Scientific committee: Cathy King, coordinator
Local Committee Liaison: Chris Tuite, of The Nature Conservancy
Registration: The registration fee is $100.
Post meeting field trip. A 3-day field trip is being planned to visit Yucatan region of Mexico, and to see flamingos, flamingo conservation projects, etc. (snorkeling, visiting Mayan ruins, etc.).
Abstracts and program will
be distributed to registrants prior to the meeting and will also
be available at this web site.
The CWS/FSG meeting will be held at the Florida International University Kovens Conference Center in North Miami, Florida (NE 151st St. and Biscayne Blvd., North Miami, Fl. 33181). Located mid-way between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, the Florida International University Conference Center and surrounding motels are convenient to the international airports, seaports, museums and educational institutions, beaches and recreation areas of both cities. Located on Biscayne Bay, the modern Center provides architectural elegance, state of the art technology, and fine dining in a subtropical waterfront setting. Florida International University is part of the State University system of Florida, with an enrollment exceeding 30,000 students at two major campuses in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
See
directions to Kovens Center
See
campus map
The greater Miami area is a sprawling international city, covering most of the low coastal ridge which separates Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic shoreline from the vast freshwater Everglades region in the interior. Every image of Miami is true! It is a city of glitzy, art-deco districts, superb restaurants, magnificent waterfront vistas, grand tropical gardens, and the largest cruise ship port in the world. The dominant languages are Spanish, English, French/Haitian and Portuguese, in about that order. Because of this rich ethnicity, the City's seaside location, and the large, commercial production of tropical fruit and vegetables on local groves and farms, dining in Miami is among the more rewarding culinary experiences one can experience.
Southeastern Florida also is a land
of sharp contrasts between the urban and natural world. West of Miami and
Ft. Lauderdale are vast wetlands, including the Everglades and Big Cypress
swamp. Originally covering an area of 3.6 million hectares, the region
was a hydrologically interconnected mosaic of expansive freshwater sloughs,
wet prairies, tree islands, cypress swamps, freshwater lakes and streams,
broad estuarine lagoons, and the largest contiguous mangrove swamp in the
world. Because of its large spatial extent and dynamic hydrological
patterns, the original Everglades once supported nesting "rookeries" containing
tens of thousands of herons, egrets, ibis, storks, spoonbills, and pelicans.
A
massive drainage and water control project, initiated
during the late 1940s, has reduced the regional carrying capacity for most
of these water birds by more than 75 percent. Currently the federal
and state government is cooperating in designing a long-term, multi-billion
dollar ecosystem restoration and water supply program for south Florida.
This program will forever change the patterns of water allocation among
the urban, agricultural and environmental components of the regional landscape,
in what is probably the largest attempt at restoration of any ecosystem
in the world.
Late October in south Florida
is a transition period between the summer wet season, characterized by
hot, humid days and numerous local thunderstorms, and the winter dry season,
characterized by warm, less humid days with mostly blue skies. At
the end of the rainy season, the Everglades will be deeply and broadly
flooded, water birds will be widely dispersed, and mosquitos and alligators
will have completed another successful reproductive effort! The early
beginnings of the winter-spring nesting season for water birds will be
evident by the return of Roseate Spoonbills and the first nestings by Great
White Herons in
Florida Bay. Established pairs of Osprey and Bald Eagles
will be relining nests, and strings of migrating Brown Pelicans will be
tracking the coastlines into south Florida from more northern summering
grounds. Biscayne Bay is itself a top spot for viewing migrating
shorebirds, and large numbers of Peregrine Falcons.
The conference center is
within four miles of over 20 hotels and motels, many of which are located
on nearby Miami Beach. Prices range from $33/night to $150/night
at more upscale locations. We have negotiated group rates with the
following three hotels:
Newport Crown Plaza $119/night single or double
16701 Collins Ave.
North Miami, Florida 33160
305-949-1300
Numerous other hotels in nearby
Miami Beach (<6 miles away, see below) offer visitors a range of prices
and luxuries. We also list below some accommodations in Miami’s other
well-known cultural center, Coconut Grove (19 miles away). Please
note that we have not negotiated any special rates at these hotels, and
the rates listed are approximate. Transportation to and from the
conference center will not be provided from these hotels. To get
a sense of the geography, try using http://www.mapquest.com, which will
give you detailed street maps at local, regional and national scales if
you type in the address of the hotel. The Conference center is located
at NE 151st st. and Biscayne Blvd., North Miami Fl.
|
|
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| Miami Beach Ocean Resort
3025 Collins Ave. Miami Beach FL 33140 800-550-0505 $125-150/night Bay Harbor Inn
Paradise Inn Motel
|
Grand Bay Hotel
2669 S. Bayshore Drive Coconut Grove FL 33133 800-327-2788 $225-280/night Grove Isle Club & Resort
|
Meals
Miami is famous for international
and Latin American cuisine; the restaurant section of the area phone book
is over 2 centimeters thick. In the immediate area of the hotels
proposed, numerous restaurants are available. Restaurants are not
within walking distance of the conference center, however, and ground transport
via taxi, car, or shuttle will be necessary for lunches away from the center
during the meeting.
Please note that most of the
meals are part of the registration fee. The Flamingo Specialist Group
meeting registration will include lunches on all three days of the meeting,
the banquet with Colonial Waterbird Society on Saturday Night, and a dinner
at Miami Metrozoo on Monday night (October 25th).
The Miami airport processes more international
passengers than any other airport in the world, and direct flights are
available from all major cities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the
Caribbean basin, and South America. This means airline prices are
relatively cheap by comparison with less accessible locations. For Latin
Americans and many Europeans, Miami is often the cheapest U.S. airfare
available. The Fort Lauderdale airport is also a possibility, especially
for visitors from Canada and Europe.
Air Travel from South and Central America
New Port Tours, a travel agent in
Miami, has agreed to offer wholesale ticket prices to participants coming
from South and Central America. We suggest that you compare prices available
in your own country with those offered by New Port Travel before purchasing
your tickets to ensure that you can take advantage of the best possible
airline prices. For prices from your country please contact Mauro
Prado at (305) 372 5007 or e-mail him at newport@ic2000.com.
Please inform him that you will be participating in the Colonial Waterbird
Society and Flamingo Specialist Group conference. He speaks Portuguese,
English and Spanish.
Travel from airport to the conference center (or hotels).
Most of the hotels in North Miami
and North Miami Beach do not have complimentary airport shuttle service.
Taxi service from Miami International Airport will be a minimum of $30.00,
with $11.00 per additional person. We recommend Super Shuttle, a
blue van with yellow letters, which will cost approximately $17.00 one-way
per person and $7.00 for each additional person. For a group with
a single destination, Super Shuttle charges $55.00 for the group, one-way.
To receive this fare, contact a Super Shuttle representative (in yellow
T-shirts) in the baggage claim area, or call (305) 871-2000.
Travel to Miami by car
Miami can be reached directly
by U.S. interstates (I-75 and I-95) for those driving to the meeting.
Directions and maps are attached, or we also recommend http://www.mapquest.com,
which will give you detailed street maps, very specific driving directions
and distances at local, regional and national scales (its free).
The Conference center is located at NE 151st st. and Biscayne Blvd., North
Miami FL.
Miami can also be reached by
rail, using Amtrak, though it is a 35-minute taxi ride to the Conference
center or to hotels from the station in downtown Miami.
Public Transportation is not
well developed in Miami, and there are no bus or metrorail stops
close to the conference center. We recommend taxis for ground transportation
if you do not have a car.
Transportation between conference center and hotels:
The local committee has arranged free
shuttle van service for the conference participants at the local hotels.
Rental cars: To rent or not to rent?
This meeting has been designed so
that one does not need a car. Taxis and shuttle services get you
from the airport to the hotels, free shuttle vans will move you between
hotels and the conference center, and most of the meals are provided at
the conference center as part of registration fees. Thus there is
no obvious reason to rent a car.
However, you may need a car if you
stay at a hotel away from those to which conference center shuttle service
is provided. You may also wish to rent a car if you want to explore
Miami in any depth, or do any pre- or post-meeting trips in the area.
Due to the volume of the tourist trade in south Florida, car rental rates
are comparatively cheap. Cars may be picked up and returned either
from Miami or Ft. Lauderdale International Airports. Contact your travel
agent to find lowest prices.