144 acre island co-owned by Houston and Texas Audubon. This island is the most productive colonial waterbird island in Galveston Bay. 20-40,000 pairs of birds of 17 species nest here. Can be viewed from a boat.
North Deer Nest Data: 1990 - 2005 (Excel spreadsheet)
North Deer Island, is a busy place in the summer. The island is the most productive waterbird colony in Galveston Bay. Thousands of birds are coming and going all day. Adults are bringing food, and juvenile birds are learning to fly. Nineteen species of waterbirds nest on North Deer, including endangered species, such as Brown Pelicans, and those on the edge, such as Reddish Egrets and White-faced Ibis. The number of nests on the island can be staggering-it is not unusual to have 20,000 pairs of White-Ibis and 1,000 pairs of Brown Pelicans, plus 2-3,000 pairs of Laughing Gulls, all sharing the island habitat. Herons, egrets and spoonbills squeeze in where there is room. It is a pretty amazing place.
North Deer is the largest natural island left in Galveston Bay. One-third of the island is uplands, covered by really interesting South Texas vegetation, and two-thirds of the island is a beautiful, productive salt marsh. Unfortunately, this very productive, 144-acre island is rapidly disappearing due to erosion.
When tropical storm Francis took 40 feet of the marshy shoreline in 1998, we knew there was a problem. In 1997 a simple project was set up to determine the erosion rate on the rest of the island. What we learned was that much of the island was eroding at a rate of five feet a year. Prompted by Texas Audubon and the Houston Audubon Society, the Texas General Land Office (TGLO) initiated a program to address erosion, called the "Protection and Restoration of North Deer Island" project. Woody Woodrow and Jamie Schubert of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) assumed leadership of the project, which is divided into two phases. Each phase addresses erosion on one-half of the island. Almost miraculously, $900,000 was put together to build Phase I, which was completed in the spring of 2003. This project created a low breakwater offshore on the south side of the island, protecting the marsh. It is working well.
Please click on photo for a larger image
Now we need funding for Phase II, which will protect the north side of the island adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway. Projects like these are expensive since they are designed to last a long time. We need to find $1,200,000 to complete Phase II.
It is critical to Galveston Bay birds that North Deer Island be protected so nesting habitat is available in the future. Houston Audubon is helping to look for new funding partners. Funding has come from TPWD, TGLO, Reliant Energy, Galveston Bay Estuary Program, Audubon Texas, USFWS Coastal Program and the National Coastal Wetland Conservation Program.
