The Bird Buddies had a special guest this Friday, December 7, 2018. They were learning all about the Laysan Albatross for L day and Anna Vallery, who works in the conservation department at Houston Audubon, spent 6 months living on Midway Island learning all about them. She came and gave a great presentation. The buddies loved learning all about how the scientists band the birds and they loved Dawn's song so much we sang and danced twice! Huge thanks to Anna!

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Sanderling. It was posted by Bryce Loschen on December 7, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

We cleared the fence line at Hooks Woods, thinned some of the Cherry Laurel, weeded several hundred potted prairie plants, and installed several nesting platforms on the island in Smith Pond. Click the link to read more.

Houston Audubon will have its 50th birthday on September 26, 2019. The staff and volunteers held a meeting on November 29, 2018, to begin planning for a year of events to celebrate the anniversary. There are many things coming and everyone can get involved starting in January, 2019. Everything will be featured on the website and on our social media channels.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. It was posted by Lark Heston on November 30, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

Here is a link to the December 2018 edition of our monthly E-News in case you missed it. You can subscribe by filling in the form at the bottom of any page on our website.

Over the past couple of weeks, we've introduced Tskili and Simon, two of our education ambassadors. Here's their story.

You can meet Simon and Tskili, after he’s fully recovered, at the Houston Audubon Raptor and Education Center, opening in 2019.

Member field trip report for Saturday, November 24, 2018.

Here is a link to the photo album.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Red-breasted Merganser. It was posted by Richard Gibbons and Maria Hart on November 23, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

Meet Simon, a 3 year old owl from Wyoming. Although Simon was originally thought to be male, it became clear when she arrived in Houston that she is a large female Great Horned Owl.

Stay tuned next Tuesday for the story of Tskili’s recent illness and how Simon was vital in his survival. If you’d like to help Houston Audubon’s conservation efforts, including taking care of our feathered friends like Tskili and Simon, please contribute for #GivingTuesday on or before Nov. 27th by clicking here.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Red-tailed Hawk. It was posted by Bryce Loschen on November 16, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

Meet Tskili – one of the hardest working birds in environmental education. His name translates to Great Horned Owl in Cherokee.

If you’d like to help Houston Audubon’s conservation efforts, including taking care of our feathered friends like Tskili, please contribute for Giving Tuesday on or before Nov. 27th by clicking here.

If you have a student in your life who you want to serve the community, here are some tips for how to encourage teenagers to volunteer with a cause they care about.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Wood Duck. It was posted by Lark Heston on November 9, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

Ray Bednar presented Fantastic Cranes and Where to Find Them at our Speaker Event on November 8, 2018, held at the United Way on Waugh Drive.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. It was posted by Richard Gibbons on November 2, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued the COASTAL TEXAS PROTECTION AND RESTORATION FEASIBILITY STUDY: DRAFT INTEGRATED FEASIBILITY REPORT and ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT (Coastal Texas Study DIFR-EIS). The Coastal Texas Study has been commonly referred to as the Coastal Spine or Ike Dike.

At Houston Audubon we believe every greenspace counts. Urban restoration projects can only transform so much of the city into usable habitat for wildlife. The Bird-Friendly Yard program aims to use other available urban landscape, specifically lawns, as wildlife habitat.

Here is a link to the November 2018 edition of our monthly E-News in case you missed it. You can subscribe by filling in the form at the bottom of any page on our website.

Meredith Segal is our new Development Director. She comes to Houston Audubon with over 15 years of experience working in not-for-profit development.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Lesser Black-backed Gull. It was posted by Bryce Loschen on October 26, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

We are so pleased to announce that our Birds, Bugs & Blooms Gala on October 18, 2018, was a huge success! The sold-out event at The Briar Club had 325 people in attendance and raised $346,000. The evening started with a one-hour silent auction during which guests were also encouraged to “Meet the Birds.” Three of Houston Audubon’s Education Raptors, Juliet, Simon and Skeeter, were in attendance to meet and greet the guests. Guests mingled over drinks and hors d’oeuvres and there were some friendly bidding wars on the exciting auction items.

This video was premiered at the annual Gala held on Thursday, October 18, 2018 where the theme was Birds, Bugs and Blooms. The video is 5.5 minutes long and is both informative and enjoyable. Current programs and Gala honorees are highlighted.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Houston Audubon's Bird-friendly Communities program aims to transform the greater Houston area into a thriving community that supports and enjoys birds. See what BFC has accomplished and has in store for Houston.

How can you encourage the children in your life to be active and volunteer with their community? We have some ideas for how to get kids involved in giving back.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Dunlin. It was posted by Lark Heston on October 19, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

Trey is the new Maintenance and Groundskeeper at Sims Bayou Urban Nature Center.

Houston Audubon recommends buildings three stories and higher to turn LIGHTS OUT tonight and tomorrow night (October 15th through October 17th). Conditions are favorable for intense bird migration headed south to the upper Texas coast. We recommend buildings three stories and above turn off unnecessary lighting during the Fall migration period, October 15 to November 30.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Killdeer. It was posted by Maria Hart on October 12, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

Houston Audubon recommends buildings three stories and higher to turn LIGHTS OUT October 10 through October 13. Conditions are favorable for intense bird migration headed south to the upper Texas coast. We recommend buildings three stories and above turn off unnecessary lighting during the Fall migration period, October 15 to November 30.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Black Rail. It was posted by Bryce Loschen on October 5, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners are working to protect a small, secretive marsh bird that is in steep decline. Some populations of the eastern black rail along the Atlantic coast have dropped by as much as 90 percent, and with a relatively small total population remaining across the eastern United States, the Service is proposing to list the subspecies as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

CenterPoint Energy sent 19 members of their Leadership Academy to Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary on Wednesday, October 3, 2018. These hard working, well-dressed individuals split into two project teams, one working on moving heavy lumber out onto the trails for the Bridge 11 rebuild. The other team worked in the Natives Nursery.

Sarah Flournoy, Bird-Friendly Communities Program Manager, and Anna Vallery, Conservation Specialist, conducted a workshop on Saturday, September 29, 2018, to share news and best practices among the group of local survey leaders. Topics included the eBird database where sightings are entered, and a roundtable where survey leaders exchanged ideas on what works best.

Click to read more.

There is progress on two more bridge projects on the trails at the Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary. Bridge 12 has been replaced. Bridge 11 has been demolished down to the base logs.

Here is a link to the October 2018 edition of our monthly E-News in case you missed it. You can subscribe by filling in the form at the bottom of any page on our website.

A banded Snowy Plover from Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge in Alabama flew all the way to Texas and landed at the Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary on August 16 this year! Houston Audubon Society's Daniel Elting re-sighted it initially, followed by citizen scientist, Joseph Kennedy, on August 23.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Prothonotary Warbler. It was posted by Bryce Loschen on September 28, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

Houston Audubon and the Houston Zoo teamed up to create the Bird-Friendly Eco-Team, a group of 20 Zoo employees who committed to taking bird-friendly actions at home for the duration of one year. We met monthly over the last six months in an effort to uncover the benefits and barriers that are most significant to the group.

Jeanette Lambert joined us as an Education Specialist working at the Sims Bayou Urban Nature Center. Click to read more about her.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Swainson’s Hawk. It was posted by Bryce Loschen on September 21, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

The Young Professionals Advisory Council (YPAC) was announced in August. We now have information on the website describing the council and an online application form.

Click the link to see the YPAC web page and let us know if you or someone you know would be a good fit.

Each fall, more than four billion birds fly through the U.S. Collisions with buildings will kill 600 million of them. A recent study of migratory birds and light pollution listed Houston as one of the top five U.S. cities for collision risk. Our expansive urban footprint and location on both the Gulf Coast and the Central Flyway are the cause.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Eastern Wood-Pewee. It was posted by Bryce Loschen on September 14, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

A new article published on the National Audubon website on September 14, 2018, explains how the BirdCast service predicts the nights of heaviest bird migration in different areas. Richard Gibbons, Conservation Director, is featured in the article and discusses how BirdCast predictions are used for our Lights Out for Birds program in this area. The science behind BirdCast was developed at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The article is very informative and well worth reading.

Here is a direct link to the BirdCast website.

Listen to a light-hearted and fun podcast published by Rockstar Capital. A team from Rockstar will be volunteering at Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary on Tuesday, September 18, 2018, working in the Natives Nursery.

The podcast is 10 minutes long and is titled "Episode 21: Rockstar Capital's Day of Caring: Bethany and Anna from Edith L. Moore Sanctuary Share History of the 17-acre Site and More About Our Corporate Team's Volunteer Seedling Project."

Bethany Foshée gives some interesting, little-know facts about the Moore's and the animals at the sanctuary. Anna talks about the Natives Nursery and what the Rockstar Capital volunteers will be doing.

Turn on your speakers or put on your headphones and click the link to hear the podcast.

On Saturday, September 8, 2018, Houston Audubon hosted its first ever Natives Nursery Open House. We welcomed visitors to the Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary cabin for short presentations about the nursery and planting with natives. Visitors were also welcomed to explore the nursery and ask any native plant questions they may have from staff and nursery volunteers. Our native plant experts were able to help visitors not only learn about planting with natives, but pick out native plants of their own. Over 60 individuals and families took plants home with them while others enjoyed learning about the plants in preparation for their future planting efforts.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Mourning Dove. It was posted by Bryce Loschen on September 7, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

The Beak of the Week on the Houston Audubon Facebook page featured the Solitary Sandpiper. It was posted by Daniel Elting on August 31, 2018. Click the link to see the profile in our Bird Gallery.

Here is a link to the September 2018 edition of our monthly E-News in case you missed it. You can subscribe by filling in the form at the bottom of any page on our website.