On the University of Florida campus, a sign marking the school where Gatorade was born.

ALACHUA COUNTY

The birds are pure white, with tips of several outer primary colors and black. The bird has a bare face, bill and legs. It nests in in thickets (the mangrove best), and it builds nests from twigs. Eggs are from three to five and graying blue and whitish or blotched or spotted with dull yellow and umber brown.

One of the most celebrated early colonies of white ibis was Bird Island in Orange Lake. The National Association of Audubon Societies purchased the sanctuary as a bird reservation, and still owns the property. It was one of the few that survived the dreaded era of the plume hunters.

The reserve was purchased In 1910-11, when Florida Audubon Society member Oscar Baynard encouraged the National Audubon Society to purchase the property in Alachua County. It was the nation’s first Audubon sanctuary.

The noted conservationist and bird authority T. Gilbert Pearson wrote about the colony in his authoritative Birds of America, published in 1936 by Garden City Publishing. Pearson grew up in Archer, Florida and led the Florida Audubon Society for the next 24 years. Wrote Pearson, who was also a president of the National Association of Audubon Societies:

Those years when the water is not too high to cover their food white ibises to the number of about nine thouusand pairs come here to breed, as do the egrets, herons, and Water Turkeys that are present every season. Their nests are built in the low alder tres that cover the island and are placed at all hieghts from one to 15 feet.

Natural enemies include vultures and moccasins; wrote Pearson:

This island literally swarms with water moccasins in summer. They take many of the eggs and perhaps some of the newly hatched young.

These birds fly in long ranks and make a very pretty sight when towards evening they begin coming in from their feeding grounds whihch are often many miles away.

To see more, look at the website of the Alachua Audubon Society

A World Golf Foundation initiative, the Hall of Fame represents collaboration among 26 national and international golf organizations, including the PGA TOUR, LPGA, USGA, Augusta National, PGA of America, The European Tour and The R&A. The museum houses interactive exhibits and historic and personal artifacts that tell the stories of its members and the game of golf. www.wgv.com

WINTER HAVEN – Cypress Gardens Adventure Park is open again and has renamed itself Cypress Gardens with an adjacent Splash Island Water Park.

The park closed last fall. It will open again on March 28, with a new leader who knew and worked with the founding Pope family. Bill Sims is a former executive vice president of Cypress Gardens who worked with the Popes from the early 1970s until 1985, when the park was sold for the first time.

Sims is also is the former chief executive officer and executive vice president of the Silver Springs attraction near Ocala, a former executive with Weekee Wachee Spring Hill and a former state tourism representative. Sims is president of CG MGMT LLC, which has been retained by owners Brian Philpot and Rob Harper to oversee the operation. “I cut my teeth in the entertainment industry at Cypress Gardens and learned from the best in the business, Dick Pope Sr.,” Sims said in a press release distributed at a Winter Haven news conference.

The press release said that the reborn Cypress Gardens will focus on the botanical and topiary gardens along with Splash Island. To save on operating costs, the park owners have found new homes for the creatures from the attraction’s former zoo and are selling and removing the carnival and adventure rides installed in 2004. Sims said 14 of the park’s previous 38 rides have already been removed.

Hallelujah! The move will not please coaster enthusiasts, but that is good. Becoming a theme park added to staff costs, and attracted a different crowd than the original park, which enjoyed the gardens and ski shows.

Ski shows and electric boat tours will resume operation as will concerts and special events, including flower festivals.

The gardens and the water park will have separate admission gates and separate ticketing, though a combination pass also will be available. Ticket prices will be reduced up to 40 percent off the 2008 prices.

Season passes will go on sale March 1, and the expiration date of valid season passes sold before the park closed in mid-November will be extended by four months.

See CypressGardens.com

Often working as laborers, maids and farmers, blacks played an essential role in the development of Miami even before the city’s incorporation in 1896. The continued migration of African Americans and Afro-Caribbean’s throughout the early twentieth century helped develop many of the landmark constructions and buildings of that era. “So significant was the number of blacks residing in Miami by 1896 that 162 of them were used to make up the 362 votes needed for the city’s incorporation,” said Robert McCammon, HMSF President.

Artifacts, photographs, family documents, and oral histories are key components of the exhibition on display from March 5th through January 24, 2010. Themes such as settlement patterns/migration, labor and development, civil rights and community traditions are explored.

HMSF was founded in 1940, is one of the largest private, regional history museums in the country. Admission for Black Crossroads is $8 for adults, $5 for children (6-12 years), and free for children under 6. Group discount packages are available. Student admission is $7. HMSF is located at 101 West Flagler Street in Downtown Miami. To purchase tickets and for more information, please contact 305-375-1492, or visit www.hmsf.org.

Black Crossroads: The African Diaspora in Miami is sponsored in part by the Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, Division of Historical Resources, the Florida Humanities Council, the National Endowment of the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

See www.hmsf.org.

FORT LAUDERDALE – The $205 million W Fort Lauderdale is scheduled to open in March. The 482-room hotel will be located on a 4.5-acre site offering dramatic views of both the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway. Amenities at the 23-story, dual-tower property will include W Hotel’s Whatever/Whenever services, a signature Stephen Starr gourmet restaurant, a state-of-the-art SWEAT fitness center, the renowned Bliss Spa, 24-hour concierge and room service, W signature pillow menu, and a one-of-a-kind oceanfront infinity-edge pool. In addition, the W Fort Lauderdale will boast more than 19,000 square feet of meeting space including Sensory Set Up. (954) 462-1633. www.whotels.com/fortlauderdale.

FORT LAUDERDALE – Real estate mogul, Donald Trump has a condo hotel development planned on Fort Lauderdale beach. Construction has begun on Trump International Hotel & Tower Fort Lauderdale, a 24-story building designed by world-renowned architect Michael Graves. From the exterior, the property’s curvilinear lines and art-deco accents recall a circa 1925-cruise liner. Inside, 301 luxuriously appointed one and two-bedroom suites feature Italian-marble flooring and fine furnishings. Other Trump-worthy amenities will include a spa, tropical pool with waterfalls, and a fine dining restaurant. (866) 878- 6701. www.trumpfortlauderdale.com.

FORT LAUDERDALE – The Sheraton Yankee Trader Hotel is undergoing a dramatic multi-million dollar transformation and will be re-flagged as The Westin Beach Resort, Fort Lauderdale. The new Heavenly Spa by Westin will offer a rejuvenating experience. The property boasts more than 32,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, including a 10,000-square-foot ballroom for groups of up to 900 people, and the Sunrise Terrace with more than 6,300 square feet of space and inspiring Atlantic views. (800) 823-2240. www.westin.com/fortlauderdalebeach.

MIAMI - Since its opening on December 31, 1999, the 19,600-seat AmericanAirlines Arena has hosted such diverse musical superstars as U2, Madonna, Cher, Gloria Estefan, Andrea Bocelli, Luis Miguel, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Usher, Marc Anthony, Phish, Shakira and Paul McCartney.

Home to the 2006 NBA Champion Miami HEAT, the Arena has become South Florida’s number one entertainment destination with championship events in boxing, wrestling and gymnastics as well as rodeos and family shows such as the Harlem Globetrotters, Disney On Ice, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, The Wiggles and WWE. The AmericanAirlines Arena has also become the most important venue in the Latin Music industry, as every “A List” Latin artist schedules at least one stop at the arena when routing their tour. Multiple plays by artists like Shakira, Mana and Luis Miguel are evidence of the strength wielded by the AmericanAirlines Arena in the Latin music market.

AmericanAirlines Arena has also played host to several live televised events, including the 2004 and 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, Britney Spears’ “Onyx Hotel” Tour, Cher’s “Living Proof – The Farewell Tour” and the prestigious Latin Grammy Awards, each placing Miami in the international spotlight. Private events have included product launches, corporate basketball tournaments, gala dinners and a host of meetings, large and small, not to mention the 2006 NBA Championship Celebration, where over 250,000 fans showed up on the doorstep of the Arena to celebrate Miami’s first basketball championship. In addition, the Arena has hosted several special events utilizing the outdoor East Plaza with its stunning view of Biscayne Bay and the newly-renovated Dewar’s Suite Level, featuring the ultra-exclusive Dewar’s 12 Clubhouse. In March 2009, the Arena will play host to “March Madness” as the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball Division 1 Championship comes to AmericanAirlines Arena for the first time.

The AmericanAirlines Arena is a division of The HEAT Group, which includes the Miami HEAT of the National Basketball Association, AmericanAirlines Arena and the Waterfront Theatre at AmericanAirlines Arena. See www.aaarena.com