Chad Gillis

3 weeks ago | naplesnews.com | Chad Gillis

Be on the lookout for banded roseate spoonbills across Southwest Florida. Audubon Florida is closing in on its 3,000th spoonbill tagging since 2003, and some of the birds may be spotted on public lands like Lovers Key State Park in Bonita Springs or Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve outside of Naples. The non-profit organization is asking the public to report any banded birds. Those who report banded birds this year may receive a special sticker from Audubon.

3 weeks ago | naplesnews.com | Chad Gillis

Cape Coral Wildlife Trust has acquired 81 lots to preserve burrowing owl habitat, thanks to a grant from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The owls thrive in the city's sandy lots, a byproduct of development in the mid-1900s. Volunteers play a crucial role in monitoring and protecting the owls, the official bird of Cape Coral. Some of Southwest Florida's most prime building lots are being purchased for conservation and specifically for burrowing owl habitat.

3 weeks ago | naplesnews.com | Chad Gillis

Good news: Alligators attacks, for the most part, are preventable. A study published in the journal Human-Wildlife Interactions on April 16 says that 96% of alligator attacks in the Southeastern United States were caused by irresponsible behavior on the part of the victim. In these cases, the incidents should be considered encounters, or "bites," not attacks, the journal entry argues. "As both populations increased over time, contact and conflict with one another became inevitable," the study says.

4 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Chad Gillis

I could hear the surf pounding the shore of Lovers Key State Park before I even got out of my car. It was daybreak, and I was anxious because a strong winter front out of the northwest had brought sloppy 3-footers to Southwest Florida, and the waves were breaking over the sandbar at the south end of the main island. I launched my standup paddleboard and quickly shot out through the waters of Estero Bay, into New Pass and then the Gulf itself.

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Chad Gillis

Lee County has joined rest of Southwest Florida by enacting a burn ban. Conditions here are drought-like, and the rainy season is at least a month away. Collier, Charlotte, Glades and Hendry Counties have had burn bans in places for up to several weeks. Lee became the first county this year to reach the 600-mark on the Florida Forestry Service's Keetch Bryam Drought Index, which ranges from 0 for saturated conditions to 800 for especially dry times.