Category Archive

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

By Susan Heath The weather people are just not my friends this year! We had planned to go to West Galveston Bay on Thursday but the forecast looked awful with rain and wind so we switched to Wednesday and what did we get? Rain and wind! Ugh. Alan, Taylor, Sarah and I set out to see what we could get … Read More

By Susan Heath It was a busy week with the oystercatchers! On Monday, Taylor, Sarah and I headed out to East Matagorda Bay for our first check of the season. The weather was less than optimal and it was a bit drizzly and foggy. We could see well enough to be safe though and we had no backup day so … Read More

By Susan Heath Well the wind was not our friend last Thursday. Remember when I said we’d pay for the good weather last week. Well, it didn’t take long. We were unable to go to Swan Lake because it was just too windy so we opted to survey some additional areas in West Galveston Bay where we could be protected … Read More