SEBASTIAN – The Pelican Island Audubon invites the public to attend the April 14 meeting at the North County Library, 1001 Sebastian Boulevard in Sebastian starting at 6 p.m. about recent research into Florida’s Black Vulture population.
Although common throughout most of their range, how many of us really know much of the rich life-history of these essential and fascinating birds?
In this talk, Dr. Eric Stolen will explore facets of Black Vulture social behavior and the intricacies of how these noble scavengers cooperate to find food.
He will also discuss how their natural behavior and habitat alteration has brought them into conflict with humans. Much of the talk is based on research in central Florida in the 1990s and more recently at the Kennedy Space Center/ Merritt Island NWR.
Designed to gain information for management decision-making, this study included the use of satellite GPS and radio telemetry to detect the locations of specific individual birds, and the marking of vultures with wing tags for a mark-recapture study.
A resident of Florida since 1985, Eric received both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Biology from the University of Central Florida (the foraging ecology and roosting behavior of Black Vultures), and a Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida (wading bird foraging ecology in managed salt marshes).
Eric has worked as a wildlife biologist at the Kennedy Space Center/ Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge since 1995. He currently lives in Port St. Johns with wife Megan, son Ethan and daughter Erin. Eric enjoys bird watching, hiking, kayaking and studying math in his spare time.