Gulf Coast Bird Observatory | 299 Hwy 332 West, Lake Jackson, Texas 77566 |
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Our Experience Auction is in full swing! You only have one more week to get your bids in. This is a great way to support our conservation work, while also having some amazing experiences. You can bid on them now through Dec 11 at 7PM! |
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Bird ID Class: Winter Sparrows of the Upper Texas Coast with Bob Friedrichs |
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Join GCBO board president and Texas Master Naturalist Bob Friedrichs on January 17th, 19th, and 21st for an in-depth look at the fascinating and sometimes frustrating sparrows that inhabit our upper coast counties in the winter. This course will have two weekday evening classroom sessions via Zoom followed by a full-day field trip to coastal prairies, wetlands and woodlands to study these ‘little brown jobs’ and put into practice what we learned during the Zoom sessions. You can expect to learn about 23 species of sparrows and their close cousins that occur annually in the Greater Houston area. Each species account will include:
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Identification basics with photo quizzes
- Typical vocalizations
- Breeding and wintering ranges, and the best local spots for each species
- Habitat and diet information
The course fee of $200.00 includes
- Both classes and the field trip (car caravan for convenient departures)
- Helping save birds, as the fee goes directly to supporting GCBO’s many conservation programs.
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The Upper Texas coast has many great Christmas Bird Counts. GCBO sponsors one count, compiled by our Executive Director, the Brazoria-Columbia Bottomlands CBC, based in Brazoria county. We would love your help!
There are also two other great CBC’s in Brazoria County, and there are many other wonderful counts in our area, across the state, and country.
· San Bernard - Friday, December 16th
· Freeport - Sunday, December 18th
· Brazoria-Columbia - Saturday, December 31st, 2022
Find info about these, or a count near you in Texas here:
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Save the Date for Brew on the Bayou 2023! |
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Join us once again for Bird Banding on December 17th 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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The 26th year of our Smith Point Hawk Watch has come to a close. This year, Bob Baez and other volunteers put in over 750 hours of counting birds at the site! And it paid off as they were able to count over 27000 raptors flying overhead. Thanks so much to everyone who volunteered or visited the hawk watch! See you next fall! |
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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 artwork, 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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Shopping for the holidays?
Stop by our nature store or online store (here) for all your gifts!
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Join SPLASh for a beach cleanup! |
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Join SPLASh for a beach cleanup at Surfside Jetty County Park on December 17th!
We will be out from 9AM-12PM picking up trash along the jetty and beach. SPLASh will provide gloves, bags, and water. We hope to see you there!
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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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Check out the new video explaining our Eastern Willet Migration Project! This is some great research by our own Sue Heath! View it here
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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 Northern Peru 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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Support GCBO When You Shop on Amazon! |
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Do you shop on Amazon? Did you know you can do that same shopping on Amazon Smile and support GCBO with every purchase?
Just go to the Amazon Smile website and select GCBO as your charity of choice and then shop, shop, shop!
GCBO will receive a donation for every purchase you make. Thanks so much!
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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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