Axios Tampa Bay
May 29, 2025
1 big thing: 🪶 "A hit parade of Florida birds"
Birds that call Florida's coastline and pine forests home are in serious decline, according to a sweeping new conservation report.
Why it matters: Birds are indicators of the overall health of their habitats and signal early warnings of broader trouble.
- If these habitats can't support birdlife, they likely can't sustain other wildlife — or even humans — for long.
What they're saying: A list of species that have lost more than half of their populations in the last 50 years is "like a hit parade of Florida birds," Audubon Florida executive director Julie Wraithmell told Axios.
- That's in part due to migration patterns, she said. "Florida has an outsized importance for birds of this hemisphere because we're kind of like a Grand Central Station."
State of play: Coastal species, including the Wilson's plover, sanderling and least tern, have experienced steep declines, according to the North American Bird Conservation Initiative's 2025 State of the Birds report.
- So have woodland birds like the Bachman's sparrow and Florida scrub jay — the only bird endemic to the Sunshine State — as the pine forests they inhabit shrink or disappear due to development.
Zoom in: Several of the declining shorebirds are nesting now along Tampa Bay beaches, Wraithmell said, including the least tern, Wilson's plover and snowy plover.
- So are black skimmers, a species that didn't make the list but that Wraithmell said is similarly struggling in Florida.
Friction point: These birds lay their eggs directly on the beach, making their nests particularly vulnerable.
- That's why beachgoers may see areas of sand blocked off to pedestrians or Audubon Florida's bird stewards keeping watch.
- "People aren't expecting eggs in a small, shallow indentation of sand," Wraithmell said. "A single person cutting through can cause the failure of an entire colony."
The big picture: It's not just Florida. Researchers tracked species nationwide and found declines almost everywhere — even among birds once thought resilient, like waterfowl.
- Roughly one-third of U.S. bird species — 229 in total — are now classified as high or moderate conservation concerns.
Yes, but: There are signs of hope.
- Conservation efforts helped the breeding population for American oystercatchers, which also nest along Tampa Bay beaches, bounce back 43% since 2009, although further conservation efforts are needed to sustain that recovery, per the report.
What's next: Scientists are calling for bigger investments in habitat protection — particularly on private lands and in partnership with local communities and Indigenous nations.
The bottom line: "When we do good things for birds," Wraithmell said, "we are all also doing good things for us."
2. 💰 Rise of big-money renters
Around 9% of Tampa Bay renters in 2023 were wealthy, up almost two percentage points from 2019, per a new Redfin analysis.
Why it matters: The cost of buying a home in Tampa Bay has risen more than the cost of renting since 2019, which makes it an attractive choice for many, even those with deep pockets.
- Rich renters are on the rise in 35 of the 50 most populous U.S. metros, the real estate site reports.
Zoom in: The median home sale price in Tampa Bay is up 67.4% since 2019. That's the steepest climb of the major U.S. metros that Redin analyzed.
- To keep up, buyers in 2023 needed 63.1% more income than in 2019 — the biggest jump among all metros in Redfin's analysis.
- Rents in Tampa Bay, meanwhile, climbed 51.6%. Again, that's the largest gain in the analysis, but still less than the region's homebuying costs.
Between the lines: Plenty of people also enjoy the amenities, flexibility and maintenance-free lifestyle that renting offers.
- And some want to put extra cash toward other investments.
The fine print: Researchers defined wealthy renters as those with a household income in the top 20% of local incomes.
- In Tampa Bay, that's a minimum of $141,267. In comparison, the income needed to afford a house in 2023 was $57,408.
3. The Pulp: 🏢 Aquafence moves to Water Street
4. 🥳 Weekend events
5. 🖼️ The Dalí's new murals exhibit
The Dalí Museum unveiled its first-ever murals exhibition, which merges Salvador Dali's surrealist vision with modern street art.
- Participants in St. Petersburg's SHINE Mural Festival were among those commissioned to paint original murals on the museum's walls.
What they're saying: "Museums aim to be porous — what is out in the world must find its way into a museum," said Hank Hine, executive director of The Dalí Museum.
- "With the exhibition ... we bring the immediacy and ambitious size of street murals into the gallery to be examined in a new way."
Axios Tampa Bay
