Gulf Coast Bird Observatory | 299 Hwy 332 West, Lake Jackson, Texas 77566
 Brew on the Bayou Is Here!
Brew Needs You!

We are looking for volunteers to help run Brew including serving the brews, assisting with parking, grounds set up, ticket selling, nature store cashiers, etc. Volunteers should be available from 3:00-9:00pm Saturday, March 23rd. For your efforts you will receive food truck meal vouchers and soft drinks/water. Please contact Tricia  or Janet if you would like to volunteer.

We also need your help on Friday, March 22 for set-up from 9:00am to 2:000pm. Coffee and donuts will be served in the morning and for lunch we will have pizza.
Adopt-an-Oystercatcher
The oystercatchers are nesting! We have found six nests so far. You can adopt a pair of oystercatchers for a $100 donation and you will receive a certificate for each member of the pair with their banding data. Additionally, Sue will update you monthly on your pair's progress throughout the nesting season and you will receive photos of nests and chicks. You can adopt your pair here: adopt a pair of birds or call and talk to Tricia or Sue. Thanks everyone for your continued support of this important project! The oystercatcher diaries are back!

Still 2 Spots Left for Ohio/Michigan Birding Tour!
Warbler Capital of the World at Magee Marsh, Ohio
Migration at Tawas Point, Michigan
Breeding Kirtland's Warblers, Michigan
MAY 11-17, 2019
Max 10 People
Join Tour Operator and Birding Guide Glenn Olson, and GCBO’s Executive Director Martin Hagne, for this great spring trip chasing warblers and so much more!

Magee Marsh in Ohio, is a prime migrant trap for North American warblers and songbirds during spring migration, and is located on the southern shore of Lake Erie. Standing on the boardwalk surrounded by large numbers of warblers, grosbeaks, thrushes, orioles, and other songbirds preparing to migrate across Lake Erie to their breeding grounds in the north is an unforgettable experience not to be missed.

Tawas Point in Michigan is another migrant stopover site for warblers and song birds as they continue to move north into breeding territory in Canada. Tawas Point projecting into Lake Huron is a protected state park that rivals McGee Marsh for birding but is less well known. In addition to warblers and songbirds this is also an excellent location for shorebirds, gulls, ducks, swans and grassland birds!

Grayling , Michigan, is a short drive from Tawas and nearby there are extensive areas of jack pine at the right age to create the proper breeding territory for the Kirtland’s Warbler. Almost all individuals of this species breed in a small area of Michigan where the jack pine habitat is managed specifically to maintain proper breeding range for this species. We will be right on their breeding grounds!

TOUR OUTLINE:
May 11 Fly into Detroit, MI, drive to OH, possible birding in the afternoon
May 11-13 McGee Marsh area, and nights in OH
May 14-15 Tawas Point, and Kirtland’s, and nights in Tawas, MI
May 16 Morning birding, and night near Detroit, MI airport
May 17 Return flight from Detroit, MI 

Quintana Spring Clean Up Saturday, March 16
We need some help at the Quintana Neotropic Bird Sanctuary on Saturday, March 16 from 2:00 to 5:00pm. The new birding tower has been built and we need to do some trail maintenance. The heavy rains and the construction have left the sanctuary a bit untidy. We could use your help for an afternoon of: trail trimming, mowing and weeding. We also need to put in a few new fence posts and haul out a broken bench. Please bring gloves, water, bug spray, loppers/trimmers, and shovels.

Thank you!

Spring Fling is Right Around the Corner
It's March and Spring Fling is just around the corner. Spring Fling takes place at Quintana Sanctuaries, from 9 am - 4 pm daily beginning April 6th and running until May 5th. Pete and Peggy Romfh have once again agreed to apply their fantastic organizational skills to this event and they will be heading it up for us. Thanks Pete and Peggy! If you would like to volunteer please contact Peggy .

Quintana is the place to go to see thousands of migratory songbirds as they arrive at stopover habitat along the coast and this year we have a new bigger and better tower! We will be scheduling a clean up day at the sanctuary to get ready for all the visitors so be on the lookout for an email asking for help! You can learn more about Spring Fling here .

Please bring and donate bird seed and oranges for the birds at Quintana!
We Need a Bit of Help Please
Last year, thanks to the very generous support of Freeport LNG and McRee Ford, we were able to purchase a brand new Ford 4x4 truck to assist with our conservation efforts. In has been a great addition, allowing us to get into some pretty challenging places to perform work, including shorebird surveys along the entire Matagorda Peninsula. Unfortunately, by no fault of the truck, we had to send it off to the shop for a totally new engine. McRee Ford has been awesome with helping us get it back on the road, but we are left with a hefty bill. We are reaching out to all of you for any support you can give. The amount owed for the engine replacement was $9,500, of which $2,000 has already been generously donated, leaving $7,500 for us to raise. We truly appreciate any amount you can help us with! You can mail us a check, call Tricia with a credit card, or make a donation on our website .

THANK YOU!!
HELP US HELP THE BIRDS
GCBO’s Headquarters in Lake Jackson is a beautiful building that blends so well on the 34 acres of bottomland hardwood forest. The light and open design has resulted in a few bird window strikes, however and we need to stop that from happening. There is an easy solution, using window decals applied in long rows on the windows as in the photos on the left.
We bought some of the decals to start the project but need some help putting them up. It would take a dedicated person, or maybe a small team of a few people, probably half to the better part of a day. If you want to get involved and help save some birds… please send Martin an email.


Aerial View of GCBO!
Kay and Robert Lookingbill recently donated this aerial view photograph of the GCBO headquarters in Lake Jackson, TX. They commissioned the piece from Kay's nephew Brian Vogel , an awesome photographer.
It's now hanging in the hall by the staff offices so please come by and check it out!  Thank you Kay and Robert!
March Bird Banding Cancelled!
Sadly we have to cancel our March bird banding!

Bird banding will return on April 20th from 8 am - noon. Come see birds in the hand and learn about the science of bird banding. The earlier you arrive the more birds you'll see.

And while you're here, why not check out our native plant nursery or wander our trails too? Perfect nature outing for the family!
How Can You Help?
You can help support GCBO's mission in several important ways!
Save a Tree and some $!
We are trying to go as paperless as we can to save some trees and quite a bit on printing and mailing costs. We would love if you would let us email you instead of snail mailing a hard copy of any correspondence, including your future copies of the Gulf Crossings. Please email or call Tricia to say: “ Hey, GCBO, please start emailing me things! Here is my email…”    Thanks!    

DONATE NOW on our website to support our conservation programs.

BECOME A MEMBER  and receive our twice a year newsletter and a 10% discount in our nature store.

Make an in-kind donation to support our sanctuary needs.

Black Oil Sunflower Seed and Chicken Scratch
We feed year-round here at GCBO, and during migration at Quintana. We stock our GCBO feeders to help augment natural foods, and this also helps our monthly banding research project. 
 
1 Gallon Plastic Pots
We can use your used 1 gallon nursery plant pots for the Growery. We go through a lot of 1 gallon pots when potting up new plants. Let’s recycle them here. We’ll take one or a hundred! 
Now when you shop at Kroger, you can support GCBO!
GCBO is a registered charity through Kroger's Community Rewards Program. This means that you can register your Kroger Plus Card online and select GCBO as the organization of your choice. Every time you use your Kroger Plus Card, Kroger will donate a portion back to GCBO! This is an easy way to support GCBO while you shop - your donations help us continue to protect birds and birding habitat around the Gulf Coast and beyond. To register your Plus Card, click here . Our charity number is #DN782.

Support GCBO When You Shop on Amazon!
Do you shop on Amazon? Did you know you can do that same shopping on Amazon Smile and support GCBO with every purchase? Just go to the Amazon Smile website and select GCBO as your charity of choice and then shop, shop, shop! GCBO will receive a donation for every purchase you make.
Telephone:  979-480-0999  |  Email Us
All photographs are courtesy of GCBO staff unless otherwise noted.