Steven Whitfield on Flamingos

The Florida Keys Audubon Society’s speaker series will continue on Wednesday, April 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the Key West Garden Club, 1100 Atlantic Boulevard.

The speaker will be Steven Whitfield, a conservation biologist with Zoo Miami, who whill give a talk called “Past, Present, and Future of American Flamingos in Florida.”

Whitfield recently co-authored a paper redefining what is known about the origin of flamingo population in Florida. The paper received coverage in the New York Times and the Miami Herald, as well as on NPR and the National Geographic website.

Whifield first started working with Flamingos three years ago when Zoo Miami was involved with the capture of Conchy, a flamingo that was reluctant to leave the Navy airfield at Boca Chica. He has worked with wildlife in South Florida for 20 years.

“I’ll overview everything we know about Florida’s flamingo population – from historical numbers and distributions written by early naturalists going back to Audubon, the eradication of the the historic population from hunting for meat and feathers, and what appears to be a slow return of flamingos since the 1950s. I’ll also talk about our ongoing research efforts to understand the biology of flamingos in Florida today, and our efforts with conservation of the species,” said Whitfield.

Admissions is free and open to anyone who is interested.

For more information email [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 305-771-5807.

Before the meeting there will be a bird walk at 6 p.m. led by Dr. Mark Whiteside.