On Saturday January 30th, Nate and I loaded up our rowboat with over 65 cypress trees and assorted other drought tolerant species and rowed out to the Rookery Island at Smith Oaks Bird Sanctuary to plant. The sky was solid grey and the wind out of the North kept a permanent chill in my bones.

It had been almost 1 year since Winnie and I visited the island for planting and nesting platform improvements. This will be the second nesting season since Hurricane Ike blew through and destroyed a large portion of the nesting sites for the birds. Some of the island had adequate amounts of nesting trees and shrubs, while other areas resembled a wasteland of dead oak and tallow trees. Clearly, the birds are in need of habitat there, and it is always difficult to convince them to let the trees grow and to not disturb all of our new plantings.

We landed on the island and immediately began walking the shoreline planting the bald cypress we had picked up the day before from the Chevron Tree Farm in Atascocita. I would dig holes in the almost solid clay earth and Nate would follow putting the 1 gallon trees in the ground. By noon we had half of our 72 trees planted. We had to make a second trip back to the levee trail, load up the boat again, and venture out into the strong cold headwind to plant the remaining trees.

Birds around Claybottom Pond were highly active Friday and Saturday. The night before our planting, we walked the levee trail looking for our boat, and we flushed an immature Red-tailed Hawk from a fallen oak right off of the path. As we approached the area, we realized the hawk had been eating a Snowy Egret, most likely taken minutes before our arrival. The next morning, the egret was gone without a trace. On Saturday, Tree swallows gathered together early in numbers over 200 and fed all day, at times perching on submerged Rattle Beans long enough for us to get a good look at their green backs. Blue-winged Teal and American Coots were seen from the waters edge and Moorhens talked back and forth all day. The most impressive bird I saw was on the far side of the Rookery Island, a brilliant Yellow Warbler was flitting around in a dense collection of yaupon.

We are hopeful the Bald Cypress trees will enjoy their new location with wet enough feet to take root and provide shade and roosts for the thousands of birds that use the Rookery every year. Ironically, the trees' main foe is the birds and reptiles that use the island so much.

A word to our birding friends who visited Smith Oaks on Saturday; sorry for the misunderstandings about the front gate, and I hope you saw some nice birds while you waited for an exit from the sanctuary.

Happy birding everyone, don't forget to visit www.houstonaudubon.org for updates on spring 2010 birding events including Birdathon, Great Texas Birding Classic, Night Owls mixers, and anything else conservation & bird related.

Ice on the ferry , Bolivar Flats frozen with gulls walking on the ice. Shorebirds feeding around the ice covered oysters in Horseshoe Marsh I wondered how often Avocets see ice. Will be a chilly work day tomorrow.

Houston Audubon hosted a work day on Halloween next to Ft. Travis Seashore Park, in Port Bolivar, that resulted in planting over 4,000 native grasses including; Marshhay Cordgrass, Brownseed Paspalum, Gulf Cordgrass, Red Lovegrass, Seashore Paspalum, Virginia Dropseed, and Seacoast Bluestem.

Volunteers from Houston Audubon, Galveston Bay Master Naturalists, the Native Plant Society of Texas-Houston and residents of the Bolivar Peninsula planted over 3 acres for a native plant demonstration site to highlight the diversity and availability of native plants that can be grown on the storm ravaged peninsula. The National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) provided the plants and amazingly they were all in the ground by noon!

We are having one more workday at the Ft. Travis Seashore Park site on Tuesday November 17 to plant 150 native trees and shrubs for migratory bird habitat. Please join us at 9 AM for the planting, and enjoy this cool fall weather outdoors! Contact Andrew Beck and RSVP.

See the link below for a complete collection of Jim Olive's pictures from the day's activities.
http://www.stockyard.com/gallery2/v/clients/Audubon_002/

On Saturday September 26, over 50 people came down to Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary to participate in the Statewide Beach Cleanup. Students from Austin High School and dedicated trash picker-uppers braved the swarming mosquitoes to cleanup our stretch of beach front.

The day was cloudy and breezy which offered pleasant working conditions, but once you stepped off of the sand into the beach grasses and dune area, the mosquitoes were so thick that no known spray was effective. Volunteers effectively cleaned up the mile long stretch and Galveston County workers followed right behind us collecting the bags of garbage for disposal. By noon most of us had packed up and were retreating from the mosquitoes, satisfied and proud of the work that was accomplished.

Houston Audubon is hosting one more fall cleanup with the BP Corporation on Friday October 9 and the following day we will be working in High Island opening up trails that have been growing over since the spring. Check out our calendar and check for upcoming work days that you can join in on. We'll see you down there, and happy fall from Houston Audubon!

This past Saturday, Dos Vacas Muertas, our West Galveston Island sanctuary got some much needed attention. Blackmon Mooring, a company out of Houston -Galveston and all points in-between, came out to the sanctuary to help clean up debris still strewn throughout the trees and shrubs. They had originally planned on operating heavy equipment but with threats of rain on Friday night, they just used man power on the ground.

Accompanied by our intern Nathan, I worked with the tractor Friday evening mowing walkways through the tall brush so Saturday's crew could easily maneuver to make a large pile out of all of the found debris. Nathan planted oaks, mulberries, sweet gums, native grasses, and wax myrtles while I mowed. By Friday's end, Dos Vacas looked completely different.

Saturday morning started early with Blackmon Mooring's crew working on piling the debris in a place a loader could get to it easily in order to remove it all off site. Nathan and I lent a hand and with the tractor, were able to get large pieces in harder to reach places. By the day's end, a large pile was created and some thick vegetated areas were cleaned up.

Houston Audubon sincerely thanks Blackmon Mooring and General Manager Paul Shulze for their hard work at making Dos Vacas a safe and clean place for birds, wildlife, and guests. Next time you are on the West End, stop by Dos Vacas and enjoy the birds.

Last Friday evening, a storm blew through town that was a sight to see from a distance. I was working on Bolivar Peninsula Friday afternoon and could see the thunderstorm towards Houston. As I drove home on I-10, the storm was still massive and darkened the entire sky South and East of downtown. For the first time I saw the San Jacinto Monument from the interstate and the lightening flashed all around.

The next day Peggy Boston came to Edith L. Moore to take a walk and reported to me that there was a big pine tree blocking the bridge to the West. The 101" DBH (diameter at breast height) tree came down in the storm and knocked the top off of two large oaks as it fell. I always forget how much work it takes to clear trees this size. We haven't had to scramble to clean up a mess like this since Ike passed over.

I worked little by little on the tree for a few days until Tuesday's regularly scheduled Trail Crew could come in and add to the fight. Our coastal intern Nate showed up and ran a wood chipper while I operated the chainsaw. Don Gray, John Miers, Jack Bacon, Harlan Evans and Bethany Foshee were the grunts who physically picked up all of the debris and cleared the trail.

Next time you come out to Edith L. Moore, take a stroll over to the bridge and see the scar left by Friday's thunderstorm. An enormous debt of gratitude goes out to everyone who was part of the cleanup. We couldn't do it without help from people who don't mind sweat, heat, and sap forever stuck in your hair.

Recently a new pest has been seen around Harris County and it severely threatens the fruit and nut trees that are so important to our ecosystem.

Audubon members have been on the forefront of reporting these little dangerous bugs to the Texas Department of Agriculture and if you see one of these weevils, please do the same thing.

To read more about this story and how it is developing in Houston, follow the link below.

http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-news-display.php?articles_id=1249689174