AWE Talk, Grasshopper Sparrows and Everglades Snail Kites

Dr. Paul Gray, Audubon Florida's Science Coordinator will share his research on the endemic grasshopper sparrow. It should be no surprise that the grasshopper sparrow’s population in Florida dwindled in the 1900s with the explosion of development and agriculture. Between 2000 and 2019, however, biologists began noticing an additional sharp decline, from more than 1,000 to perhaps less than 100 individuals. While the causes for the decline were being studied, the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow Working Group, a multi-agency, multidisciplinary group, concluded that captive breeding was needed to bolster wild populations.