Gulf Coast Bird Observatory | 299 Hwy 332 West, Lake Jackson, Texas 77566 |
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Buy Your Tickets Now For Brew on the Bayou! |
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Brew on the Bayou is coming up on March 23rd and we are looking for volunteers to help out!
Whether you're interested in serving beer, helping with the auction, directing parking, or one of the other tasks, Brew is a fun event for all!
If you are interested in helping out or have questions about the event, please email Celeste at csilling@gcbo.org. Thanks!
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Symbolically Adopt an Oystercatcher Pair! |
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It’s the beginning of the year, and it’s just about time for another American Oystercatcher monitoring season to begin! Looking forward to it as much as we are? Consider symbolically adopting a pair! When you adopt an oystercatcher pair, you’ll receive an adoption certificate with information about your pair, including information about the individual in the pair that is banded. We will also email you a monthly update to let you know how your pair is doing throughout the breeding season. This year, we have 9 pairs to choose from, which each adoption only $100! Use the following link to choose your pair and support our research: https://www.gcbo.org/product/adopt-an-oystercatcher-pair/
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Come join SPLASh and Houston Audubon Society for a jetty cleanup on Saturday, February 24th from 9am-12 pm! Please register below for yourself and anyone from your family or group who may be attending with you.
The exact meeting location can be found here: 802 17th St, Port Bolivar, TX.
If you want to learn more about SPLASh or have any questions about our cleanup events, visit www.splashtx.org or email us at splashtx@abcbirds.org
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Thanks to everyone who participated in our January Bird ID Class: Waterfowl of the Upper Texas Coast with Bob Friedrichs!
After two Zoom classes of learning how to ID ducks and geese, we headed out into the field to test ourselves. We were able to locate 17 different species of waterfowl and practice identifying them.
A big thanks to Bob for teaching the class!
Keep an eye out for future Bird ID Classes on our schedule.
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Join us once again for Bird Banding on February 17th from 8 am - noon at our headquarters in Lake Jackson. Come see birds in the hand and learn about the science of bird banding. The earlier you arrive the more birds you'll see. This event is free of charge.
And while you're here, why not check out our native plant nursery and wander our trails too? We even have picnic tables set up for an outdoor lunch -- It's the perfect nature outing for the family!
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Welcome to our new and returning board members, Gary, David and Mike!
Gary Graham is a Marine Fisheries Specialist and Extension Professor who is retired from Texas A&M Sea Grant Program and Texas Agrilife/Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences. Much of his career focused on sustainability in the fishing industry, working with sea turtle conservation and reducing bycatch in the shrimping industry. His interest in birds was ignited while working aboard offshore shrimp vessels and observing migrating and sea birds seeking refuge of the boats. One of his favorite efforts was service on the Smart Gear Committee with the World Wildlife Fund where innovations in bycatch were sought from fishermen globally. Some of these ideas resulted in reducing take of sea birds in long line fisheries around the world. He has served on two National Academy Science committees addressing sea turtle conservation.
Since retirement, he continues to operate two shrimp vessels, has cooperated with Ducks Unlimited in the management of 80 acres of wetlands, manages his 12-acre homesite for wildlife including re-establishment of native vegetation. He continues to pursue his hobbies of birding, hiking, fishing and hunting.
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David Goff was born and raised in Houston, TX and now lives in Fort Bend County. After graduating in Mathematics from the University of Denver, he spent his career in Information Technology with Texaco and Plains All American Pipeline. More importantly, he's been supremely blessed to have shared over 45 years with his wife, Sissie and son, Eric. Since retiring in 2017, he's spent a year volunteering in Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts, and has been certified as a Texas Master Naturalist.
David first discovered GCBO in 2018 during his TMN training and a subsequent Saturday morning bird banding session. Since then, he's spent many hours at the Neotropical Bird Sanctuary on Quintana as well as the Hawk Watch tower at Smith Point. As such, he appreciates the opportunity to assist in the GCBO mission by serving on the Board of Directors and by participating in GCBO events throughout the year.
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Mike Williams has served on the GCBO Board previously, including as Secretary, VP, and President, as well as extensively volunteered for GCBO for may years.
An avid birdwatcher in the UK since the age of 11, he birded throughout Europe as a teenager. He was a member of national organizations for bird welfare and protection and for one dedicated to the introduction of birding and birds to the city’s youth.
Work brought Mike to the US where his interest in birds broadened into photography. His work has been featured in several media and publications, including many of GCBO's. Mike participates in a number of GCBO activities and typically spends 3 weeks solid at Quintana NBS every spring for migration as well at least 10 hours a week somewhere taking pictures of birds.
After 31 years he Retired in 2018 from Schlumberger after being head of sales and commercial for the drilling group.Vice President of Marketing and Technology for Schlumberger Drilling Tools & Remedial. He has been with SLB for 26 years in a number of roles the majority of which have been sales and marketing.
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Welcome to our new Office Assistant, Tess!
Tess was born in Mt. Pleasant, TX and studied Political Science and Philosophy at Texas State University, returning in 2018 to pursue a BFA in Painting. As a certified paralegal, she has worked for non-profit organizations, law firms and corporate legal departments until taking on her most important role as Mom to four children. Her love of nature is grounded in her love of painting, experiencing the magic of color and light the natural world affords when painting outdoors. With a passion for learning and a strong belief in conservation, she combines creativity and analysis to facilitate the success of GCBO in her role as Office Assistant.
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Welcome to our new Biology Intern, Chris!
Christine (Chris) is from St. Louis, Missouri. She graduated from the University of Central Missouri with a Wildlife and Natural Resource Conservation degree and Creative Writing minor. Though she had a soft spot for birds, it wasn’t until the latter half of her undergraduate degree that she decided to work with them in her career. Chris enjoys reading and writing novels, exercising, and backpacking. Chris was a Naturalist at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth, Minnesota this fall for raptor migration, where she handled raptors for demonstrations, educated visitors about migration and raptor identification, and helped and learned about owl extraction and banding. She’s eager to begin the Biology Internship and learn about shorebird behavior, monitoring, and data collection!
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Welcome to our new RV Volunteers!
Mike Moser is our RV volunteer for the winter. He and his wife Phyllis Swenson are full time RV'ers and have lived in their RV without owning a home since 2017 where they last had a home in Fairplay Colorado. Since then they have enjoyed exploring from Alaska to Florida, Maine to California, although there are still a few open spots on their map. They enjoy the lifestyle so much that they anticipate doing this for another 7 years at least. Mike will be doing maintenance around the property including keeping up with the trails and bird feeders. Phyllis and Mike are not particularly avid bird watchers and are finding the education in the field very interesting. Please stop and tell them your stories if you see them around.
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Come birding with GCBO and our Executive Director, Martin Hagne! Have a great time birding, exploring, enjoying some extraordinary scenery, dining on local cuisine, and of course seeing great birds! We always hook up with at least one local guide for the best experience. Here are our wonderful upcoming trips, but hurry, our trips are selling out fast!!
Our 2024 trips are all sold out! But take a look at our 2025 lineup! A few trips still need more information posted, so stay tune on those, or email Martin mhagne@gcbo.org to be put on list for more info! You can also go to our website to check for trip information and to register.
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February 8-13, 2024 - SOLD OUT!
March 4-13, 2024 -SOLD OUT!
June 16-22, 2024 - SOLD OUT!
November 3-11, 2024 – SOLD OUT!
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Make an in-kind donation to support our sanctuary needs. |
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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.
Sugar
The hummingbirds are coming our way, and we are looking for granulated sugar donations for their sugar water. Please bring it by our headquarters: 299 Hwy 332 W Lake Jackson. Thanks!
Small Freezer
We need a small under-cabinet freezer that reaches -20°C or lower for storage of biological samples for a possible upcoming study. Please reach out to Rebecca at rbracken@gcbo.org if you have one you're willing to donate!
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Corporate Matching Programs |
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Did you know that many corporations have a donation matching program? Corporations can match their employees' volunteer hours and/or donations to nonprofit organizations like GCBO! These types of programs are great because they double your contributions to the causes that you care about! If you work (or are retired from) a corporation, ask them about their matching program today! |
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Recycle Your Old Technology and Help Birds |
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The Wireless Alliance is a company that recovers and recycles cell phones, smart phones, tablets, and other consumer recyclables.
We will be collecting these items for Wireless Alliance to keep them out of landfills as well as raise money for our conservation efforts. If you have old technology such as a phone, charger, tablet, or other accessories, consider bringing it to GCBO!
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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.
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When you shop at Kroger, you can support GCBO! |
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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.
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