Scientists will track three Reddish Egrets at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. They’ve been tracking two on the island over the last year. The new additions are expected to give insight on sea-level rise in Florida.
The Everglades’ Reddish Egret population never recovered after the wading birds were hunted for plume hats in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Ken Meyer is leading the study on the species. He said the population gradually increased from that period into the early 1990s. But by the end of the decade, he said the numbers declined again.
"Now we only have 260 to 300 breeding pairs of Reddish Egrets in Florida," said Meyer.
He suspects the egret numbers are declining because their feeding habitats are declining. Reddish Egrets require clear water, sandy bottoms and they rely on tides to bring prey in an out.
Meyer said boats destroy sea grass where the egrets feed. But he also thinks sea-level rise is contributing to the depleting numbers.
"One of the bottom line questions for this really is: how will sea level rise affect this bird that is very, very sensitive to water depths, quality and character of the vegetation in the bottom?" he said.
Meyer and his team hope to trap three Reddish Egrets within the next two months. They’ll fit them with a quarter-inch Teflon ribbon that will serve as a backpack harness to a GPS satellite transmitter between the birds’ wings.
The transmitter data will direct the team to Reddish Egret feeding zones. The areas may tell them why these egrets are decreasing and if sea-level rise is playing a role.
