Gulf Coast Bird Observatory | 299 Hwy 332 West, Lake Jackson, Texas 77566
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The numbers are in and:
XHX 2018 was our best XHX event ever!!!
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We had a little over 750 visitors for the event in total. That's about 300 more than we've had in previous years and we were so excited to see people coming out and learning about the hummers! The rain held off until close on Sunday and we had a steady stream of 'adoptable' hummingbirds to be banded. Our talks were so popular that we had to host an additional one each day and the kids loved the reptiles, Sea Center's touch tanks, the birds, and the crafts and shave ice!
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Thank you to everyone that came out and enjoyed XHX, and a huge thank you to all who helped with this event, from our expert banders to greeters. We had such a great volunteer turnout and are so grateful for all you help us do. Thank you to the Friends of the Brazoria Refuges, Cradle of Texas Master Naturalists, Sea Center Texas, Brazoria Parks Dept, Mike & Tracey’s Booth, and Wild Bird Unlimited Pearland for joining us with your booths which added so much to the event!
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Volunteer Appreciation Dinner
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Join us Tuesday, October 30th, at 6 pm for our annual "Volunteer Appreciation Dinner." If you have volunteered with us sometime in the last 2 years, please come to GCBO to enjoy a delicious dinner and deserts!
If you plan on attending, please RSVP to [email protected] with your party number.
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Experiences Auction Almost Here
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Dates Have Been Set:
Auction Opens: November 10th at noon
Auction Closes: November 30th at 8 pm
(Central time)
The website will go up so you can view items sometime later this week and we are so excited to share what we have available this year. We have great returning experiences as well as some new ones that we know you'll love!
These make fantastic holiday/Xmas gifts and all proceeds from the auction go straight back to GCBO so you can help the birds when you shop!
Stay tuned for the site to go live! We will update you when it's up!
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Smith Point Hawk Watch Thank You
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Those that have made it out to the GCBO Smith Point Hawk Watch for the past several years have surely met our hawk watch Station Master, Bob Baez. Bob is out there almost daily from Aug 1 through Nov 15, with a day or so off on some weeks. He loves to share his raptor ID knowledge and enjoys the daily visits by folks. I hope you tell him hi and thanks when you’re out there! Thanks also goes out to Tad Finnell for regularly filling in for Bob on his days off, and all the volunteers helping out in other ways at the count.
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Our RV volunteers are some of the hardest working folks around! GCBO provides a RV pad with full hook-ups and they volunteer several days a week! It’s a great arrangement. From August through October James and Janet have done so much on the 34 acre headquarters property! Trail trimming, mowing, cleaning out and replanting flower beds, fixing Bluebird houses, building and installing feeders, helping with XHX, filling feeders, and so much more!! They have been the most wonderful volunteers, and friends! Thank you so much, and hope to see you back!
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GCBO Co-sponsoring Rice University Course
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We are co-sponsoring Rice University's fall 2018 course, "Gulf Birds" with Glenn Olsen September 27 to October 25. The course covers bird ID and conservation and you can sign up for it and read more about it
here
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Bird Banding Saturday October 20th
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We'll be banding birds Saturday, October 20th from 8 am - noon right here at GCBO. As always, this is a free event open to the public - stop on by to learn about our bird research, banding, and to enjoy our nature trails or shop our native plant nursery!
PS: If you're interested in raptor banding, our bird banders- Robert and Kay Lookingbill- are offering a raptor banding experience in our auction! Check it out when the auction goes live!
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The itineraries of both these trips can be found online at our website:
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New Donation and Membership Platform Up and Running
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We've revamped and completely updated our Membership and Donation pages on the GCBO website!
These new platforms should be much more streamlined and easier to use!
Please help support GCBO’s mission and join us in carrying out our bird research and education!
Check out how you can help, and what members receive:
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Your in-kind contributions help us tremendously by freeing up much needed funds for our research and projects. Thank you!!
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.
1 Gallon Plastic Pots
We can use your used 1 gallon nursery plant pots for the Growery. We go through a lot of 1 gallon pots when potting up new plants. Let’s recycle them here. We’ll take one or a hundred!
Coffee Table:
We are looking for a used Coffee Table for the Field House.
Fire Proof Storage Box:
We are in need of a metal fire proof storage cabinet to store flammable paints etc. in.
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Now 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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All photographs are courtesy of GCBO staff unless otherwise noted.
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