Manatee Community Foundation awards grants to local groups

MANATEE -- There's a little known place in Manatee County where visitors can find what some call, "the most beautiful bird in North America."

Felts Audubon Preserve, 4600 24th Ave. E., Palmetto, named for Anita and Otis Felts who donated the land, is home to the male painted bunting, which sports a dark blue head, green back and red rump, said Jim Stephenson, secretary of the Manatee County Audubon Society.

Only 5 percent of all Manatee County residents have ever visited the preserve to see the bird, but last year, 1,900 third-graders from Manatee County schools took a half-

day tour with naturalist Karen Willey, owner of Around the Bend Nature Tours, to discover 158 avian species and 33 butterfly species, Stephenson said.

Stephenson accepted a check Tuesday for $5,000 from the Manatee Community Foundation to keep the third-grade bird program going next year,

Stephenson was among representatives from 43 local organizations who picked up checks totaling more than $148,000 at the Manatee Community Foundation's annual Spring Grant Reception at the foundation's new office, 2820 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton. "It's spectacular," Stephenson said of the painted bunting. "We are one of the few places in the immediate area that has them. We also have the amazing wood duck in season, cardinals and the American goldfinch."

Willey, whose team of about 12 environmental educators help provide the field trips, joined Stephenson in accepting the grant.

She said her goal is to take every third-grader every year to Felts Preserve, which recently received new footpaths and an enhanced bird blind for comfortable wildlife observation and photography.

"Felts is in the middle of suburbia in Palmetto, but it is an oasis of natural habitat for birds," Willey said. "They have wetlands, a pasture that has become a wildflower meadow and an oak canopy. We walk the kids around and teach them."

"This grant will enable us to take 700 third-graders next year to Felts, including the expense for their buses," Willey added.

Susie Bowie, executive director of the Manatee Community Foundation, is a "birder" and has been to the preserve to see the painted bunting.

"The Audubon Society fulfills a real important purpose in our community," Bowie said. "I think getting kids out in nature is such a good and essential part of education in Manatee County. The Felts Preserve is one of the most beautiful places in our county."

The Lawrence E. Ruf Charitable Fund of the Manatee Community Foundation donated Audubon's gift so more children could see the painted bunting, Bowie said.

In 2002, Anita Felts donated 27 wildlife-rich acres in Palmetto to the Audubon Society hoping the land would always be used as an environmental education center, which she and her late husband, Otis, envisioned.

The Felts Audubon Preserve, on the corner of Experimental Farm Road and 24th Avenue East in Palmetto, is open sunrise to sunset every day. Members of the public can park on the road and walk through the pedestrian access, Stephenson said.

Beginning at 9 a.m. the first Saturday of every month, Audubon hosts an open house and a volunteer will point out birds, spiders, wildflowers and native plants, Stephenson said.

This year, 53 organizations applied to the foundation asking for more than $250,000 in grant money, said Susan Atherton, foundation director of charitable legacy planning and development. In addition to funding the Audubon Society, the 2016 foundation grants this year also benefited Turning Points, Manatee Library Foundation, Anna Maria Island Community Center and United Way of Manatee County, among others.

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter@RichardDymond.

This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 11:53 PM with the headline "Manatee Community Foundation awards grants to local groups."