Calendar List

Where: Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary
Time commitment: 3-10 hours per month for 6 months
Training: Saturday, September 12th, 7:45am - 1pm

We are looking to activate about a dozen volunteers who will each commit to volunteering one morning a month focusing on a specific problematic plant in the sanctuary.

Training on plant identification and removal techniques, as well as an inaugural work party hosted by local Boy Scout troops will be held on Saturday, September 12th, from 7:45am-1pm. After that volunteers will work independently on their own set schedules returning to the sanctuary about once per month for a few hours to continue the work that was started and reporting back to the volunteer coordinator. The goal is to look back after 6 months and see noticeable progress in creating space for natives and habitat for our birds, mammals and herps!

If you are interested in joining the Habitat Hawks please sign up below or email with any questions!

Join us at the Raptor and Education Center at Sims Bayou for a morning of gardening and sanctuary maintenance. We work 8AM – 12PM, once a month on the 2nd Saturday, September through May. Activities include trail maintenance, filling bird feeders and baths, litter pick-up, native gardening, and invasive species removal. It's a great way to enjoy the outdoors and help out in the community! Bring water, sunscreen, bug repellent & gloves. Wear closed-toe shoes & long pants. Bring sack lunch if desired. Children of any age are welcome with their parent/chaperone. (Minimum age without a parent/chaperone is 14 years.) There is a maximum number of 8 participants at a workday.

We will work to ensure that social distancing is maintained and that current public health precautions are being followed for each work party, and we ask that volunteers take an active role in this effort as well.

Sign up using the link below.

From July to September, Houston's Purple Martins form large flocks and roost together in preparation for migration. They spend most of the day feeding on flying insects to build energy for their long journey across the Gulf of Mexico. They spend their evenings resting at Old Navy!
Don't miss this amazing spectacle! The sky is speckled black with a flurry of thousands of birds at sunset.
Bring a chair and meet us at 7:00 PM in front of Old Navy at the Fountains in Stafford.
12634 Fountain Lake Circle, Stafford TX 77477.
If you arrive before 7:00 PM, drive out behind the shopping center to Fountain Lake Park to watch the Purple Martins as they fly low to drink water from the pond and as they gather on the power lines nearby. There is a parking lot for the Fountain Lake Park located around 12003 Breezy Meadow Dr.

Offered by our partner, Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. Two options: 1-2:30 PM and 3-4:30 PM. See the link below for details and registration information. Fee.

Offered through our partner, Bayou Land Conservancy.This event is FULL. See link below for details of the event.

Join us for a virtual bird walk led by Jason Ward for the second annual #HoustonBirdWeek. This event will take place live on Houston Audubon's Facebook page.

Jason Ward is an American naturalist, birder, and activist. He is the host of the 2019 television documentary series Birds of North America. He is the founder and CEO of "The BlackAFinSTEM Collective".

We're excited to continue our partnership with Bakfish Brewing, and there's a very special announcement coming your way! Hang out with us at from 12 - 2 pm on Saturday, September 19, to learn about birds, win fun giveaway prizes, and drink PALEican to support birds! PALEican is a pale ale created in 2019 for our inaugural Houston Bird Week. Bakfish is generously donating a portion of all proceeds to Houston Audubon. (Not into pale ale? There are a bunch of other fun beers you can try!)

Bakfish will be making a special announcement at 12:30 pm. If you can't make it in person, join us on Facebook Live for the news.

We encourage everyone to stop by and support Bakfish anytime!

Community Swift Night Out is back this year, and it’s the perfect socially-distanced way to participate in Houston Bird Week 2020! At dusk, Chimney Swifts begin circling roosting locations. They then swoop into their roosting locations and can be counted as they enter the chimneys.

Swift Night Out is a community effort to help figure out where Chimney Swifts are in Houston and monitor populations long-term. We’re aiming to cover all of the known Chimney Swift roosts across the city, from large silo-style chimneys to specially-designed Chimney Swift towers, and we need your help! At dusk on September 20, community scientists across the city will count the number of swifts as they enter the varying roost locations.

Join Diane Olsen as she introduces our South Atlantic penguins to you. She will cover the natural history of the species we care for at Moody Gardens as well as our animal’s stories. Diane has been overseeing our penguins' care since the King Penguins arrived as eggs back in 1998.

Houston Audubon Zoom Event

Are you a beginning bird photographer and need help getting started? Tim will share his passion for bird photography with a wide range of information for beginning bird photographers. You don’t need a fancy camera, large lens or travel to exotic places for bird photography. This class will help to inspire you to go out and take some great bird photos.

Agenda for this class will include:
-- Equipment recommendations and how to work with what you have
-- Which camera settings to use
-- How to get close to birds
-- Best time to photograph birds
-- Good spots to practice
-- Ethical bird photography

Tim has been an active nature photographer since 2005 and specializes in shorebird photography using a ground pod to get eye level with the birds. Tim has led bird photography workshops at Galveston’s FeatherFest since 2011. He won honorable mention in the 2015 Audubon Photo Contest and made the top 100 in Audubon’s contests in 2020 and 2019. Tim has been published in Natures Best magazine, Audubon’s 2019 Annual Report, Audubon Field Guide, Audubon Magazine, Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, Birds & Bloom magazine and “The Pacific Flyway: Waterbird Migration from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego” book.

Visit www.timtimmis.com to see some of his photos. He also has a blog at www.timtimmisblog.com

Bird nerds, nature lovers, and trivia buffs - join us for a night of trivia all about birds. Our guest host, Corina Newsome, will be quizzing you on your bird knowledge, from identification and behavior to slang and pop culture. The top 3 winners will receive prizes and, of course, bragging rights. Who is the birdiest of them all? Beginners welcome - there's always something new to learn!

Corina Newsome is the Community Engagement Manager for Georgia Audubon and a biology Master's student at Georgia Southern University. Corina conducts research on the MacGillivray's Seaside Sparrow, and works to eliminate systemic barriers that have prevented people of color from participating in wildlife conservation and exploration of the great outdoors.

Event is free, donations accepted. Registration required.

Offered through our partner, Bayou Land Conservancy.This event is FULL. See link below for details of the event.

Join Clayton Leopold as he tours you through the canopy of the tropical Rainforest Pyramid at Moody Gardens. Clayton knows the ins and outs of our free flight birds in the rainforest and will impart his experience and enthusiasm for this unique assembly of animals. Clayton has been working with the rainforest animals for many years and is an avid birder.

Just dipping your toes into birding as a hobby? Join us for a virtual Birding 101 class with Carl Nooteboom to learn about the basics, including how to get started, equipment, identification, when and where to find birds, and more!

Carl Nooteboom is a native Houstonian who has appreciated birds his whole life but became an avid birder a decade ago, since then he has been interested in sharing his passion for the hobby with others.

Tune in to learn about BirdCast's migration forecasts and how we can apply these forecasts to conservation action. Presented by Julia Wang - BirdCast Project Leader at Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Free but pre-registration required. Please use link below to sign up.

Offered through our partner, the Institute for Spirituality and Health. See link below for registration (required). Fee: $10.

Hawks, falcons, owls and more await you at Houston Audubon's Raptor Photo Shoot. During Bird Week, you will have the opportunity to photograph Houston Audubon’s education raptors in an intimate setting at the Raptor & Education Center. Whether you use your cell phone, a simple point-and-shoot, or professional photography equipment, you will enjoy meeting and learning about these awesome birds. Light refreshments will be served on the deck for all to enjoy during the shoot. Space is limited.

Join Houston Audubon for a virtual lunch with the birds at the Raptor and Education Center. Learn all about what makes a bird a bird, why birds matter and what you can do to help out our feathered friends. You'll even get to meet some of the live hawks and owls and other birds that live at the center - all while eating lunch in the comfort of your own home!

This program is interactive and suitable for all ages. Head over to the Houston Audubon Facebook page at 12:30 on September 22 to join in, learn, and ask all of your birdiest questions!

Offered by our partner, Galveston Bay Foundation. Shown on Facebook Live

Join us for a virtual movie event featuring our feathered friends & amazing panelists. Starting at 6:00 p.m. is the family/kid friendly local short film, Wild Birds. Stars of the show will join us - LIVE - in the online platform following this film to take a few audience questions. Everyone will enjoy interacting with Houston's own celebrities (our rangers from U.S. Fish and Wildlife). After a brief intermission, we will share three unique, short films. A panel discussion will follow with guests from Houston Audubon.

Sky Migrations is a film about a journey that embeds us in an epic, international raptor migration. For a brief moment, we hear the stories of those who, with eyes cast skyward, tuck themselves atop mountains to help ensure that autumn skies may continue to flood with raptors, and that wilderness itself lives on.

In The Fight for Flight, neotropical migrants pass by, often undetected - unless we know where and how to find them. The film explores technology that gives us clues about what happens during migration and how humans are impacting birds.

Finally, Bird In Hand will leave you awestruck at the intricacy of these creatures, great and small.

This is a special partnership between the Citizens' Environmental Coalition's Houston Green Film Series and Houston Audubon's Bird Week. Donations to the CEC are encouraged to help cover program costs.

Offered by our partner, Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. See the link below for details and registration information. Fee.

Join us at 11:30 AM live on Facebook from Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary. In this interactive session, we'll answer your questions about birds and their environment.

Get enraptored! Don’t miss this opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the Houston Audubon Raptor and Education Center during Bird Week. Learn about our native raptors and raptor conservation, meet the raptors up close with lots of photo ops and discover what it takes to run a raptor center. This private event occurs before our open hours, and space is limited.

Join Greg Whittaker as he tours the birdiest areas of the 240-acre property. Greg conducted surveys of Moody Gardens through 2018 and identified 210 species that were utilizing the habitat on and around the Island birding hotspot. Greg will provide an introductory look at the property map and point out several of the habitat features that make the area an easy, fun, accessible birding destination. He will then tour you through several of the areas, pointing out birds encountered and answer participant questions as we walk.

Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) and the Houston Area Bat Team invite you to virtually learn more about the 250,000 magnificent Mexican free-tailed bats that share the city with us right in the heart of Houston at Waugh Drive Bridge over Buffalo Bayou. Guests will also enjoy an amazing view of the bats’ dusk emergence.

Diana Foss, a Biologist in the Wildlife Diversity Program at Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept since 1993, will give a presentation about the importance of our Mexican free-tailed bats as well as take any questions you may have about our mammal friends. Susan Webb will be on-site at Waugh Drive to showcase the bat emergence and will be on hand to answer any additional questions. Susan Webb leads BBP’s bat pontoon boat tours and also volunteers with the Houston Area Bat Team.

This event is free but registration is required. Click link below to register.

Offered by our partner, The James B Harrison Foundation. This event is FULL. See link below for details.

Join Houston Audubon during Bird Week for the spectacle of hawk migration along the coast. Participants will meet at the Smith Point Hawk Watch and bird the areas around the bay before heading to the tower to watch for raptors and hummingbirds. All visitors to the hawk watch tower must wear a face covering that covers both nose and mouth and is secured at both top and bottom.

The Gulf Coast Bird Observatory Smith Point Hawk Watch tower is located at the Candy Abshier Wildlife Management Area off of Heartfield Ln. in Anahuac, Texas.

Register online at the link below if you'd like to participate. Space is limited.

Offered by our partner, Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. See the link below for details and registration information. Fee.

Exploration Green and Houston Audubon are excited to bring you a Squawk Walk for the second annual Houston Bird Week. Join us on Saturday, September 26 from 10am-2pm at Exploration Green to celebrate the important role Houston plays in the lives of billions of birds!

Bring cameras, binoculars, water, and walking shoes for birding! There are no restrooms onsite. Please wear a mask and follow CDC guidelines for outdoor events.

Members from Houston Audubon, Galveston Bay Area Chapter - Texas Master Naturalist, and Texas Master Naturalist - Gulf Coast Chapter will be present to answer questions!

The Purple Martins in Stafford have left early this year. While we’re disappointed we won’t get to share the spectacle with you this Friday as planned, we wish the martins well on their long journey south. Instead, we’ll be taking the migration madness digital. Join us on Facebook Live to watch videos of past roosts and learn all about Purple Martins from local expert Matt Fendley. Our Education Director Mary Anne Weber will be hosting the program, along with a very special guest – Emilio the Purple Martin!

Matt will talk about the behavioral changes that have occurred in Purple Martins over hundreds-even thousands-of years, giving us the birds we know today. He'll also cover identification of the distinct age/sex classes and migration data, as well as attraction tips, housing standards, and best management practices for those that want to host martins at their home.

Matt Fendley works at the University of Houston - Clear Lake, where he also received his BS in Environmental Management. He was mesmerized by Purple Martins at a very young age, which quickly turned into an obsession. He has been hosting Purple Martins at his home for decades, as well as managing a satellite colony at UHCL for the past 10 years that belongs to the Environmental Institute of Houston (EIH). Matt is also a current member of the Purple Martin Conservation Association. Though an avid birder in general, his main focus has always been on Purple Martins.

Do you live on the west side of Houston and are you looking for a fantastic place to see an amazing array of birds? Well join us on the fourth Monday of each month at Archbishop Fiorenza Park (Phase 2) between Eldridge and Highway 6 for the chance to see a multitude of species, get a good healthy walk in and enjoy the company of other outdoor loving folks. This park has miles of paved trails, wooded thickets, open grassy areas, large detention ponds with bird islands and much more. It is north of the Westpark Tollway and just north of the original Archbishop Fiorenza Park on Eldridge.

We must practice social distancing and cannot have any single group larger than 10. We will start at 7:30 AM in the main parking lot and split the group if we need to.

Email Mary Anne Weber at maweber@houstonaudubon.org if you'd like to participate.