On Saturday, June 19th, GCBO was fortunate to have a group of interns and employees from the ConocoPhillips New Hire Network help us with our habitat restoration efforts. With their "can-do" attitude, they planted six red oaks, ten mulberries, and a large sycamore.  Although the gumbo type soil is always a chore when planting trees at GCBO, it was no match for these dedicated volunteers who employed a variety of shovels an teamwork approaches to get the job done. After the trees were planted, they stayed to watch bird banding and learned about how and why we band birds at GCBO. ConocoPhillips has been our leading sponsor for 13 years and we really appreciate their support!

GCBO and our partner Hawkwatch International will operate the hawk watch at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Candy Abshier Wildlife Management Area (WMA) again this year from August 15 to November 15, 2010. As always, visitors are encouraged. The tower will be manned 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week by our 2010 hawk watch team of Jennifer Ottinger and Jacquie Ferrato. As always, we are looking for a few volunteers that are adept at raptor id to help provide relief days for our dedicated hawkwatchers.  If you are interested, please contact John Arvin. On Saturday, September 25, we will hold our annual Hawk Happening Event. Come out and view the spectacular Broad-winged Hawk migration which should be in full swing during this time. We will also have passerine bird banding by Dr. Brent Ortego of Texas Parks and Wildlife and great cuisine by Trails End. Directions to Smith Point can be found on our website.

Last December we reported on the acquisition of two lots on Dauphin Island to add to the properties owned and managed by Dauphin Island Bird Sanctuaries (DIBS). These properties contain small wetland areas that we recently learned contain a rare forested depression pond community. This community is dominated by an upperstory canopy of swamp tupelo and a naturally sparse understory of buttonbush. Within the community are several myrtle-leaf hollies, the only location on the island where this species is found. There is also an Atlantic white cedar which is not found on any other barrier islands in the area. Finally, the pond itself hosts a population of spiny-tailed fairy shrimp which is found in seasonal wetlands and temporary pools but is sporadic and localized in distribution. Sounds like good bird food! GCBO is proud to have been able to assist with protecting this intriguing habitat.

Monthly Bird Banding at GCBO

Join us from 8:00 until noon on Saturday, August 21st for our monthly bird banding session.  Learn from GCBO Research Associates Robert & Kay Lookingbill as they band the birds and explain how to determine the species, age, and sex of birds in the hand.  We'll be catching newly fledged young birds and perhaps a newly arrived hummingbird or two this month.  Come out and see what surprises are in store for us. This is a great way to get kids excited about wildlife, but all ages are welcome.  See the map on our webpage for directions.  Note that mapquest and googlemaps will not guide you to the right place using our address.