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Photos courtesy of GCBO staff and The Raptor Project. October 2008 Ike Visits the Upper Texas Coast
Hurricane Ike roared onshore in the early hours of Saturday, September 13th and changed weekend plans for everyone in east Texas. Emergency officials called for a mandatory evacuation of the Lake Jackson area on Wednesday evening, so after preparing the office and our homes, all GCBO staff left the immediate area on Thursday morning. GCBO executive director, Cecilia Riley and her husband Mike Gray, were able to survey damage to the area on Saturday after the storm had passed. We were very fortunate to have sustained only minor damage to our homes and none to the GCBO facilities. Huge trees were down everywhere, however, and two made direct hits on GCBO assets. The first took out our boat trailer and the second crushed the truck of our endangered species biologist who was riding out the storm in Houston. Our coastal sanctuary at Quintana had major tree damage as well, and was inundated with at least 4 feet of sea water. Our conservation partners farther up the coast fared much worse, and we wish them well in their recovery efforts. Check our website for more information on how Ike affected GCBO staff and facilities.
ConocoPhillips To The Rescue
After a post-Ike power outage of two weeks, enthusiastic
staff from the ConocoPhillips Sweeny Refinery came to the
rescue of the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory and
delivered and professionally installed an industrial
generator to power-up the facility for our XHX weekend
event. Pictured here are the GCBO Corporate Heroes of the
month: Cindy Jordy, Gilbert Vargas, Cody Hannah, Kevin
Watson, and Chip Pugh. Thanks y'all!
XHX Raffle Winners
Despite the fury of Hurricane Ike, we were able to hold our Xtreme Hummingbird Xtravaganza on two of the four Saturdays in September. We would like to express special thanks to all the volunteers who helped with these events. As always, our success is a result of the generous donation of your time. Jewel Rainey (above) and Allyssa Gomez (below) were the lucky winners of complete hummingbird feeder kits on September 6th and 27th. These kits included a Best-1 feeder, nectar mix, bee guard, and a port brush. We have plenty of feeders for sale at GCBO, so if you weren't one of the lucky winners, come on out and pick one up today and help the hummers on their long journey south!
Quintana Workday Scheduled for Saturday, November 1
As many of you know, the Quintana Bird Sanctuaries took quite a beating from
Hurricane Ike. We've scheduled a workday on Saturday, November 1, 2008, to
begin clean up and get things back in shape for the birds. We will work from
8:00 until noon. Clean-up requires some debris and large tree removal,
along with general clearing of brush, placing benches and bridges in the correct
locations, and replacing the liner in at least one of the ponds. If you
would like to help, please contact
Susan
Heath at GCBO for details. If you would like to help but are unable to
attend, please consider making a monetary donation using the Just Give button in
this E-News.
November is En-Raptor-Ed Month
This November 15th, the GCBO will host our third En-Raptor-Ed fundraiser at the Kinkaid School in Houston, TX. We hope you will make every effort to attend because you'll be in for a really special treat. The stars of the event will be the raptors from the Raptor Project. Jonathon Wood will take us on a wilderness expedition with his raptor entourage which includes live birds of prey from every habitat on the planet: Arctic, Desert, Rainforest, Wetland, Prairie, Woodland, and Tundra. Put this date on your calendar now! Come see some of the most magnificent birds on earth and enjoy a delicious lunch for your contribution of $100 per person. Please call our office at 979-480-0999 to purchase your ticket and check our website for more information. Fledgling Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks Released at GCBO
On August 27, 2008, several volunteers from the Gulf Coast Wildlife Rescue brought five young Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks to GCBO for release in our wetland. These birds had been captured as ducklings by well-meaning individuals who thought they were abandoned by their parents. For the most part, any duckling swimming in a pond or wetland most likely has a parent hidden somewhere watching, so its best to leave them alone. Since these birds had already been removed from their natural setting, Gulf Coast Wildlife Rescue raised them until they were old enough to survive on their own and then chose GCBO's wetland as a safe place to send them on their way. We were very glad our 3-year old wetland could provide them a home. They have settled in nicely and remain on the wetland for visitor's to enjoy. Native Plant of the Month
Frog Fruit (Phyla nodiflora) is widespread across Texas and grows in a variety of habitats from ditches to roadsides to beaches. It is an excellent ground cover that is evergreen in warm winters and areas protected from frost. It produces white flowers from May through October and will ramble over boulders and the edges of hanging baskets beautifully. Frogfruit is a great native alternative to exotic and invasive ground covers like English ivy and periwinkle and is also the larval host for Phaon Crescent, Buckeye, and White Peacock butterflies. |
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| www.gcbo.org | Telephone 979-480-0999 | Contact Us |
103 W. Hwy 332, Lake Jackson, TX 77566
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