Spring Fling Wrap-Up

photo by Joe Fischer

Another Spring Fling has come and gone and we all had a great time! This year we hosted 961 visitors from 27 states and 10 countries. Wow! Thirty-eight volunteers helped host the visitor's station and put in 430 hours doing so! It just wouldn't be possible without all their help.

This year's migration was a bit different and slow the in overall number of birds setting down.Those southerly winds gave them a great boost north. We still had 163 species of birds with a peak day of 77 species. The highlight had to be the Gray Kingbird (shown above) sighted on April 30th at Xeriscape Park. This is only the second time this species has been recorded in Brazoria County. If accepted by the records committee it will be the 13th Texas record. Unfortunately it did not hang around long enough for many to see it. Thank you all so much (again)!

It’s easy to forget that even though we are a nonprofit, we have business expenses like any for-profit concern. Lights, phones, office supplies, insurance, salaries and other operating expenses eat up a good portion of our income every month. That’s why we are excited to announce the support of the following funders to help us continue to protect the birds and their habitats around the Gulf of Mexico and beyond. Many thanks to Phillips 66 ($60,000), The Brown Foundation ($30,000), and the McGovern Foundation ($20,000), for their generosity to ensure that our lights stay on and there is paper in the copier! 

Although Carol's regular office hours ended in late February, we weren't able to celebrate her official retirement until May. We celebrated with a get together at James Heller's house and presented her with a beautiful painting of an Araripe Manakin, the bird species that was the focal point of the last Tropical Forest Forever Fund land acquisition that Carol arranged. The painting was donated by Cin-Ty Lee, a professor at Rice University and a long time GCBO supporter. Thank you Cin-Ty!

There aren't enough words to express our gratitude to Carol for all her hard work at GCBO. Fortunately she has already stated to volunteer so we will be seeing her on a regular basis. Enjoy your well-deserved retirement Carol!

In May we welcomed our new summer intern, Julia Moore. Julia is a Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences major at Oregon State University but hails from Angleton. We are thrilled to have her with us this summer. She will be assisting with field projects and helping out in the office as well as helping with Summer Bird Camp and whatever else we need her to do! She jumped right in with data entry and has already made a couple of field days as evidenced by the photo of her holding a Willet outfitted with some color bands and a geolocator.