provided to The Santiva Chronicle
The Sanibel Captiva Audubon Society will present “Heron Foraging Behavior” by Dr. Jerome “Jerry” Jackson at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6 at the Sanibel Community House, 2173 Periwinkle Way.
Florida is rich with herons and egrets – all members of the same family. Bitterns also belong to the heron-egret flock bringing Florida’s share to at least twelve species including the invasive-exotic Cattle Egret. How do they all get along? Sometimes they don’t. But they coexist by using different resources or use the same resources in different ways. Sometimes different species even work together to get a meal.
Jackson, Florida Gulf Coast University Professor Emeritus and host of WGCU’s public radio show “With the Wild Things,” will focus on heron and egret diets, the habitats they “dine” in, their unique adaptations for acquiring meals and the ways in which they capture and consume their food.
Dr. Jackson is an amazing educator and enthusiastic learner. He describes his love of nature in the following words: “The joy and yes, I mean real joy that I find in learning and teaching about the living world comes from recognition of the tremendous diversity of life, the complexity of relationships among creatures and the complexity of interactions between these creatures and their physical environment.” His publications include 15 books, 220 publications in scientific journals and 120 publications in popular magazines. His hobbies include the active search and scientific update of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker.
This is the first of eight Sanibel-Captiva Audubon Society lectures to be held in 2022 on consecutive Thursday evenings. As always, all are welcome to attend. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and parking is available at the Community House as well as across Periwinkle Way in the Herb Strauss Theater parking area.
A $10.00 donation per attendee at the door is appreciated with proceeds after costs being used to promote conservation on Sanibel and in Florida. Attendees can also donate directly by mail to the address on the website home page or via PayPal. Due to the lingering pandemic, face masks are expected and social distancing is encouraged. For additional information visit the San-Cap Audubon Web site.
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