By Susan Heath On Thursday I headed out to West Galveston Bay with Alan Wilde and John Wright. The wind was only supposed to be 10 mph but it was really choppy in the bay and the ride up to Swan Lake was anything but smooth. At least the Railroad bridge was up for a change! 20 & unbanded were … Read More

By Susan Heath On Wednesday Taylor, Sarah, and I headed out to East Matagorda Bay to see if the skimmers were going to give it a go since the tide was down a bit. They oystercatchers have finished out there for the season and sadly no chicks were fledged. We made a circuit around the bay and found 40-50 skimmers … Read More

By Susan Heath On Monday we all enjoyed our holiday and then Tuesday it was back to work. We tried to go to the Brazoria Bays in the morning but the radar showed a huge slug of rain moving in from the west so we delayed until noon and all was well with the weather. All was not well with … Read More

By Susan Heath It finally stopped raining long enough on Tuesday morning for Amanda Hackney (Black Cat GIS) and I to get out to East Matagorda Bay and see what was happening. We mostly needed to count the nesting birds at the Oyster Farm and Old Gulf Cut for the annual colonial waterbird survey but of course, there’s oystercatchers out … Read More

By Susan Heath On Sunday the weather forecast for Monday looked abysmal and I was certain we weren’t going to be able to make it out to the Brazoria Bays but magically Monday morning the chance of rain had significantly diminished and the wind was only blowing 12 mph (to start!). Woohoo! Taylor, Sarah and I saddled up and headed … Read More

By Susan Heath We were supposed to head out to the Brazoria Bays on Wednesday but the weather made that impossible so we rescheduled it for next week. There should be a couple hatched nests and two fledged chicks out there so I’m anxious to how they are doing but I’ll just have to wait until next week. On Thursday, … Read More

By Susan Heath On Monday, Taylor, Sarah and I headed out to East Matagorda Bay to check on the birds. Taylor and Sarah had seen the pair that nests at the Oyster Farm on the beach a few days ago so we knew they didn’t have a nest. That allowed us to skip the trek across the bay and we … Read More

By Susan Heath On Monday, Taylor, Sarah and I took the GCBO RV volunteers, Tom and Karen Schmitz, out for a trip on the Brazoria Bays. We left from our usual boat ramp on Bastrop Bayou and headed for the west end of West Galveston Bay. It was a little rough getting across the bay so Tom and Karen got … Read More

On Monday, Taylor, Sarah and I went to check on the oystercatchers in East Matagorda Bay. Taylor and Sarah had already driven over the new circular bridge that replaced the swing bridge to get over the GIWW but this was my first trip. Wow! When you crest the top and start heading down all you see is Gulf water! It’s … Read More

By Susan Heath The weather combined with my schedule was a mess this week but Taylor, Sarah and I managed to make it out to check the bays in Brazoria County on Monday. We first headed for the west end of West Galveston Bay with Taylor at the helm. That photo needs a redo! It wasn’t as rough as the … Read More

By Susan Heath Decent weather finally! Taylor, Sarah and I headed out to East Matagorda Bay on Monday. When we got to the GIWW crossing at Sargent we saw a sign that said the new bridge is opening on April 8th! No more swing bridge. That’s hard to believe. I can’t wait to go over the spiral bridge next time! … Read More

By Susan Heath We had to squish our field days into Monday and Tuesday this week because the wind was predicted to be really bad Wednesday through Friday. So, on Monday, Taylor, Sarah and I headed out to check the pairs in the Brazoria Bays. This includes the west end of West Galveston Bay, Bastrop Bay, and Drum Bay. We … Read More