Gulf Coast Bird Observatory | 299 Hwy 332 West, Lake Jackson, Texas 77566
Thank You XHX Volunteers!
XHX 2019 is a wrap and it was the best attended XHX we have ever had with over 1000 guests between the events! Thank you to everyone that came out and enjoyed the hummers, adopted birds, and had a fun morning! We truly appreciate your support. 
 
A very big and special thank you to all our volunteers that made this happen. You guys are wonderful and we could never do this without you!   THANK YOU!
Welcome Heather and Taylor
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In early September we welcomed our fall intern Heather Hill. Heather is a recent graduate of Florida State University, with degrees in Biology and Studio Art, and a Tallahassee native. She has been passionate about birds her entire life, racking up a life list of over 400 species. Her goal is to gain experience in the avian conservation field before going back to school for a Master’s degree. She has worked on multiple projects involving birds, as well as invertebrates and plants. She found her true calling after working for the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies in the little town of Beach, North Dakota, on endangered grassland bird species. Since then, she has done similar work with the endangered Golden-Cheeked Warbler in the Texas hill country, and helped GCBO with their non-breeding shorebird monitoring projects. She hopes to one day find herself working with birds along a coast; whether it is the Gulf, Pacific, or Atlantic remains to be seen. For now, she looks forward to continuing her work in the bird world, and can’t wait for her career to take flight. Welcome Heather!

Many of you know our shorebird technician Taylor Bennett who has been with us since last February. We are happy to announce that Taylor has been brought on as a full time staff member at GCBO with a new title of Coastal Biologist. Welcome (again) Taylor and thanks for all your hard work!
Fall Plant Sale
Fall is the best time to plant natives and we are having a Fall Native Plant Sale. Come check out our wide variety of native plants at the GCBO Growery!

Saturday, October 19
8:00am - 12:00pm
GCBO Water Feature Completed!
The pond is finished at our headquarters and it looks wonderful! Huge thanks goes out to Phil Huxford for heading up this project, and putting in so many days of hard labor! He had a great volunteer team helping out that included Brian Kolthammer, Jennifer Sanchez, Gary Weeks, Mike Heather, Harold Travis, Sam Dufilho, Vic Wade, Tom Taroni, and Oron Atkins. They spent many days digging, moving rock, and building rock walls. Thank you all! It is complete with native fish and plants. Please come on out and enjoy it!  
Ready, Set, Bid!
Experiences Auction coming in November
We are gathering together another set of unique experiences for you to bid on in November and support GCBO conservation programs. This year the auction will run from November 15 to December 6 and we hope to have a pre-viewing ready for everyone soon so stay tuned!
Upcoming 2020 GCBO Birding Tours
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.
D uluth, MN - SOLD OUT!
January 16-20, 2020
$895.00 for Single
$795.00 for Double
 
We will repeat this popular trip for boreal winter species! We will have a great time exploring the snow-covered Sax Zim Bog and northern forests of the Duluth area again this year, with possible views of Great Gray Owl, Snowy Owl, Northern Hawk-Owl, Bohemian Waxwing, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Boreal Chickadee, Evening Grosbeak, and all the other boreal species one expects to see!
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.  
Cuba Birding Expedition -- Only a few openings left!!
October 15-26, 2020
$5340.00 for Double
$5705.00 for Single
 
The GCBO has been working with partners in Cuba since 2005 on various avian research projects such as a hawk watch and a neotropic migratory bird research station. Travel with GCBO staff and our Cuban ornithological partners to visits research sites, and bird the fabulous Cuban avian diversity. This trip is designed to be able to get as many endemics as possible.
Oaxaca, Mexico TBA

We hope to offer this fabulous birding and cultural trip again in 2021. Look for dates and more info coming up!
Bill Clark Talk on
Raptors of the Rio Grande Valley
Keynote Talk - Open to the public
Friday, October 11, 2019 at 7:30pm

On Friday, October 11, 2019 at 7:30pm, join us to hear Bill Clark speak on the raptors of the Rio Grande Valley. Many species of Neotropical raptor just reach the U.S. in south Texas. Additionally there are passages in the Rio Grande Valley of large number of migrating raptors, both in spring and fall, many of which also winter there. In this illustrated talk, Bill will discuss these raptors, with extensive coverage of Aplomado Flacon, Gray Hawk, White-tailed Hawk, Harris's Hawk, and Hook-billed Kite. He will show photos of many raptors in hand and will discuss their vocalizations and aspects of their biology. He will also include a discussion of four Mexican raptors that have occurred as vagrants. We will have Bill's books on hand so you can purchase a copy and get them signed. A $5 donation is suggested for attending the event.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology reports we've lost 30 percent of our breeding birds!
A stunning report from a study led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology reports that the breeding population of birds in the U.S. and Canada has dropped nearly 30% since 1970. The study, published in the journal Science on September 19th by Cornell Lab scientists and collaborators at six other institutions—found that nearly 3 billion birds have vanished in our lifetime. These staggering losses have occurred across all habitats, from grasslands to the Arctic, shorelines to forests—and have taken a massive toll on even common species, such as sparrows, warblers, blackbirds.This new knowledge is a wake-up call—a signal that our natural systems are losing the ability to support the richness and diversity of life that they once did just decades ago. Because you are part of our choir of people who love birds and nature, we need you more than ever to join us in lifting collective voices and influencing change.
Regular Bird Banding returns in October
Bird banding returns on October 19th from 8:00 to noon. Come see birds in the hand and learn about the science of bird banding. Birds get up early to 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!
Have you updated your email preferences yet?
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!
How Can You Help?
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.
Make an in-kind donation to support our sanctuary needs.
Vacuum
Our office vacuum died and we're in desperate need of a new one. Help us keep our headquarters clean!

32 inch TV
The television in our RV is on the fritz and Bob needs his football!

Sheets and Towels
We are in need of Queen sheets, bath towels and kitchen hand towels for our RV which is serving double duty this year for Smith Point and the Rollover Pass project.

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! 
Now when you shop at Kroger, you can support GCBO!
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.

Support GCBO When You Shop on Amazon!
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. If you have an android cell phone you can now access Amazon smile directly from your phone. Iphone application coming soon!
Telephone:  979-480-0999  |  Email Us