of all NEFL residents to preserve our
natural communities. Volunteers are needed to come help
clean our parks and preserves from Air Potato vine
(Dioscorea bulbifera) and other non-native invasive plants
that overtake our natural areas.

When: March 1, 2008
Time: 9 a.m. to noon
Where: Volunteers encouraged to participate at the Crosby Sanctuary (427 Aquarius Concourse, Orange Park, FL) or you can participate by removing invasive plants from your own yard!

Contact Pete Johnson at 904-536-4806 for more info and directions if necessary

No registration necessary unless you are bringing a large
group and prizes will be given for the largest potato collected!

Visit www.nature.org/floridainvasive or call 904-598-0004 for
more information.

Summer 2007 Update 1

It's been about 6 months since my last post. This has mainly been due to technical difficulties with blogspot and my busy schedule. Blogspot was bought out by google. The Crosby site didn't have a smooth transition and I didn't have much time to devote to dealing with it.

The wonderful young men and women of the FYCA conducted another workday out a Crosby in March. They were led by Scott Davis and did an excellent job of planting 9 native trees (donated by Robert Sanford of Sanford Landscaping), removing air potat0es and vines, as well as picking up trash and debris. They were also able to determine that all of their bird nest boxes appeared to be occupied or showed signs of activity. They also took a walk back through the swamp to just enjoy being outside in natural surroundings. Scott hopes to be able to bring the FYCA group out more often throughout the upcoming school year, as they really love outdoor activities at Crosby.

Prothonotary Warblers have been seen out along the swamp trail. It's likely they nested in one of two nest boxes installed by FYCA. Please go to www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Prothonotary_Warbler_dtl.html for info on these wonderful birds.

Officials with Clay County were given notebooks with information about the sanctuary in May. One notebook was given to Doug Conkey the county commissioner for Crosby. He is interested in helping our process by developing partnerships with the county and funding resources.

The Homeowners Association of Orange Park Golf and Country Club has contacted us about the donating additional land to the northwest part of the sanctuary. I will continue to update on the status and details of this interesting development!

Please feel free to contact me anytime. We need volunteers willing to help out! Especially someone local in Orange Park willing to spend about 1 hour every 2-3 weeks mowing the entrance area.

Pete Johnson
904-536-4806
petejohnson71@bellsouth.net

Successful Air Potato Roundup

The 1st Annual Northeast Florida Great Air Potato Roundup was a huge success! There were : 104 Total volunteers at 6 work sites
almost 400 pounds of Air Potatoes collected

A total of 3 volunteers picked up about 150 pounds of potatoes at the Crosby Sanctuary site!

Please go to the link below for an article in the Clay County Line newspaper.
www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/013107/nec_7644203.shtml

Please be aware that coming up in March is Invasive Awareness month in Northeast Florida.
Find out more at www.nature.org/florida

First Northeast Florida Great Air Potato Round-up

The Duval Audubon Society is sponsoring a clean up site at the Crosby Sanctuary. Please go to http://www.nature.org/florida or call (904) 598-0004 to pre-register for this worthy event. It is necessary to pre-register to guarantee sufficient supplies and prizes. Prizes will be handed out for the largest potatoes collected! Great fun and educational opportunity for kids and the whole family!

Air potato is an exotic vine from Asia that is considered one of Floridas worst invaders of native plant communities. These vines creep over every other plant and smother them out, similar to Kudzu in Georgia and North Carolina. It reproduces by dropping numerous bulbils, which look much like brown potatoes. For more info and pictures please see the previous post on this blog entitled Air Potato.

When: January 20, 2007
Time: 9 am to 12:30 pm
Where: Crosby Sanctuary or other sponsored sites
Meeting Place: Vystar Credit Union parking lot on NW corner of Blanding Blvd and Aurora Blvd in Orange Park (just south of Wells Road/Orange Park Mall)
Contact: Pete Johnson (904) 536-4806

4 December 2006 -- FYCA Workday

The Florida Youth Challenge Academy conducted their third workday at the Crosby Sanctuary on Monday December 4th. A mixed group of these young men and women worked on pulling more air potato vines, collecting air potatos, and mounting several bird nest boxes (see pictures) on trees within the swamp. These FYCA cadets were full of energy to take on the challenge of pulling and collecting air potatos. They did a great job!

The next FYCA workday will be sometime in mid January. They will be collecting more air potatos and helping to prepare test grass kill plots for the landscape demonstration garden site. Our goal is to begin construction/planting in Spring 2007!

9 November 2006 -- Planning Meeting On-site

Several of the parties involved/interested with this project met at around 5:00 PM to look at the site. These parties included: Rhino Johanson of All in One "Integrity Fencing" to estimate project fencing costs; Scott Davis of Florida Youth Challenge Academy; Dan Hays of SJRWMD youth education program; and two of Scott's advisors from the University of Florida Masters Program.

We discussed topics including fencing upgrade options, history of the property, current conditions, landscape garden project, community vegetable garden, exotic vegetation control, connectivity to other natural areas, FYCA projects, water quality monitoring, local drainage area signs to demonstrate connection between neighborhoods and downstream watershed, community involvement, local government involvement, Clay utility company involvement, and potential drainage/stormwater improvements to neighborhood ditches/outfalls.

It was exciting to have such a dynamic group discuss how to utilize the the Crosby Sanctuary to positively engage and educate people!

Pete Johnson