SCCF wants your help tracking animals on Sanibel after Ian

Grab your camera, the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation needs your help tracking wildlife after Hurricane Ian.

Biologists with SCCF are tracking and searching to see what wildlife survived the storm.

Ospreys, shorebirds, snakes, and raccoons, these animals may seem ordinary, but their presence on Sanibel after Ian’s destruction is extraordinary.

“The thing that makes Sanibel so special is this just we have very high diversity for a barrier island,” said Chris Lechowicz, a wildlife and habitat management director with SCCF. “We are very interested in how wildlife handled a hurricane as serious as this. Not only did we have a storm surge event, but we had high winds that brought a lot of trees down.”

Citizen scientists took photos for SCCF, and they want anyone who can point and click to do the same as they roam the barrier islands.

“Because there’s only a few of us biologists here on Sanibel, we can’t be everywhere. We can’t see everything. We want to start to put a map together of where things are living because there is going to be a shift in some of the habitats,” said Lechowicz.

Lechowicz said they’ve already noticed a shift with some of the turtles as freshwater areas on the island are now brackish.

“The largest items that people have been seeing are coyotes and bobcats,” Lechowicz said.

Lechowicz knows what was here before Ian. “We have a bird list. We have a mammal list, we have a freshwater fish list.” Now, they want to know which species survived, which were lost and what new creatures might appear.

Even if you see something ordinary like a lizard, SCCF wants you to take a picture and fill out the form on their website.