Category Archive

By Susan Heath On Monday, I was able to check out the oystercatchers in Tres Palacios Bay and part of Matagorda Bay with Bob Friedrichs and our Experiences Auction winners Jean Booth, Liz Garney, and Alice Ann O’Donnell. The weather was beautiful and I was able to wear my sandals and no coat for a fantastic change. photo by Susan … Read More

By Susan Heath On Monday, Alan, Kaitie, and I headed out to do some reef surveys in Bastrop and Drum Bays. Since we were out there anyway, we decided to check on a pair of oystercatchers that nests in the very west end of West Galveston Bay near Alligator Point. I don’t get out there much because it’s too far … Read More

By Susan Heath Chicks! We’ve got chicks. Ok well maybe just one chick but it’s so cute! I know you can’t wait to see it! Ok take a couple deep breathes, calm down, and I’ll tell you the story. We had to rearrange the schedule this week due to the weather so we went to West Galveston Bay on Tuesday … Read More

By Susan Heath On Wednesday I was joined by Alan Wilde and GCBO shorebird technician Taylor Bennett for a tour of West Galveston Bay and Swan Lake. First off – it was cold! If you know me at all, you know I don’t do cold. I live in Texas for a reason and not being cold is a big part … Read More

By Susan Heath Welcome to the 2019 edition of the Oystercatcher Diaries! Although this week was the first official week of oystercatcher monitoring, I’ve been out in the bays a couple of times each month this winter on another project so I’ve been keeping an eye on the birds. On January 31st, we found that 12 & unbanded had laid … Read More

By Susan Heath I headed out for the last trip of the season with Alan Wilde and Wayne O’Quinn. The pair by the boat ramp wasn’t around but we found them much later on a reef down by Harbor Walk. I don’t think I’ve seen them down there before. By now the oystercatchers have begun to roam around because their … Read More

By Susan Heath On Monday I needed to go out to Bastrop and Drum Bays to install a tide gauge for our intertidal reef project and do a count of the birds on the reefs there. I was joined by Alan Wilde and Woody Woodrow (the FWS sponsor of the reef project). While we were there we checked on the … Read More

By Susan Heath On Wednesday I headed out to East Matagorda Bay with Robin Bjork (GCBO), Amanda Hackney (Blackcat GIS) and Alan Wilde (GBAMN). I wanted to check on the oystercatchers and get one more look at the chicks out there to verify whether two of the pairs still had three chicks or just two. I also wanted to see … Read More

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