Gulf Coast Bird Observatory | 299 Hwy 332 West, Lake Jackson, Texas 77566
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Events Canceled/Postponed:
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Bird Banding
is closed to the public in July, but check out our Virtual Bird Bash listed below.
Summer Bird Camp
is canceled, but look for our family Saturday Bird Camps in the Fall (scroll down for more info).
GCBO Headquarters and Plant Nursery
is still NOT open to the public, but our trails are open and free during regular hours.
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Mark your Calendars for July 18 & 19!
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Virtual Bird Bash 2020 is an online event that will connect people all over the world to Gulf Coast Bird Observatory. Attendees will get to know GCBO by meeting our staff, volunteers, and even our local birds! Watch as we band birds, tour the property, and interview our world-class bird experts. Show your support for our conservation work by making a donation, buying our merchandise, bidding in our auction, or even becoming a sponsor! All proceeds go to GCBO and our conservation efforts. Take a look at the event schedule
here
.
RSVP to our Facebook Event
here
to see all event updates and videos.
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Welcome to our new Development Director!
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We want to welcome Karon Smith, our new Development Director, to the GCBO family! The GCBO board approved adding this position almost two years ago to help reach our fundraising goals as we try to expand our avian research projects. The caveat was that we would not do so until we had the funds to cover the position for at least one year. Thanks to recent dedicated funding we can now do so.
Karon Smith was born in Cuero, Texas, but raised in the Rio Grande Valley. She attended the Texas Women’s University where she studied Business Management. In 1981 she returned to the “Valley” and worked in the oil and gas industry. She later opened up an environmental business from 1984 to 2014, where she was successful in implementing new Texas environmental policies and standards for the oil and gas industry.
During her time in the Valley Karon was actively involved in establishing and growing several youth organizations and charities. Karon served as Chairman and Co-Chairman on several boards and fundraising committees. She excelled in the development and leadership positions in the nonprofit sector for nearly 30 years. Karon has a passion for connecting donors to the causes they care about. In 2015 she relocated to the Houston area to be closer to her son and two granddaughters.
Adding Karon to our team will greatly help us work with supporters of our mission, and reach our funding goals. She will work closely with our Executive Director to formulate new major funding goals, and reach out to present and new supporters.
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Denise Kaplan has been our part-time grant writer for about 5 years, but says she is now ready to kick back and just enjoy life and not worry about all those grant deadlines! We are very sad to see Denise leave as she has done a wonderful job helping GCBO secure grants for so many projects! She has truly helped GCBO step it up a notch, finding funding for projects, programs, and operating funds. Thankfully she won’t go into total hiding… and has kindly offered to occasionally write a grant or two for us still which we are grateful for! She deserves a lot of praise and many many thanks! We are presently interviewing to fill this most important position, and hope to do so very soon.
Thank you for all you have done for GCBO, Denise!
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20 Years of Volunteering… For The Birds!
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An organization like GCBO could never be successful if we did not have a group of dedicated volunteers. We are very fortunate in having a large group of wonderful folks that care about nature and our mission. There have been so many great volunteers over the past 23 years that have made sure that GCBO could do what we do.
Today we wanted to give a special shout out to one person that has dedicated 20 years of time, expertise, labor, and love to GCBO. Tom Taroni of Lake Jackson, TX has helped build and shape GCBO in so many ways. He has been involved in too many things to mention them all here, but we want to say thank you! Tom was instrumental in securing some of the lots at Quintana for the sanctuary years ago. He led the rebuilding of the field house from the old offices into the “apartment” it is today. Then, along with Oron Atkins, spearheaded remodeled it after Hurricane Harvey. Tom has served on the GCBO board for many years, and chaired the Infrastructure Committee making sure all the maintenance is taken care of. And so much more! Thank you Tom!
We realize every one of our volunteers deserves a huge thank you! We just wanted to highlight Tom’s 20 years, and take this opportunity to also thank everyone that has put so much work into making GCBO the respected organization it is today! Thank you all!
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You might be missing some of your favorite birds or wishing you could take a walk around the GCBO trails. Worry not! We're creating more and more online content to connect you with nature. We've got a YouTube channel now where you can watch relaxing birding videos, fun educational videos, and videos about GCBO. Take a look
here.
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Did you know that we at GCBO have our own segment in the paper? It's called Nature Notes and it appears in 8 different papers and publications such as The Facts, The Post Newspaper, and The Victoria Advocate. Each week, one of our staff members or volunteers writes an article for Nature Notes about something that we care about. Topics range from interesting species, our research projects, or environmental issues.
Look for us in your local paper!
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Thanks To Our Volunteers!
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The wonderful engineering interns from Phillips 66’s Sweeny location recently came out to GCBO headquarters to volunteer with us. They cleaned flower beds, trimmed our trails, and planted a bunch of native plants around the pond outside the office. It looks wonderful and we truly appreciate this group coming out every summer! Thank you!
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Instead of our Summer Bird Camp, this year we are hosting five Saturday Family Bird Days throughout the fall! Bird Day will feature a different curriculum such as bird banding, beach day, and wildlife rehabilitation. This event is open to kids 7-12 and their families. Each camp day (sold separately) costs $5 per child and $10 per adult, or a $40 family package. Email csilling@gcbo.org for more information or to register. We hope to see you there!
Due to the unknown situation with Covid19 these dates may change or be canceled.
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Visit Our Online Nature Store
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You can now buy GCBO apparel and merchandise on our website! Help us, help birds, and help yourself to some awesome merchandise!
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Bird Banding Canceled for July
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Due to Covid 19, Bird Banding has been canceled for the month of July. We apologize for any inconvenience. There will be a live bird banding
video
during July 18th's Virtual Bird Bash, however, so tune in for that! You can watch
here.
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Windows can be deadly to birds. Often, birds that hit the window die immediately. Other times, the birds fly away only to die later.
Acopian BirdSavers are an effective technique to prevent birds from flying into windows. BirdSavers are especially inexpensive if you make them yourself (they supply
DIY instructions
at the BirdSavers website).
Please watch this 98-second video on YouTube called “
How to Stop the Thuds
", which will introduce you to Acopian BirdSavers.
The more BirdSavers made, the less birds that will meet an untimely demise at our windows!
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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 a few more 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 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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Follow us on Facebook and Instagram!
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