Gulf Coast Bird Observatory | 299 Hwy 332 West, Lake Jackson, Texas 77566
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A Great GCBO Year and 22 Years of Conservation
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Looking back over the past 22 years, one can surely see the impact that GCBO's conservation work has had on the environment. A lot has been done to help nature along! A lot! Yet, today the birds and the environment need us all more than ever. We continually find new threats and issues and even with past successes we still need to work as hard as ever. I am proud to be part of such a dynamic conservation organization and I get to see first hand on a daily basis how our projects are helping. I truly appreciate your belief in our mission and work and I hope you will help support our projects. Thank you for making this all possible! You truly make the difference!
You can support us by clicking this link to get our 2019 Year End Appeal Letter
here
Or you can go directly to our Website Donation Page, and select the Operations option from the "Donation To" drop-down menu, or a certain project you wish to support.
Thank you!
Martin Hagne
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Join The Fun At Christmas Bird Counts!
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There's still some time to participate in a Christmas Bird Count. It’s a wonderful way to get out in the field, see some birds, and help collect avian data. You can find all the counts across the world at the National Audubon website, but for the Texas counts you can go
HERE
There is a local Brazoria County count in the Brazoria Columbia Bottomlands that we’d love
your h
elp with. You can find more info and contacts at the above website.
Brazoria Columbia Bottomlands CBC – Sat, Jan 4, 2020
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Thanks to the Quintana Re-Veg Volunteers!
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We planted a section of the sanctuary with 7 species of native trees and 12 species of native shrubs in the fall of 2019 and installed an irrigation system to help the plants establish.Expanding the canopy (tall tree cover) will help birds find food and shelter, especially during migration.Coastal habitats such as this are crucial for migratory bird to survive their long journeys.
This project was funded through a grant from Freeport LNG
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Join us for our third annual Brew on the Bayou! Come sample and enjoy specialty brews from local breweries as well as wines. Listen to live music by the Intercoastal Pirates, watch a live raptor show, grab a delicious bite to eat from local food trucks and check out some hot items at our silent auction. Our beautiful wooded grounds will be lit by torchlight, making it a perfect spot to enjoy the brews, the food and the music!
Saturday, March 21
st
-- 5:00-9:00 p.m.
Tickets are $20/person with pre-sale,* and $25 at the door.
Call us in advance at 979-480-0999. ID required at door for brew-tasting.
*Pre-sale ends 3/10/2020.
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We are looking for some nice donations for our Silent Auction. Are you a crafter, painter, photographer, woodworker or have another talent that you would like to share? Perhaps an experience you would like to donate? Or do you have a high-quality item you would like to put up for auction? You could even donate gift cards for our local restaurants! This event is our primary fundraiser so your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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Come join our flock!
Attend Volunteer Orientation on Saturday, February 1 at 11 a.m. to learn more about GCBO, our volunteer opportunities, and our policies. We would love to have you!
Contact Volunteer Coordinator Celeste Silling at [email protected] if you have any questions or would like to attend.
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Eagle Scout Donates Trail Benches
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Jason Lentz of Eagle Scout Troop 446 in Pearland, TX generously chose the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory for his Eagle Scout project. He has furnished four wooden benches, built by Jason himself and his troop, that were placed around the grounds of our headquarters so that hikers and birders can take a moment to rest and enjoy the outdoors.
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Troop 446 with Jason third from left in the back.
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Upcoming 2020 GCBO Birding Tours
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Come birding with GCBO, and our Executive Director, Martin Hagne! We are having a great time birding, exploring, enjoying some extraordinary scenery, dining on local cuisine, and of course getting great birds! We always hook up with at least one local guide for the best experience. Here are our wonderful destinations for 2020, but hurry, our trips are selling out fast!!
You can get more information on or
website
or send
Martin
an email
.
For all trips below with availability, please go to our
website
to register.
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Duluth, MN - SOLD OUT!
January 16-20, 2020
Cuba Birding Expedition -SOLD OUT!
October 15-26, 2020
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Southeast Arizona
August 16-22, 2020
$2,550.00 for Single
$2,350.00 for Double
Southeast Arizona is legendary in the birding world as one of the must visit places for some very special birds and scenery! Elegant Trogons, Montezuma Quail, Arizona Woodpecker, Red-faced Warbler, Abert’s Towhee, Bridled Titmouse, Buff-breasted Flycatcher, Gilded Flicker, many hummingbirds, not to mention the night birds! Just a very small sampling of the diverse birdlife living in the desert and mountainous canyons. Bird such famous sites as the Chiricahua Mountains, Patagonia, and Madera Canyon.
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Bird Banding January 18th
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Come join us for bird banding on the third Saturday of every month from 8:00 a.m. to noon. Come see birds in the hand and learn about the science of bird banding. Birds get up early, so the earlier you arrive, the more birds you'll see.
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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Adopt an Oystercatcher Pair and Keep Up With All the Mating Season Drama!
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It’s time again folks! The American Oystercatchers are gearing up and will soon be nesting. If you would like to support this project (and we hope you would!) you can adopt a pair of oystercatchers for a $100 donation. You will receive a certificate for each member of your pair with their banding data and Sue will update you monthly on your pair's progress throughout the nesting season. When possible she will send you photos of nests and chicks. You can adopt your pair here:
adopt a pair of birds
or call and talk to Tricia or Sue. Thanks everyone for your continued support of this important project!
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Have you updated your email preferences yet?
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We're working on fine tuning our email list so that you only get emails that matter to you. At the very bottom of each email there is an "
update profile
" or "
unsubscribe
" link you can click that will take you to a page where you can make your selections. We now have specific lists for things like volunteer news, special announcements, events, bird of the month, and more. Please take a moment to
update your preferences
if you haven't already. Thank you!
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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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Make an in-kind donation to support our sanctuary needs.
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Tents
We are in need of several 12’ x 12’ pop up tents/canopies. If you have one or more in good contention, we will put them to good use for kid’s camp, XHX, and Brew on the Bayou!
Rain Gauge
With all the rain from Imelda we realized we need a good quality rain gauge so we can keep track of how much rain we receive at our headquarters.
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.
One 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!
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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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Support GCBO When You Shop on Amazon!
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Do you do your shopping 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. If you have an android cell phone you can now access Amazon smile directly from your phone. Iphone application coming soon!
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