By Susan Heath It’s July and we are still monitoring oystercatchers! Most years they are done by the end of June but this year we have one last chick that won’t be fledged until late July so we’ll keep checking on everybody since we will be out there anyway. This late season monitoring will also help to make sure nobody … Read More

By Susan Heath On Tuesday I headed out to West Galveston Bay with Alan Wilde, John Wright and Emma Shelly. There were a lot of chicks to band so I invited Emma to join us to take advantage of her young legs! We headed up towards Swan Lake first thing. Not much happening up there anymore but we had a … Read More

By Susan Heath I was elated to start the week off with an email from one of our volunteers, Oron Atkins, who told me that while out on his regular turtle patrol of Matagorda Peninsula he saw LC & R9 with their chick W0X. We banded W0X in East Matagorda Bay the Friday before Memorial Day weekend and when we … Read More

By Susan Heath On Wednesday I checked out West Galveston Bay with Alan Wilde, Stennie Meadours and Stennie’s sister Pasty Gillham. It was a beautiful day with just the right amount of wind. Not too much but enough to keep us cool. We headed up to Swan Lake to get it done in case the wind picked up later. We … Read More

By Susan Heath On Wednesday I headed out to West Galveston Bay with Alan Wilde, Tim Long, and Debbie Repasz. It was a little windy so I guess our respite of nice weather is over. We found R3 & unbanded sleeping on one of Tiki Tom’s docks. I guess they have given up for the year. Sad but probably wise … Read More

By Susan Heath On Monday Annie and I headed out to check on the birds in Bastrop and Drum Bays. I hadn’t been out there this year and I only went twice last year so I wasn’t sure what we’d find. In Bastrop Bay we only found one pair and they were on a reef so I’m not sure if … Read More

By Susan Heath On Wednesday I was joined by Alan Wilde, Maureen Nolan-Wilde (Alan’s wife, big GCBO supporter, and turtle expert) and Steve Alexander (Texas A&M Galveston for the West Galveston Bay survey. We had three sets of chicks to band and I wanted to get that out of the way in the morning so I didn’t have to worry … Read More

By Susan Heath On Wednesday I headed out to West Galveston Bay with Alan Wilde, Jo Monday, and Penny Bessire. The wind was pretty low for a change but the tide was super low so that was a challenge. R3 & unbanded, the pair by the boat ramp, weren’t incubating their nest so as we thought last week, it was … Read More

By Susan Heath On Wednesday, I was joined by John Wright and Tom Zaal for the West Galveston Bay survey. Alan is in Belize (poor guy!) so John volunteered to take over as boat tender. These guys are invaluable to me! The water was so calm I couldn’t believe it. That never happens. photo by Susan Heath We headed up … Read More

By Susan Heath On Monday I was joined by Bob Friedrichs to survey East Matagorda Bay. Bob surveys oystercatchers for the project in Tres Palacios and Lavaca Bays and he was game to see the habitat in a different bay. We headed out a bit late because I had a dentist appointment in the morning (no cavities – yeah!) but … Read More

By Susan Heath Alan and I were joined by two special visitors this week. Kay Hale is a former GCBO board member and long-time supporter of the oystercatcher project and Judy Boyce is the Executive Director of The Hershey Foundation which has been very generous to GCBO over the years. Both of these wonderful women have supported us for years … Read More