They were brave souls the volunteers who showed up for the Horseshoe Marsh Work Day Nov 8. They had no idea what there were getting into. Actually Andrew and I didn't have any idea of how to cleanup such a big mess until the day before.

Ike's storm surge pushed Garza's store and the home upstairs across Hwy 87 and into the sanctuary. There was stuff everywhere, roof, walls, clothes, videos screens. We knew we would need help with the big stuff so we had hired a bobcat and operator for a day to see how it would work. Julia Garrett, Andrew and I met Robert and his Bobcat on Hwy 87 mid morning and talked about strategies. Our goal was to get as much debris to the highway right of way as possible as it will be picked up there.

First Robert went after the roof pieces while we started picking up clothes and plastic filling up bags and taking them to the right of way. The ground appears to still be saturated from the storm, and everything is covered by a 1" layer of mud, maybe from Bolivar Flats, so everything is dirty. The bobcat made it even muddier but was an effective way to get debris to the highway. Robert suggested we pile up boards and other heavy debris and he would carry the piles to the street this worked very well. So we spent most of the rest of the day pulling and piling. Andrew and I also walked up and down the edge of the sanctuary evaluating what else needs to be cleaned up.

Julia Garrett and I went to the Bolivar Peninsula to figure out how to remove debris from Horseshoe Marsh and to look at how sand was moved around at Bolivar Flats.

Clean-up on the peninsula finally started 10/31. Piles of debris are being picked up and taken to a central staging area where it is "sorted" and put in larger trucks to be taken to a landfill somewhere. Once again not many land birds or any wildlife was seen on the peninsula. There were fewer Mockingbirds then the last couple of times we have looked. We did hear one in Port Bolivar; we also saw a Loggerhead Shrike. There are still several hundred Starlings on the peninsula - the number of yaupon berries is diminishing. There seem to be a few more insects around, mostly things like dragonflies, butterflies and flies. I still have found no fire ants on the peninsula, but they are still on High Island. We saw one grasshopper in 3 hours of walking but most of the area we walked was in Bolivar Flats.

Most of the peninsula is still very brown. Almost all oaks, hackberries and mulberries are brown. We saw a couple of good looking yaupon but almost all appear dead or very impacted. South Texas plants like huisache, mesquite and palo verde appear to have fared well and have greened up. Salt marsh plants are doing well.

10/26 Notes:

I went down the peninsula to look at everything and try to figure out what happened to wildlife.

I tried to count all birds just to see what is around. Brown Pelicans, gulls and terns are obvious as they sit on the beach along 87. There is more flagging on the Cade Ranch. It is hard to imagine that it is still there from before the storm. None of the pump jacks are working in the oilfields - storage tanks are still on their sides.

Monarch butterflies are moving - 9 were seen.

I saw one White-winged Dove in Gilchrist. One Mourning Dove and 6 Rock Doves, Starlings are most common bird on the peninsula - 406 were seen. White Pelicans are at Rollover and on the beach at Bolivar Flats. A few Great-tailed Grackles here and there but not many. Six Mockingbirds some are associated with yaupon thickets are all? Raptors were not common. Two Kestrels, one Merlin, a Caracara and a Red-tail. The Red-tail appeared to have been using the same perch a lot - does that mean he is finding rodents? I wondered if there were any rodents left. Are the falcons just moving or are they finding something? Kestrels eat mostly large insects, and of course there are dragonflies. Caracara was on a mound of dirt near Los Patos and seemed to be eating something - I couldn't see what. Several Ospreys on the peninsula one on a pole on Rettilon Rd eating a fish there was one there.

Notes from 10/ 24, 10/25, 10/26

Hurricane Ike decimated many Purple Martin houses and old buildings where Barn Owls nest. Houston Audubon is stepping up with an important recovery effort for these species on the Bolivar Peninsula. We are looking for donations of martin houses as well as owl boxes that will be set up throughout the peninsula in the upcoming months. There are many great resources on the internet for both buying and constructing your own houses. Just note that wooden boxes and houses should be made from pressure treated material. If you would like to make a donation to help purchase nest boxes and martin houses, please use this secure form. Contact Sanctuary Steward Andrew Beck for more information about the program.

Resources

• Barn Owl Box Plans: on the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society website
• Barn Owl Box Plans: on the Barn Owl Trust website
• Purple Martin House Plans: on the 50Birds website
• Purple Martin House Plans: on the Purple Martin Conservation Association website

Over 30 volunteers came down to High Island on Saturday and committed to clean up the trails and boardwalks of Smith Oaks Bird Sanctuary. We divided up into work crews and spread throughout the sanctuary hauling brush to three enormous burn piles.

We employed our wonderful John Deere tractor operated by Houston Sliger and myself and were incredibly efficient in burning two of the three piles down to nothing. Most of the trails were cleared with the exception of some parts of the Rookery trail which will require more work by volunteers.

The Rookery is busy with herons, egrets, cormorants and alligators during the evenings. Scissor-tailed Flycatchers were heavy in numbers along the power lines running along the entrance road; I counted 13 on my drive in around 1:30pm.

I want to thank everyone who came down and worked so hard to make Saturday such a success!! We couldn't make it happen without you.

Our next workday in High Island is scheduled for November 15, also, there are workdays planned for Horseshoe Marsh, Bolivar Flats, and Dos Vacas in the upcoming weeks. Check our workday page for more details, Coastal Workday Info.

We went down the peninsula today to get an idea of how we should proceed with clean-up. It is 6 weeks post Ike and most of the peninsula is still brown. Some of the coastal grasses are showing through green, but the majority of the shrubs and trees are still brown and most likely dead. There are some tallows greening up. One big live oak by the picnic area on Hwy 87 is green but others are dead. There are a few green oak branches in Port Bolivar. Some yaupon has green leaves but no mulberries or hackberries. All oleanders are gone. I wonder about wildflowers that so important to butterflies and hummers. We saw monarchs and fritillaries. Fritillaries were feeding on wolfberries which were blooming.

We saw Snowy Egrets in some of the ditches Scissortail Flycatchers on the wires. An osprey was eating a fish on the pole on Rettilon Rd. Some Black-bellied Plovers, Dowitchers, Piping Plovers at Bolivar Flats but the contour of the beach is different and the tide was up so it is hard to tell about what kind of beach we have. Of course it will change rapidly.

Yesterday I visited Dos Vacas Muertas Bird Sanctuary on Galveston Island's west end. Dos Vacas Muertas is Spanish for "Two Dead Cows," and was given this name after Hurricane Alicia when two cows were found dead in the sanctuary. As I walked the property yesterday with caretakers Boogie & Lynn O'Conner, we found cow tracks and hoped that we wouldn't have to re-name the sanctuary to Tres Vacas.

There have been a number of birds visiting the sanctuary since Ike has passed. The O'Conners have reported buntings, warblers, and kinglets. Yesterday there were up to 20 night herons roosting in the salt cedars and White Ibis were feeding in the marsh.

The sanctuary experienced high water up to about 8 or 9 feet and therefore there is a significant amount of debris laying about. It poses a danger for visitors so please be advised that Dos Vacas is closed until further notice.

There is significant amount of vegetation loss to the sanctuary due to the surge of salt water. Many oaks and mulberries were affected by the salt but will hopefully make a recovery as more rain falls and salt leaches out of the soil.

Soon we will be asking for volunteers to sign up for a cleanup day at Dos Vacas. Contact me for more information and happy birding.

By the way, we won't have to re-name the sanctuary to Tres Vacas.