Florida Historical Society Stetson Kennedy Award A portrait of a species on the brink The only bird species that lives exclusively in Florida, the Florida scrub-jay was once common across the peninsula. But as development over the last 100 years reduced the habitat on which the bird depends from 39 counties to three, the species became endangered. With a writer’s eye and an explorer’s spirit, Mark Walters travels the state to report on the natural history and current predicament of Florida’s flagship bird. Tracing the millions of years of evolution and migration that led to the development of songbirds and this unique species of jay, Walters describes the Florida bird’s long, graceful tail, its hues that blend from one to the next, and its notoriously friendly manner. He then focuses on the massive land-reclamation and canal-building projects of the twentieth century that ate away at the ancient oak scrub heartlands where the bird was abundant, reducing its population by 90 percent. Walters also investigates conservation efforts taking place today. On a series of field excursions, he introduces the people who are leading the charge to save the bird from extinction—those who gather for annual counts of the species in fragmented and overlooked areas of scrub; those who relocate populations of scrub-jays out of harm’s way; those who survey and purchase land to create wildlife refuges; and those who advocate for the prescribed fires that keep scrub ecosystems inhabitable for the species. A loving portrayal of a very special bird, Florida Scrub-Jay is also a thoughtful reflection on the ethical and emotional weight of protecting a species in an age of catastrophe. Now is the time to act, says Walters, or we will lose the scrub-jay forever.

Just when the lives of the Boucette Sisters seem to be as close to perfection as they can possibly get it, all hell breaks loose. Enrique Michael DiMeglio, known as Rick, is all about his business, in every sense of the word. That is, until he crosses paths with her, Justyanna Boucette, the ultimate temptation that he walked away from and broke her in the process years ago. As he deals with threats to his life and the lives of his brothers in arms, he must stay focused. But a recent turn of events leaves him no choice but to protect his woman, who, from their first meeting, he is lost in and his heart leaps for her. She tests his internal control and restraint with her natural beauty and spirit. She still has power over him until he finally concede to his heart desire and unleash the BEAST within; something he swore he would never do which is why he walked away from her the first time. Justyanna Marie Boucette is a genic researcher who is cultured, graceful, and classy. As she already struggles with her secret life and world, she once again is face to face with over six feet of tall, tanned, mouthwatering flesh in the form of Enrique. She must deal with her hurt, anger, and love for the very man who threw her off a cliff. Life is not as it seems and deception abound until truth is revealed. As their mutual attraction continues to be revealed, so do their secrets. They embark on a journey with twists and turns from every angle. They eventually find out that neither is what they initially thought the other to be.

A blue jay building a nest outside his window prompts John Berendt to find his camera and record the familiar, yet always fascinating sequence of events that will unfold, from eggs being laid to chicks emerging and trying to fly. Children and adults alike will be astonished at the adventurous spirit of one particularly curious young blue jay as he ventures into the world. The author of the best-selling Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil brings his narrative skill to this up-close and delightfully informal account of an event that recurs each spring.

This is an enjoyable story, originally written for older children, featuring a wide cast of human and animal characters. The plot follows as one wild bird begins to interact with a human family and realises it isn't so bad. It contains drawings to bring the story to life as you follow the lives and challenges of several animals including the muskrat and a family of birds.

Florida Scrub Jays are an excellent example of a cooperative-breeding species, in which adult birds often help raise offspring not their own. For more than a decade Glen E. Woolfenden and John W. Fitzpatrick studied a marked population of these birds in an attempt to establish a demographic base for understanding the phenomenon of "helping at the nest." By studying both population biology and behavior, the authors found that habitat restraints, rather than kin selection, are the main source of the behavior of Florida Scrub Jays: the goal of increasing the number of close relatives other than descendants in future generations is of relatively minor importance in their cooperative-breeding behavior. The Florida Scrub Jay lives only in the Florida oak scrub. All acceptable habitat is constantly filled with breeders. Each year about half of the pairs are assisted by one to several nonbreeding helpers. This book provides extensive data on fecundity, survivorship, relatedness, and dispersal to establish the demographic milieu and to address questions arising out of observed helping behavior--whom, how, when, and why the helpers help.

The bestselling natural history of birds, lavishly illustrated with 600 colorphotos, is now available for the first time in flexi binding.

This edition has 65 new images, making a total of 500. The original configurations were altered so that there is only one species per plate. The text is a revision of the Ornithological Biography, rearranged according to Audubon's Synopsis of the Birds of North America (1839).