Education is an integral part of Audubon Everglades’s program. Everglades Day, our biggest family and youth group event, is held in February at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Also in February, children and adults join in the Great Backyard Bird Count. Each year the chapter selects a high school senior focusing on environmental studies to receive our Ruth and Seymour Miller Scholarship at the Palm Beach Post Pathfinder Awards. Audubon Everglades has been involved in the development, implementation, judging and prize funding for the Green Schools Recognition Program open to all Palm Beach County schools. The chapter also recruits volunteers to judge the Green Schools Recognition Program is open to all Palm Beach and Martin County schools and the Palm Beach and Martin County Science Fair.

Thanks to National and Florida Audubon grants, the chapter installed a demonstration native plant garden at FAU/Pine Jog Environmental Education Center to educate the public on the critical role native plants play in conserving water and providing food and shelter for birds and butterflies. Please do enjoy this garden when you come to our monthly meetings/lectures at Pine Jog.

This PDF presentation on the water birds of Palm Beach County was prepared by Larry Hess and Audubon Everglades. Palm Beach County educators are welcome to use it in the classroom. Suggested uses include supplemental material when teaching Harvey E. Oyer III’s The Last Egret, stand-alone or supplemental use in a science lesson, or for teaching scientific observation and notetaking as well as comparing adaptations. The document includes a list of sites where these birds can be seen easily.

The Last Egret by Harvey Oyer III