BirdQuest is your chance to support the Stoddard Bird Lab

Sep 17, 2024

Calling all bird lovers, now’s your chance to support the Tall Timbers Stoddard Bird Lab.

This month, staff set off on the 2024 BirdQuest, an annual, one-day event to locate as many bird species as possible on a Red Hills property and raise funds through contributions to support ongoing research efforts.

This year, the team found 67 species on the Longleaf property owned and stewarded by Tall Timbers Trustee Tom Rankin.

They encountered the three pine forest endemics —Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, Brown Headed Nuthatches and Bachman’s Sparrows. Of note, they saw signs that fall migration is underway thanks to observations of a Blackburnian Warbler, American Redstart, and Palm Warbler. The numbers are sure to increase as fronts push migrants through, but we’re very pleased with our total count, especially given the rainy start!

Stoddard Bird Lab Director Kate Richardson and Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Conservation Biologist Rob Meyer do translocation work on Red-cockaded Woodpecker nestlings.

BirdQuest donations help the Stoddard Bird Lab continue its mission of research and conservation of rare species across the Southeast.

In 2024, we continued our extensive work translocating and studying Red-cockaded Woodpecker nestlings in the Red Hills and are developing a translocation plan that will help this rare, fire-dependent species to thrive in parts of its historic range.

Tall Timbers also led a regional Bachman’s Sparrow survey to establish 1,500 public land monitoring stations and tapped into the work of volunteers and public land partners to contribute data that will help guide long-term monitoring efforts.

In 2025, we’re launching into work to reintroduce the frosted elfin, a butterfly species currently under review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine if listing under the Endangered Species Act is warranted. We are also beginning to study if sound, such as a bird song, can improve our understanding of how to conserve longleaf pine ecosystems.

BirdQuest is your chance to help support some of this important work.

Your tax-deductible contribution to BirdQuest 2024 for the number of different species seen will help the lab continue to fulfill its mission to research and help conserve the species of fire-dependent ecosystems, from Red-cockaded woodpeckers to frosted elfin butterflies.

Click here to help keep the great work going by making a pledge to BirdQuest today.
About the Author
Karl Etters
A Tallahassee native, Karl has a background in journalism and an even deeper background in exploring North Florida's wild spaces. Merge the two, and he's Tall Timbers' communication coordinator. When he's not spending time with family and friends, he can be found fly fishing, hunting, biking or walking the woods looking for turkeys.
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