Gulf Coast Bird Observatory | 299 Hwy 332 West, Lake Jackson, Texas 77566 |
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Save the Date for Brew on the Bayou 2023 |
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Register now for our March Bird ID Class! |
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Brew on the Bayou is coming up on March 25th and we would love your help to make it happen! We need volunteers to help serve samples of drinks, help with parking, and more. This is a really fun event to volunteer for AND you'll be helping us fundraise for our conservation work. If you're interested in helping with this event, please email Celeste at csilling@gcbo.org or info@gcbo.org |
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As some of you know, our Director of Conservation Research, Sue Heath is retiring soon, and she leaves a huge legacy here at GCBO! We are now accepting applications to fill this role and carry on our research work.
Here is a link to it you care to apply or forward it to any interested folks you can think appropriate. We appreciate it very much!
And eventually we will think of a proper way to send her off... stay tuned so we can all thank and celebrate Sue’s huge legacy here at GCBO!
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Join us once again for Bird Banding on February 18th 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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Upcoming Bird Migration Course |
Gulf Coast Bird Observatory is a proud sponsor of Rice University's upcoming course "The Great American Flyway: Gulf Coast Bird Migration" with instructors Cin-Ty Lee and Glenn Olsen. If you would like an in-depth lesson on birds and migration, this course is for you! Click the link below to learn more. |
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We love and appreciate all of our volunteers and one in particular has been helping us for over 20 years. Tom Taroni! Tom has been an essential part of building Gulf Coast Bird Observatory... literally! He has been a valuable board member, head of the maintenance committee, and an avid supporter of our conservation work. Now that he is retiring from the GCBO board, we were happy to honor him by throwing him a top secret surprise party and dedicating a trail to him at our Quintana Sanctuary. Thanks to those friends who came out to help us surprise and celebrate him! |
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Bird ID Class: Winter Sparrows |
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We hosted our first Sparrow ID Class in January with two zoom lessons followed by a field trip. The class was taught by our board president Bob Friedrichs, who is wonderfully knowledgeable about this little brown birds (thanks Bob!). After rescheduling the field trip due to bad weather, we were able to locate ten species of sparrow, including some fairly rare ones like the Vesper sparrow. Thanks to everyone who participated, and we hope to see you at the Gulls and Terns class in March (see above). Photos by Kyle Jones and Linda Kuhn. |
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Come RV Volunteer at GCBO! |
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We can’t thank our RV volunteers enough for all the work they do to keep GCBO going and looking good. From trimming trails, to mowing, to fixing things, to feeding the birds. And so much more!
We often have a list of waiting RVers enjoying their time here at GCBO, but we do have one short slot open for the month of September 2023, think XHX events! We also have openings for the summer and fall of 2024 if you or anyone you know wants a fun RV volunteer gig here. If you’re interested please send an email to Martin at mhagne@gcbo.org for more info. |
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We have a new Development Director! Joni, who previously worked as our Grant Writer, is now our permanent Development Director. Joni is already impressing us with her awesome work, and we are so happy to have her on board! |
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Welcome to our new biology intern, Taylor S.! Taylor S. will be working alongside Sue and Taylor B. to monitor shorebirds, loggerhead shrikes, and other birds. She comes from Houston and recently graduated college. We are excited to have her join our team! |
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Welcome to our new RV Volunteers! Tom and Karyn have returned to GCBO to be our RV hosts once again. They have been very helpful mowing, taking care of the nursery, and taking care of us. Thanks Tom and Karyn! |
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Join us for a beach cleanup |
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Our Brew on the Bayou event is coming up in March and we are now looking for items for the auction. If you have any cool items with birds, décor, or anything else you would like to donate, please let us know or drop by our office. Thanks so much!
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Volunteer for Spring Fling |
Would you like to spend the day at our Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary? Would you like to help visitors and feed the birds? Then sign up to volunteer during Spring Fling! You can man the host station, sell merchandise, ID birds, and much more! To learn more and sign up, click the link below. |
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Recently GCBO has received inquiries about what’s happening with Texas birds and the avian flu. We reached out to Dr. Sara Wyckoff, a wildlife veterinarian with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and she gave us permission to publish the following.
The avian flu refers to any class of avian influenza viruses, which are categorized by certain proteins they have on their viral membrane and their pathogenicity. Pathogenicity means a virus’ ability to make you sick so a highly pathogenic virus can do a better job of making you feel sicker than a lower pathogenic virus.
Currently, the global outbreak of the avian flu is due to the highly pathogenic avian virus strain (HPAI) H5N1 which was first detected in North America in 2021. What is unique about this strain of HPAI is that it appears to be more infectious than previous strains, meaning it can spread very easily from animal to animal. This is allowing large numbers of both domestic and wild species to be hit hard and experience large morbidity (illness) or mortality events.
The HPAI H5N1 strain also has the ability to infect mammals which was not demonstrated by the HPAI strain that hit the United States in 2014-2015. Unfortunately, not only does this current HPAI H5N1 strain have the ability to infect mammals, it seems to make them very sick and to my knowledge all wild mammals have succumbed to their infection.
Another thing to consider with avian influenza’s is their ability to be zoonotic or spillover from animals to human species. When a virus spills over to humans from animals now making the human infected and sick, the virus is now considered zoonotic. While some avian influenza’s have this capability, the current HPAI H5N1 strain has a very low zoonotic risk meaning there is not a lot of evidence to show it becoming established in people and making them sick.
Currently the HPAI H5N1 outbreak has affected over 50 million domestic poultry and over 5,000 wild birds. I have provided links below that show the current HPAI detections for wild birds, commercial/domestic poultry and wild mammals. These links are updated regularly by USDA and can give you a real time look of how HPAI is spreading and affecting animals. I have also included the a USGS link regarding the HPAI outbreak.
The public can help with HPAI surveillance by being curious and vigilant like yourself. If you see multiple sick or dead wild animals reach out to your local county TPWD biologist and let them know about the event. This will allow the department to collect samples and send them in for HPAI testing.
The current clinical signs you might see in an animal infected with HPAI H5N1 include neurological signs such as but not limited to: ataxia (i.e. stumbling around, seeming drunk), incoordination, muscle tremors or seizure like activity, heads twisted to the side or moving back and forth on a horizontal plane, or animals that are normally nocturnal coming out during the day time.
You can also help by practicing good biosecurity if you have any domestic birds in your backyard. Make sure wildlife cannot interact with your backyard flock and that there is no food or water contamination from wildlife as well. The virus can be passed through respiratory secretions and feces so contamination of the environment is important to prevent and vital for keeping a backyard flock healthy.
Dr. Sara Wyckoff, DVM
Wildlife Veterinarian
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Cell: 512-871-9214
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SPLASh Beach Signage Challenge |
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Help protect Texas birds from marine debris and plastic pollution!
SPLASh is accepting art submissions to educate the public on proper disposal and prevention of trash pollution along the Texas Gulf Coast.
If chosen, your art will be featured on a sign posted along Texas shorelines! Click the links below to learn more.
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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 2022 trips are all sold out! But we have just released our 2023 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 2-7, 2023 - SOLD OUT!
February 9-14, 2023 – SOLD OUT!
June 24 - July 1, 2023- SOLD OUT
October 12-24, 2023 – SOLD OUT
Boreal Winter Birding — Duluth, Minnesota
February 2024 – Dates and info TBA
Birding Baja Mexico
March 2024 - Dates and info TBA
Birding Summer Maine
June 2024 – Dates and info TBA
Birding Sierra Gorda in MX and TFFF Trip
2024 – Dates and info TBA
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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!
Picnic Table
We are looking for a small picnic table to go outside our field house. If you have one to spare, please call 979-480-0999 so we can set up delivery/pick up. Thanks!
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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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