The litter walk at dawn I love it! Yup I'm a little nuts. Forth of July is coming and with it beach goers. We like to pick up the litter before the holiday because if people see a trashy road they will add more trash. I probably wouldn't ever think of just a lazy walk down Rettilon Rd at dawn in late June but picking up litter gets me there and this morning it was gorgeous. All the grasses are blooming. I am constantly amazed at how resilient coastal plants are. After a horrendous storm there they are growing through the salt crust, not seeming to mind that is hasn't rained in months.

I spent 3 hours at Bolivar Flats this morning putting signs around the Least Terns and looking at what is happening there.

I was there because I had been contacted recently and told that there were no signs around the Least Terns which apparently was why photographers wound up too close to them. We hadn't put up many signs because the terns are away from the beach and we didn't think there would be any disturbance there. I have always felt that most of the disturbance was caused by fishermen and beach goers who hadn't been educated about the impact of disturbance of beach nesting birds. Obviously the fishermen and the beach goers aren't the only people who haven't gotten enough education.

Disturbance of beach nesting birds can result in the death of the chicks in the following ways.

1. Heat can kill chicks and eggs. If the adults are trying to scare away intruders they are not shading the eggs and chicks and the chicks can die in 5 minutes or less.
2. Predators can grab chicks and eggs when the adults are off the nest. If the adults are trying to chase you away the eggs and chicks can be picked up by Laughing Gulls and Gull-billed Terns who hang around Least Tern colonies and grab chicks whenever possible.
3. Human scent near a nest leads mammalian predators to the nests. Skunks, raccoons and coyotes know that by following human scents they can find food, sometimes it is trash and sometimes it is nests. If you walk up to nests you are leading predators there.

So PLEASE LEAVE NESTING BIRDS ALONE!!!

Susan Knock from Texas A&M in Galveston posted on TexBirds on Thursday that Andrew McGinnes observed Wood Storks at the Rookery at Smith Oaks. Today I was fortunate enough to walk up to the observation platform and snap a shot just as what seemed like every bird out there flushed. If you look around, you'll see the Wood Storks. The pond is so low that more and more land is being exposed everyday. This being the only fresh water around, the birds are here in numbers. Come down and see the juvenile White Ibis, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, juvenile Snowy Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, and so many others.

May 28, 2009 Andrew Beck, Jason Perry and I went to Evia Island with Audubon Warden Bob Gallaway and his volunteer Bob Horner. Our goal was to count the birds nesting on the island and look at what needs to be done to the island to restore nesting habitat. Evia is on the back side of the Bolivar Peninsula and was built with dredged material from the widening and deepening of the Houston Ship Chanel. We had not been to the island since Ike but had seen pictures of the island. We knew that most of the vegetation was washed off the island, the rock rip rap was moved and the island was covered with debris. We were not prepared for the birds response to the changes.

They were nesting everywhere!! Herons in cavities in the rocks and in TV's. Their determination to nest on the island shows how important that location is to them.

Evia Island Photos

Pairs of birds nesting on Evia Island

Brown Pelican 366
Great-blue Heron 6
Great Egret 23
Snowy Egret 100
Tricolored Heron 250
Reddish Egret 15
Black-cr Night-heron 8
Roseate Spoonbill 10
Royal Tern 3000
Sandwich Tern 1500
Black Skimmer 125 adults 13 nests

May 21, 2009 Andrew Beck, Jason Perry and I went out in West Galveston Bay with Audubon Warden Bob Gallaway and his volunteer Bob Horner. Most of the Islands were full of birds despite the hurricane and drought. Brown Pelicans from North Deer Island "spilled over" on to Marker 52 island a couple of years ago. The White Ibis used to nest on North Deer but moved to South Deer which is a very low island, several years ago, maybe there just wasn't enough room on North Deer any more.

Numbers are pairs of birds

North Deer
Between Tiki Island and Galveston Island
Brown Pelicans 1872
Nt Cormorants 300
Gr Blue Heron 50
Gr Egret 174
Snowy Egret 114
Little Blue Heron 3
Tricolored Heron 120
Reddish Egret 13
Cattle Egret 34
Black-cr Night Heron 7
Yellow-cr Night heron 7
White Ibis 35
White-faced Ibis 70
Roseate Spoonbill 120
Laughing Gull 3000
Royal Terns 400
Forster's Tern 8
Oystercatcher 20 adults no chicks seen

Marker 52
An island just across the Intracoastal Waterway from North Deer
Brown Pelican 471
Great Blue Heron 7
Snowy Egret 15
Tricolored Heron 69
Laughing Gull 1175
10 Adult Oystercatchers 3 chicks

South Deer
Gr Egret 5
Snowy Egret 2
Tricolored Herons 35
White Ibis 650
White-faced Ibis 30
Laughing Gulls 700
Caspian Terns 113 adults 15 nests
Most likely Caspian Terns were washed out by high tides as they were seen nesting early in the season.
11 Oystercatchers no chicks or nests