I am on the coast checking sanctuaries today it is warm and windy not as many birds at Bolivar as I expected but our system is so big there is really no telling what is where. The most birds can be seen from the North Jetty. I am constantly amazed at how spooky Brown Pelicans are when you are on the beach and how much closer you can get on the jetty. Of course, if you are on a shrimp boat they will land on you.

 Location: Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary (UTC 058) Observation date: 8/20/10 Number of species: 41
Brown Pelican 223
Neotropic Cormorant 63
Great Blue Heron 4
Great Egret 21
Snowy Egret 38
Tricolored Heron 3
Reddish Egret 35
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 1
White Ibis 1
White-faced Ibis 3
Roseate Spoonbill 41
Clapper Rail 3
Black-bellied Plover 28
Wilson's Plover 29
Semipalmated Plover 8
Piping Plover 3
Black-necked Stilt 3
Willet 61
Lesser Yellowlegs 5
Whimbrel 1
Long-billed Curlew 6
Marbled Godwit 32
Ruddy Turnstone 31
Sanderling 72
Western Sandpiper 367
Least Sandpiper 2
Dunlin 5
Short-billed Dowitcher 75
Laughing Gull 190
Ring-billed Gull 7
Least Tern 56
Caspian Tern 8
Black Tern 7
Forster's Tern 3
Royal Tern 108
Sandwich Tern 7
Black Skimmer 86
Horned Lark 5
Barn Swallow 3
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Great-tailed Grackle 8

Rookery Nest Count Results: May 27, 2010

Yesterday Andrew Beck and I counted the waterbirds nesting in Smith Oaks. We counted in the morning it was coolish when we started but had gotten hot by the time we finished. Gators were rumbling and the Mosquitoes have finally arrived and were very challenging in places. We ask Galveston County not to spray insecticides on our sanctuaries maybe the mosquitoes know. We count nests and adults, note that with some species there are lots more nests then adults, these nests have big chicks and most likely both adults are out feeding. Many Cattle Egrets have shown up and have just started nesting.

Looks like a good nesting season.

Colonial Waterbird Survey Results: May 24, 2010

On Monday I took a boat ride into West Galveston Bay with Winnie Burkett, Bob Gallaway (Audubon Texas), Bob Horner (AT volunteer), and George Regmund (Armand Bayou Nature Center) to count adult and nesting birds on 5 islands for the annual Fish and Wildlife survey. North Deer Island of course is the crowd favorite for birds such as Brown Pelicans, Laughing Gulls, & Tricolored Herons. The bay conditions started off choppy and windy, making the trek out to North Deer from Tiki Island slow and wet. Throughout the day, the bay and the wind calmed down and made pulling up to the islands easy enough to get a good look around at all of the nesting birds. Most interestingly, we found that we had to do this in order to get the attention of the White-faced Ibis so they would raise their heads up from their nesting duties and let us include them in our survey. We ended the day at around 3pm by counting the final west bay island of Jig Saw, and noted how high tides and bad erosion problems are threatening the birds who rely on it for nesting. This week we will be counting the Rookery at Smith Oaks and soon we will venture on by boat again and count Evia Island in the east bay.

On Thursday May 20^th, 19 coastal prairie patriots worked hard on Bolivar peninsula planting over 700 grasses and forbs that had been nursing, growing larger and establishing their root systems since as early as March of this year. We met at 9am on the warm breezy day bringing two volunteer groups together; The Galveston Bay Area Master Naturalists, and Houston Audubon sanctuary volunteers. Thanks to a growing college of knowledge from hard working prairie experts such as Tom Soloman, Dick Benoit, and Flo Hannah, volunteers were organized well to diversify this once over grazed and heavily farmed prairie. Grass species such as switch grass, little bluestem, and brownseed paspalum and forbs like rattlesnake master, Texas coneflower, American basketflower, and seaside goldenrod were planted throughout an acre of land, well watered, and left to grow, spread seeds, and attract insects for years to come. Houston Audubon thanks all of the volunteers who came out and supported our project on Thursday. We couldn't have done it without them!

This week Houston Audubon had the privilege to work with the Bolivar community doing habitat and outreach projects. Tuesday April 20th, volunteers Mike and Carol Stelling, Dede and Bill, Winnie, myself and the Galveston County Parks staff planted over 60 trees in Port Bolivar Park and Ft. Travis Seashore Park. The park staff augured holes in the ground for the trees while HAS volunteers planted the trees, then the parks staff followed behind watering and staking the completed plantings.

On Wednesday April 21st, Winnie, Julia Garrett and I worked with Denise Parsons and the students at Crenshaw Elementary School in Crystal Beach planting native oaks, mulberries, elms and yaupons. The habitat will help educate students about the importance of native plants for migratory songbirds. All of the kids did a wonderful job planting and caring for the trees. During the morning, we planted over 25 trees for birds, insects, and students to enjoy for years to come.