Page 26 - PGA Community News - March '25

March 2025
Page 26, PGA C.A.N.! 2 Spaces March 2025
Palm Beach International Boat Show

Gives Back Awards $500,000 To Local Nonprofits At

Second Annual Grant Reception

Palm Beach International Boat Show Gives Back, the The Palm Beach International Boat Show Gives Back is
Palm Beach International Boat Show’s official grant program, a collaboration between MIAPBC, the owner of the Palm
awarded $500,000 across 29 local nonprofit organizations for Beach International Boat Show, and Informa, the producer
the program’s second year. The Marine Industries Association of the show, to support environmental and marine education
of Palm Beach County (MIAPBC) and Informa celebrated programs, as well as waterfront projects in Palm Beach County
the grant program’s 2025 recipients at a cocktail reception that serve residents and visitors. This includes educational
on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at the Lake Pavilion in downtown activities, curriculum development, field trips, outreach, in-
West Palm Beach. house programs, and cultural events.
“Through Palm Beach International Boat Show Gives
Back, we’re fostering marine education and environmental
stewardship by supporting the nonprofits that make a difference

Amy Scandrett, Brett Larson, Kathy Benson, Anne Messer Palm Beach International Boat Show on page 27

Jeffery Davis, Patricia Davis Kathi Doole, Andrew Doole

Book Review from page 25

unusual facts worth knowing that she has either sketched,
or less often photographed then sketched, while observing
the birds’ actions.
The range of emotions engendered by these experiences is
exemplified by two examples that I will touch on very briefly
here. Most of the text has been omitted for lack of space and
replaced with ellipses (…). Here is the first, dated Sept. 26,
2021, a situation in which a young, inexperienced Cooper’s
Hawk flying over Tan’s backyard had spotted three cage
feeders and done a fast dive intending to pluck a songbird
from its perch as an easy meal, not realizing that the birds
were safe inside the metal feeders. It crashed into one of the
feeders, injured a wing and Amy Tan, after frantic efforts to
free and release her, rushed the hawk to a wildlife center to
try to have the bird healed.
“She received a total of three months of incredible care.
But she was still not flying symmetrically. A few days after
that report, I received a voicemail message from the medical
director, asking that I return her call. I knew by her soft,
consoling tone that the news would not be good. I spared
her the difficulty of telling me and left a voicemail message,
saying I appreciated all that they had done. I knew that if
(the hawk) could not fly well enough to find food, she would
slowly starve in the wild … I understood why it was more
humane to euthanize her, and I was grateful that they would
do it in the kindest way possible.
“After I left the message, I cried. I tried to draw her
portrait. But I could not capture her spirit. I could not capture
the way she must have felt within I briefly held her in my arms
and told her I was sorry.”
A month later, on Oct. 24, 2021, a bomb cyclone
arrived in the Bay Area. As Amy Tan notes—here again
I am quoting just brief excerpts from her wonderful
description of the event:
“It hurled serial storms and produced an atmospheric
river that dropped a thirty-minute deluge. We, the denizens
who had been saving shower water to wash bird poop off the
porch were happy to be waterlogged … But as I watched the
large limbs or our oak trees swaying, I imagined the birds in
those trees being whipsawed and flung into the storm. Where
do they go to stay dry when the rain is blasting sideways?
“As if in answer, two pygmy nuthatches flew into the
covered porch off my office, shook themselves off, and sat on
top of a cage feeder a couple of inches apart. Most people
would agree that the pygmy nuthatch is one of the cutest birds
on earth. They look and sound like squeaky toys. I assumed
they would eat a few suet balls for fortitude and head for a
heavily leafed hiding spot. But after five minutes, they were
still there …
“They did not go into the feeders to eat. They simply
watched the rain from their spectator seats. The smaller
nuthatch scooted closer to the bigger one. The bigger one
then allopreened the smaller one, poking and picking at its
feathers. I assumed they were adults, a mated pair, since
the season for fledglings was long over. For thirty minutes
the two nuthatches sat close together like lovers on a porch
swing, watching the rain as I watched them.”
These offer just a bare hint of the information and
experiences awaiting you in the almost 300 pages of this book,
so deserving of its recent honors. Experience it for yourself.