Smith Point Hawk Watch Begins

GCBO will operate the hawk watch at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Candy Abshier Wildlife Management Area (WMA) beginning August 15 through November 15, 2009. As many are aware, the 2008 season had to be closed down after Hurricane Ike devastated the area. Clean up and repairs at Smith Point have made great strides. The 30 ft. tower and kiosk survived the storm and the surroundings are restored to something resembling their former state. As always, visitors are encouraged. The tower will be manned 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week by our 2009 hawk watch team of Jennifer Ottinger and Melissa Schlothan.  Directions to Smith Point can be found on our website.

Join Us For Xtreme Hummingbird Xtravaganza

Autumn is hummingbird season in Texas, as thousands of these tiny creatures move through the state on their southward migration to Mexico and Central America.  Many Ruby-throats will travel 600 miles straight across the Gulf to the Yucatan Peninsula while others will fly around the edges of the Gulf to points in Mexico.  Join us Saturdays in September from 8:00 to 12:00 for our Xtreme Hummingbird Xtravaganza.  You can watch hummingbird banding, adopt a hummingbird, browse the Nature Store, walk the nature trails, or buy a plant to attract hummingbirds and butterflies.  Each Saturday, a different informative lecture will round out the festivities.  See the GCBO webpage for more details. We need some "gung ho" volunteers to help with this event.  If you are interested, contact Reba Craft.  We will also be collecting used cell phones, PDAs, digital cameras and ipods for Recycling For Charities (see below) at XHX so bring your used electronics by and let GCBO recycle them for you.

GCBO Benefits From Summer Jobs For Youth Program

GCBO is lucky to have two hard working students helping out this summer through the Alvin Community College Summer Jobs For Youth Program sponsored by the Houston-Galveston Area Council.  Chris Dice is finishing up a B.S. degree in history from King College in Bristol, Tennessee and is hoping to land a teaching job right here in Lake Jackson.  Sheena Thompson is a junior at Brazoswood High School and hopes to become a registered nurse.  Chris and Sheena have been a great help to us taking care of many organizational tasks that we just can't seem to find the time to do ourselves.  Come by and say hi if you get a chance!

Site Partner Profile - Fischer Wildlife Sanctuary

On June 25th, Jennifer Coulson captured this Swallow-tailed Kite in the Pearl River basin of Louisiana.  This bird was originally banded by Jennifer in June of 2002 as a nestling.  Wow!  Jennifer is our site partner liaison for Fischer Wildlife Sanctuary and has been studying Swallow-tailed Kites for many years.  Fischer Wildlife Sanctuary is a forested wetland set amid a landscape of braided streams that often overflow their banks.  Swallow-tailed and Mississippi Kites feed over the sanctuary and the wetland provides prime nesting habitat for Wood Duck, Red-shouldered Hawk, Barred Owl, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, and Pileated Woodpecker.  As an area of bottomland hardwoods along the Gulf, this area is a critical migration corridor for many neotropical migrants.  If you are in southeastern Louisiana, be sure to stop by Fischer Wildlife Sanctuary and check out the swamp.

Recycle For a Cause

Recycling for Charities is a non-profit organization helping to preserve the environment for future generations by recycling or refurbishing used cell phones, PDAs, digital cameras and iPods so they don't end up in landfills.  GCBO can reap the benefits of this program too, if you donate any of these items and designate GCBO as your charity.  We will receive from $1 to $100 for each item donated depending on the model and condition of the item.  You can send your items in yourself using Recycling For Charities free shipping labels (see their website) or you can bring your items to GCBO and we will send them for you.  Used iPods are in particular demand to support Recycling for Charities' program to provide music to hospitalized children.  What a great program!