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December Edition
View on HAS website.
NEWS
Texas Christmas Bird Counts Christmas Bird Counts are almost here! Have you made your plans? See the CBC section on the HAS website for a full list of Texas Christmas Bird Counts with descriptions and contact information. We now have details for almost all the counts. Many of the compilers have sent in habitat descriptions, lists of targeted species, countdown activities, and more. With so many counts scheduled for the Upper Texas Coast, compilers face a real challenge to find enough people to cover their areas. Please consider taking part! Upper Texas Coast CBCs by date: December 14: Freeport December 15: Mad Island Marsh, Turkey Creek December 16: Galveston December 17: Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR December 19: San Bernard NWR December 20: Bolivar Peninsula, Brazos Bend SP December 21: Houston December 26: Trinity River December 27: Armand Bayou Nature Center, Beech Creek, Spring Creek December 28: Buffalo Bayou December 29: Old River January 1: Cypress Creek (Katy Prairie), Orange County January 3: San Jacinto Wilderness, Sea Rim State Park Bird Banding at Hall's Bayou Unit of SBNWR  Monday, November 24th, I participated for Houston Audubon in the 3rd year of an ongoing grassland bird banding project at the Hall's Bayou Unit of SBNWR. The project location alternates every other year with the Buffalo Creek Unit of SBNWR. This first banding day for overwintering birds was late in the season due to rain earlier in November.
The sparrows and wrens were abundant. We banded over 30 Savannahs, 2 LeConte's, and 2 Grasshopper Sparrows. We only completed one net run. A graduate student (Chris) from SFA was processing the birds slower than our normal pace in order to acquire additional information (isotope data from blood and primary feather samples) to help determine what latitude the birds migrated from. This is potentially valuable habitat information about our overwintering grassland birds that are in such steep population declines, primarily due to habitat loss. — Flo Hannah, HAS Sr. Sanctuary Steward From the Sanctuary Blog Coastal Work Days We have two more work days scheduled in December. We have had a lot of help already and greatly appreciate it. We couldn't have the wonderful sanctuary system we have without all the volunteer help we get. Work Day Descriptions and Sign-up Details. — Winnie Burkett, HAS Sanctuary Manager Bolivar Beach Cleanup - December 6 My blog post and photos explain the changes that have occurred at Bolivar Flats. The hurricane debris is mostly boards that we need to load into pickup trucks and haul to Rettilon Rd. There are also a few interesting odds and ends like half of a restaurant booth and a traffic light. We will work from 8:30 to 2 with a break for lunch. Any and all help is welcome - come see the changes and help. High Island Work Day - December 13 Trails are cleared but there is still a lot of debris to haul out of the woods and invasive exotics to get rid of so we can plant in January. We work from 8 AM to 2 PM, but volunteers are welcome whenever they show up. HAS supplies lunch, water and some tools. Please bring your favorite tools along. Participants need to sign up in advance. November HAS Field Trip to Spring Creek Greenway Parks  Steve Gross tells the group about likely Jones Park birds. Twenty HAS members joined our guide Steve Gross on Saturday, November 22 for our field trip to the Spring Creek Greenway Parks. We started at Jesse Jones Park and got an update on the status of the Spring Creek Greenway project from Mike Howlett who is a naturalist with Harris County Precinct 4 at Jones Park. Steve then led us on a tour of the Cypress Boardwalk area of Jones Park. Although we enjoyed sunny skies and cool temperatures, the bird activity was below normal. We did manage to find a drake Wood Duck and White-throated Sparrows, along with the expected chickadees, titmouse and kinglets. We also saw some of the trail and foot bridge damage caused by Hurricane Ike. We then drove to the Peckinpaugh Preserve in Montgomery County. This small preserve on Spring Creek was created by the efforts of the Legacy Land Trust and includes 15 acres donated by Houston Audubon. The trail damage at this site from the hurricane was especially bad and we were only able to hike a short distance into the Preserve. We did find Pied-billed Grebes and a Phoebe among other expected birds. We next visited the Montgomery County Preserve near the Woodlands. We shared the preserve with a group of school children, which also kept our bird list below normal. We did add Blue-headed Vireo and an unidentified Accipter here and finished the morning with about 33 bird species on our list. — Bill Saulmon, HAS Field Trip Coordinator
HAS BIRD COUNTS
Bird counts welcome participants of all skill levels. Please check HAS website for any last minute updates and time changes. Armand Bayou Nature Center Survey December Survey in Conjunction with Armand Bayou CBC: In December, Armand Bayou's Christmas Bird Count will be held on December 27; and we are actively looking for birders to help us cover this great area. One of the areas in particular we are looking for extra help with is the Nature Center grounds itself. There is a lot of land to cover on the center, and we would like to have several volunteers bird this extensive habitat which includes woodland, prairie, and the bayou areas. Martha Hood is the coordinator for the count and you may contact her at lazuli007@yahoo.com or me. — Andrew Hamlett, Leader Armand Bayou Bird Survey Bolivar Bird Count Bolivar Bird Count Spreadsheets December Survey in Conjunction with Galveston CBC: Anyone who would like to participate is welcome! The count is scheduled for December 16 and includes Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary and Horseshoe Marsh Bird Sanctuary. Last year we listed 171 species. Highlights included Red-eyed Vireo, Broad-winged Hawk, Hairy Woodpecker, Nashville Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Glaucous Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Yellow and Black Rails, Stilt Sandpiper, Groove-billed Ani, Horned Grebe, and Fulvous Whistling Ducks. The destruction caused by Ike will probably make things more difficult than usual, but this count is always interesting. Most of the count circle is water, but the count typically has a species total within the top 20 or 30 CBCs nationally. Please contact Gordon Nunn , telephone 409-740-0082, or Dwight Peake if you'd like to participate. West 11th Street Park Survey December 16 Survey: W. 11th Street Park is not within any CBC circle, so Mary Dodson will conduct the regular monthly survey there. Any interested participants should meet her at 8:30 AM on the Shelterwood side of the park. Willow Waterhole Survey November 15 Report: Many thanks to John Schneider for leading the November survey in my absence and to those who showed up to help him for a very successful day. John reported that counting the sp.'s (e.g., swallow sp.), the total was 42! December 20 Survey Cancelled: This month's count has been cancelled so more folks can participate in the weekend's Christmas Bird Counts. We'll resume in January. During the winter the survey will begin at 8:00 AM. — Joy Hester, Leader Willow Waterhole Survey |
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