Quintana Workday January 23

Did you know that spring migration has already begun?  That's right!  The first Purple Martins have already been reported in Texas.  Didn't we just finish Christmas Bird Counts?!  Come help us prepare the Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary for spring on Saturday, January 23, 2010 from 9:00 until noon.  We will clear trails, trim back dead vegetation, and plant new trees.  If you have a favorite shovel or clippers, feel free to bring them.  Gloves are a plus too though we will provide some.  Bring a sack lunch and we'll have a picnic when we're finished.  Hope to see you all there!

With a $25,000 Dow Community Grant we have created an outdoor classroom venue at our Lake Jackson Sanctuary. The venue consists of an education deck, interpretive trail, and an observation tower overlooking both the forest canopy and the 1.5-acre wetland called Heron's Haunt. With the new construction nearing completion, our goals are to showcase the importance of wetlands to birds and other wildlife. As it turns out, it’s also a great place to bird!   

We are grateful to The Dow Chemical Company for this opportunity to share Brazoria County’s rich biodiversity with our community and invite you to visit the new observation tower. Once the entire Outdoor Classroom is complete we hope that this new venue will enhance education and ecotourism opportunities right here in our own back yard.

Come by and visit with GCBO staff at our booth in Port Aransas February 25-28. We’ll be there promoting the Great Texas Birding Classic and updating visitors on recent GCBO accomplishments.  The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is part of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail and winter home for the only wild migrating flock of Whooping Cranes. In 1941, this flock numbered only 15 cranes, but by 2009 had grown to 247 thanks to extensive conservation efforts. The Port Aransas celebration of Whooping Cranes offers an abundant variety of speakers, field trips along with boat, bus, and hayride tours. Visit the Whooping Crane Festival website for more information.

Mark your calendar for February 12-15, 2010 and participate in the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon. Although it's called the Great Backyard Bird Count, you can count birds at any location you choose including your favorite park or wildlife refuge including all of our Site Partner locations. This year we would like to have a volunteer count at each of our Site Partner sites!  Review our Site Partner map and let Sue know where you would like to count, then when you submit your checklist e-mail us a copy. This free event helps Cornell and Audubon learn more about how our birds are doing and how to protect them.  Last year, citizen scientists submitted more than 93,600 checklists online, creating the continent's largest instantaneous snapshot of bird populations ever recorded. Anyone can take part, from novice bird watchers to experts, counting birds for as little as 15 minutes or as long as you want on one or more days of the event.  For more information on the count and to register go to www.birdcount.org.

Monthly Bird Banding at GCBO

Join us from 8:00 until noon on Saturday, January 16th for our monthly bird banding session.  Watch as Robert & Kay Lookingbill band the birds and explain how to determine the species, age, and sex of birds in the hand.  We've already caught several winter returnees from previous years and are hoping for more 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.

NOTE: Our February and March bird banding will be on the fourth Saturday of the month (the 27th in both cases).