What an amazing turnout at the Smith Point Hawk Watch Celebration, with a total of 150 guests! A lot of old and new friends came together in support of these amazing animals. Many connections were made, and we thank our wonderful guest and vendors for coming out! Now on to recent events; it’s the BRRR season, as in it’s getting … Read More
Smith Point Hawk Watch – October 2nd-16th Blog Post
It’s officially Fall! While we are still experiencing some hot days; the mornings have been a nice, low 70 degrees. With the arrival of cooler temperatures and favorable thermal conditions, the sky is filled with birds riding the currents as they make their incredible journey to their next destination! These past few weeks alone have been filled with incredible sightings, … Read More
Smith Point Hawk Watch – September 1st-15th Blog Post
September is here and that means so are the raptors! Counts started out a bit slow due to the weather, but by the 8th of this month there was a big influx of species. The highest numbers we have seen so far have been Broad-Winged Hawks reaching close to the 800s and Mississippi Kites skyrocketing to close to 1000 individuals. … Read More
SPHW – August Blog Post
It’s that time of the year again – the great fall hawk migration is in full swing! Our fantastic hawk counter Bob has returned to join our flock, and has already recorded a variety of species. As usual, during the beginning of the fall season the numbers have been a bit slow. Don’t let this discourage you, as we have … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2024: Week of June 17, 2024
By Rebecca Bracken Weather has not been our friend this year! I hope you’re reading this blog post while inside and dry, watching the rain through your window. We’ve continued to battle heavy windows almost weekly at one of our sites, and sadly had another minor boat issue. But we’ve still had a lot of fun out and about when … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2024: Week of April 29, 2024
By Rebecca Bracken Whew, it’s been quite a month! You may be wondering why you haven’t seen more diary entries…well, we’ve had an interesting season battling storms, wind, low tides, and a hole in our boat! But rest assured, we’ve been going out when we could and not much is getting by us. Rebecca, Sue, Alan Wilde, volunteers Amanda Hackney … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2024: Week of March 18, 2024
By Rebecca Bracken Welcome back to the Oystercatcher Diaries! The past two weeks have been a busy time for us, so Sue stepped in to help out again. Those oystercatchers just can’t get rid of her! In East Matagorda Bay, LF and M4 nest still hasn’t hatched. I bet it hatched right after we left! Both were on their island … Read More
Smith Point Hawk Watch 2023 Final Report
The 2023 Smith Point Hawk Watch was a great success! We had record numbers of migrating raptors and plenty of other species passing through. Thanks to Bob Baez, our 2023 counter, for writing the season report. Click here to check it out!
Oystercatcher Diaries 2024: Week of March 4, 2024
By Rebecca Bracken Welcome back to the Oystercatcher Diaries! This is the first entry for the 2024 season, and boy, it has been a busy one already. Over the past month the research crew and volunteers have been out to West Galveston and East Matagorda Bays to find all our banded birds, and we’ve found quiet a few changes! Read … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2023: Week of July 31, 2023
By Rebecca Bracken The day has finally come – this is the last Oystercatcher Diaries of the season! Sue and I are both really sad it’s all coming to an end (temporarily of course!) but we’re both happy to have fewer days outside in this brutal heat! We switched things up a bit this week and went out to West … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2023: Week of July 24, 2023
By Rebecca Bracken It was a busy week! We had two oystercatcher chicks and a bunch of skimmer chicks to band, and needed to check on several chicks to check to see if they had fledged yet. On Tuesday, Sue, Taylor, Ben, Elena, and I (whew, full boat!) went out to East Matagorda Bay to band 25’s two chicks as … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2023: Week of July 17, 2023
By Rebecca Bracken On Wednesday, Sue, Elena Duran, and I went out to East Matagorda Bay to band skimmer chicks and check on 25’s chicks. I was initially concerned because we didn’t see 25 or his mate when we approached the island, but thankfully they both popped up as we circled around the backside of the island. We ended up … Read More