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Posted by Cynthia Guerra on 11:48:00 05/05/06
Contacts: Jerry Lorenz or Brynne Langan
Audubon of Florida/Tavernier Science Center
305-852-5318
Oldest Living Roseate Spoonbill Discovered in Florida Keys
Tavanier, FL His name is Enrico and his discovery will make the record books. At 16 years old, the oldest wild Roseate Spoonbill was recently discovered by Audubon of Florida researchers on Tern Key in Florida who were conducting a new Spoonbill Satellite Telemetry Project.
Enrico has more than doubled the known life expectancy of a Roseate Spoonbill, providing a new longevity record for the species, Audubon Research Director Jerry Lorenz said. The previously recorded known life span of a wild spoonbill was seven years.
Audubon of Florida researchers from the Tavernier Science Center used a lot of patience and a little luck to recapture Enrico in April for the purpose of deploying a satellite telemetry transmitter on the bird. This is the first year Audubon is implementing a satellite-tracking program to follow breeding spoonbills of Florida Bay to unidentified and undiscovered nesting and foraging sites, over migration paths that are currently unknown.
Enrico is more than 16 years old and is still making whoopee out in the wilds of the Everglades, Lorenz said. Until now, we had no idea whether fledged spoonbills return to their natal colony to breed themselves. Enrico really impressed our researchers. At his age, it s awe inspiring.
Researchers first observed the bird in 2004 at the colony and feeding in a lake. Enrico was remarkable because he wore an identifying leg band with a green stripe across the top of it, and the band was placed above the joint on its leg. Since 2003, Audubon researchers have been placing bands below the joint on spoonbill chicks in Florida Bay. The band was issued by the US Geological Survey Bird Banding Lab (BBL), and imprinted with a code that was too small to read unless the bird was in hand.
Finally, on the last day Audubon researchers hoped to catch adult spoonbills for the satellite tracking program, Enrico practically fell into their hands. The researchers had placed a bal-chatri trap on a pre-selected nest. The trap catches a bird by its feet using thread tied into snares. They then waited silently in a blind hoping a spoonbill would return. When one did, they saw that it was none other than the mysteriously banded bird they had been scrutinizing for more than two years. Enrico was gently removed from the nest. Researchers recorded his band number, placed the satellite transmitter on him, and released the bird unharmed.
Scientists then contacted the USGS Bird Banding Lab in Laurel, Maryland, to track down the bird s origins. Within a few weeks, the mystery was solved. Enrico was originally banded in 1990 by Drs. George Powell and Robin Bjork, former researchers of Audubon s Tavernier Science Center on Tern Key. In 1989, it was Powell and Bjork who hired Lorenz to assist in their spoonbill study. They noted Enrico was too young to fly.
It s kind of like being a grandfather only in reverse Lorenz said. We now have a way to track the oldest known wild spoonbill and possibly the oldest known large wading bird on the planet.
Audubon researchers look forward to tracking Enrico s movements via satellite telemetry, and to his possible return to Tern Key for the next breeding season to break his own longevity record.
Audubon s Roseate Spoonbill Satellite Telemetry Project has been made possible by generous support from the Ocean Fund of Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, and Louis Wolfson, III, President of Audubon House and Tropical Garden In Key West FL.
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