Tropical Storm Fay: The Learning Center will be closed Monday amd Tuesday 8/18/08 & 8/19/08. We expect to re-open Wednesday 8/21/08 at approxiamately 12 noon.

Nesting Area Closed for Summer

Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), in cooperation with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), is closing a small portion of the beach on the south end of Keewaydin Island during the nesting season for least terns, a migratory bird species. For the seventh consecutive season, roughly 3.5 acres of the island is scheduled to be closed between May 1 and mid-August.

Nesting Season Update:

After a rather slow start, the least tern colony at the south end of Keewaydin Island is approximately mid-way through the nesting season. Roughly 25 scrape nests were counted in mid-June, and by the end of June as many as 20 chicks hatched. Nine chicks were counted following the July 4 holiday. Three pairs of Wilson’s plovers are also rearing chicks in the area.