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
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 14
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
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 13
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
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 12
By Susan Heath On Monday I went down to Port O’Connor to go out with Allan and Brigid Berger. They’ve been monitoring the oystercatchers there and they had a chick that needed to be banded. It was pretty windy but Allan assured me all would be well on the boat and it was! We headed out towards Grass Island where … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 11
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
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 10
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
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 9
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
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 7
By Susan Heath On Monday this week I had the pleasure of joining our Experiences Auction winners to check out the oystercatchers nesting in Tres Palacios and parts of Matagorda Bay. Maureen Wilde was the winning bidder on this auction item which included a day on the water checking out oystercatchers with local Bob Friedrichs, a gourmet dinner cooked by … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 6
By Susan Heath On Wednesday I was joined by Alan Wilde, John Wright, and Stennie Meadours for my weekly tour of West Galveston Bay. Last week the pair near the boat ramp had a new nest and one of them is unbanded so I had hoped to use the box trap to remedy that situation. The nest is up on … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 5
By Susan Heath On Tuesday Robin and I headed up to Dickinson Bay in hopes of trapping and banding some of the birds at the Texas City Prairie Preserve (TCPP) sand/shell spit. Two of the volunteers that monitor those birds joined us – Paula Kennedy and Joey Barnes. It’s hard for them to tell what’s going on because so many … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 2
By Susan Heath Another exciting week of oystercatchering! I had planned to do West Galveston Bay on Wednesday and East Matagorda Bay on Friday but Manomet is doing an aerial survey for American Oystercatchers in the U.S. to get a population count and they wanted people to count birds from boats so they could ground truth the aerial survey. It’s … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 1
By Susan Heath It’s time! I was joined on Wednesday by Robin Bjork, GCBO’s new Avian Conservation Biologist, and master naturalists Alan Wilde and John Wright to conduct our first official oystercatcher monitoring trip of the season. We made a short foray in January just to make sure there were no early nests but we didn’t check on all the … Read More