2nd Annual Tallahassee Wildlife Festival WALK ON THE WILD SIDE Wildlife-viewing Trips Sunday, May 15th   All trips are led by wildlife biologists and naturalists. Participation for each trip is limited and on a first come, first served basis. Pre-registration and pre-payment is required. Field trip fees are non-refundable, tax-deductible donations to St. Francis Wildlife.   In case of rain, trips will be rescheduled to May 22nd.   CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR WALK ON THE WILD SIDE FIELD TRIPS   1. Tall Timbers Birdwatching Tour Time: 8:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Donation: $20 Number of People: 20 Join biologist Jim Cox for a 2.5 hour tour of Tall Timbers Research Station, including a wagon trip through the pinewoods and a brief visit to the museum. Meet at the Publix on Bradfordville Rd. at 7:30 a.m. and caravan to Tall Timbers Research Station on State Road 12. Jim Cox studies birds of the southern piney woods at Tall Timbers. Species of special interest to him include the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker and declining species such as the Bachman's Sparrow and Brown-headed Nuthatch.   2. Upper Apalachicola River Bluff Country Wildflower Trip Time: 9:00 a.m. - all day Donation: $20 Number of People: 12 Put on your hiking shoes for a strenuous trip with Steve Leitman through the steep bluffs of the upper Apalachicola River. Meet at Steve's "Leithouse" in Watumpka and then caravan. Registrants will receive directions. Bring water, lunch, bug repellent and dress appropriately. Steve Leitman has worked to protect and wandered in the Apalachicola basin for the past 25 years.   3. Wakulla River and St. Marks Birding Trip (But don't be surprised to also see reptiles and mammals!) Time: 9:50 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Donation: $25 Number of People: 30 Meet birder and biologist Dana Bryan at the riverboat ramp at Wakulla Springs State Park for a 10:00 a.m. riverboat tour, with commentary by Dana! From there, carpool to St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge for a spring birding tour of scenic areas off Lighthouse Road. Bring water, lunch, binoculars and dress appropriately. The cost of the boat trip is included, but not admission to St. Marks. Participants should bring Wildlife Refuge Passports or Duck Stamps for free Refuge admission or the fee will be $4 per car. Dana Bryan is Environmental Policy Coordinator for the Florida Park Service, former board member of Florida Audubon, former president of Apalachee Audubon and founding board member of the St. Marks Refuge Association.   4. Wakulla River Manatee Watch and Canoe Trip Time: TBA Donation: $25 Number of People: 20 Located 20 miles south of Tallahassee, FL, the Wakulla River is spring fed and emerges from under ground at the Wakulla Springs State Park. The four-hour trip is six miles of slow-moving, easy paddling. Wildlife is abundant along the banks, the pristine water is excellent for viewing the underwater grasses, fish, snails, turtles and manatees. A manatee expert from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission will present a short program on manatees before leading a tour up river to closely observe the gentle sea cows. Trip will require basic canoeing skills. Two to three people to each canoe. Children under 5 will be free on this trip but will be required to wear life jackets, share a seat with parents and sit still for the duration of the trip. Bring lots of water and snacks. Polarized sunglasses recommended for viewing underwater species.   5. Tallahassee Museum Wildlife Photo Shoot Time: 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Donation: $25 Number of People: 12   Join Rhonda Work, who has volunteereed with both St. Francis Wildlife and the Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science for 10 years, on a private photographic tour of the Museum's Habitat Trail. Thomas Eads, a professional nature photographer, photography teacher and co-tour leader, will teach participants how to create memorable photographs of wild things. The trail is handicap accessible, and the walk will be easy, over level terrain and boardwalks. Museum admission is included in the field trip fee. Don't forget your camera, either digital or film.   6. Birdsong, Bluebirds and Butterflies Time: 8:30 p.m. - 10:30 a.m. Donation: $20 Number of People: 20   Birdsong Nature Center is 45 minutes north of downtown Tallahassee. Travel on Meridian Road north. Birdsong is four miles north of the Florida/Georgia line, on the east side of the road. Admission is included in field trip fee. Join Birdsong's interpretive naturalist, Michael Bell for a close look at these celebrated winged friends, along with many other birds including wild turkeys, brown-headed nuthatches and great blue herons as well as neo-tropical migrants such as blue grosbeaks, orchard orioles, summer tanagers, Bachman's sparrows, prothonotary warblers and Acadian flycatchers. Hike through a wide variety of habitats, and end the tour at the butterfly garden and Bird Window. Michael Bell's interest in birding began in Ireland during his childhood and led to his former role as Field Notes Editor for the Georgia Ornithological Association.   7. Banding Baby Red-cockaded Woodpeckers in the Apalachicola National Forest Time: 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon (approximately) Donation: $20 Number of People: 20   Meet Chuck Hess at the Wakulla Work Center (big "USDA Dept. of Agriculture" sign) on Highway 267, five miles east of 319 (Crawfordville Highway) where participants will need to carpool into a caravan of no more than five cars. High-clearance vehicles, such as SUV's, are suggested. Drive through mature longleaf pine habitat in the Apalachicola National Forest where you will help Chuck band endangered baby Red-cockaded Woodpeckers! Chuck Hess is a wildlife biologist working in the Apalachicola National Forest. He has been studying the Red-cockaded Woodpecker and the longleaf pine ecosystem for the last 16 years. He holds a BS and MS in biology from FSU.   8. Butterfly Identification in Elinor Phipps Park Time: 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Donation: $20 Number of People: 20   Meet Sally and Dean Jue at Gate A on Miller Landing Road, which is north of Forest Meadows on Meridian Road. If there are more than six cars, participants will park at Forest Meadows and carpool to Phipps Park. Walk through Phipps Park where you will see upwards of 20 - 30 different species of butterflies using a provided checklist. 70 species have been recorded there. The walk, over graded terrain, will be easy. Sally Jue is a Conservation Lands Biologist for FNAI (Florida Natural Areas Inventory), a former Nature Conservancy program now run through FSU. Dean Jue holds a research faculty position at FSU at the Institute of Science and Public Affairs. They have been avid birdwatchers for 30 years. More recently they have become expert butterfly watchers with the North American Butterfly Association, Hairstreak Chapter. Be sure to ask why they chose this name for the local chapter!   9. Herps and Creepy Crawly Critters or Discovering Reptiles and Amphibians in the Munson Sandhills Time: 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Donation: $20 Number of People: 20 Meet Ryan Means at the North end of Publix parking lot on the corner of Capital Circle and 319 South, where participants will carpool in high clearance SUV's or trucks. The trip will involve short hikes and lots of pond-sloshing and dip-netting through some of the 200+ ephemeral ponds in the Munson Sandhills region of the Apalachicola National Forest. You will find reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates and investigate ecosystem interdependent relationships among them. Level of difficulty will be easy to moderate, dependent upon the level of involvement desired by participants. People should bring water, lunch, hats, sunscreen and bug repellent, old walking shoes that can get wet (neoprene booties or water sandals suggested). Dress for warm weather, sunshine and wetland hiking. Always the possibility of assorted bugs such as mosquitoes and ticks. Ryan is a wildlife biologist for the Coastal Plains Institute and Land Conservancy and a biological scientist with the Florida Geological Survey. He has studied songbirds in Alaska and reptiles and amphibians in Florida and Venezuela. Additional research interests include Florida archaeology and paleontology. With Bruce Means as a dad, Ryan could not help but grow up to be an impassioned naturalist and wilderness junkie. From the Amazon to the Artic and everywhere in between, he has fallen in love with every wild place he has seen.   DON'T MISS IT. TALLAHASSEE HAS NEVER BEEN THIS WILD.   2005 TALLAHASSEE WILDLIFE FESTIVAL   St. Francis Wildlife Association