GCBO could not do what it does without the hard work and dedication of its many volunteers. From rebuilding our field house after Hurricane Harvey to assisting our field biologists in their surveys, our volunteers enable us to put our focus where it matters: the birds.

three smiling volunteers stand with a beach nesting birds sign

If you’re interested in helping, you can fill out a volunteer application HERE (.doc), or HERE (.pdf) and send it to Celeste Silling at csilling@gcbo.org to sign up.

A few of our most common needs are described below.

Volunteer Needs

  • Beach Cleanup Volunteers:

SPLASh hosts monthly beach cleanups in the Houston/Galveston area. We need volunteers to help us pick up trash and collect trash data. We encourage our cleanup volunteers to bring family and friends to help out and join in the fun! Check our social media, enews, or the SPLASh website to see when and where our next cleanup will be held. We also host private cleanups for groups like schools, churches, or workers, so contact us to set that up.

  • Spring Fling volunteers:

If you like birding and feel like sharing your passion with others, there is no better way than volunteering at our Spring Fling event from April 8- May 7 2023. Every day throughout the celebration, four volunteers are needed at our Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary. Quintana is a hot spot for migrating birds and a hub for birders! Volunteers are needed to man our store, help visitors, and identify species.

smiling volunteers at a table help prepare mailings

Who knew mailing out newsletters could generate such fulfilled smiles?

  • Office help:

Wanting to exercise your inner Marie Kondo? Our office is the perfect training ground! We also need occasional assistance with administrative tasks and data entry.

  • Outreach events:

Do you like attending festivals and events? We could use a stable of trained volunteers to man our GCBO booth at various events throughout the year.

life size hummingbird in costume stands in front of info booth

Sir Archie the hummingbird shows off our GCBO info booth

Practice your interpersonal skills, travel to interesting places, and meet cool people!

  • GCBO hosted Events:

Like to help out at occasional events and have a good time? We host several annual events that require a lot of people power to pull off successfully. Why not join the fun?! Events include Summer Bird Camp, Xtreme Hummingbird Xtravaganza, and Brew on the Bayou!

  • Research Assistance:

Budding biologist? Citizen scientist? Helpful boat owner? Our research team wants you! At various times of the year they need help with:

  • switching signs, repairing fencing, and installing more posts in our nesting and resting areas at Matagorda and Bryan Beach
    three volunteers stand in high grass placing a fence

    Volunteers replace fencing on Bryan Beach to help nesting shorebirds.

  • Helping with field surveys
  • Oystercatcher monitoring from boat
  • Black Skimmer monitoring from boat
  • Intertidal reef surveys from boat
  • Loggerhead Shrike tracking (local at Brazoria and San Bernard NWRs)
  • Webpage:

Technologically savvy? We’re constantly in need of people experienced with WordPress (HTML, CSS, other coding skills are a bonus!) to tackle projects dealing with our website: design, writing/editing copy, uploading photos, etc.

  • Fundraising:

Good at raising money? We want YOU! Seeking individuals with fundraising experience, preferably for a nonprofit.

  • Maintenance/Repair:

Fancy yourself a handy man/woman? We’re looking both for people with “muscle” when there are heavy projects as well as people with strong skills building and equipment maintenance/repair.

three boys help erect a bird box

Volunteers help erect a nesting box in our wetland area.

  • Grounds Maintenance:

It’s a jungle out here! Our grounds as well as our sanctuary at Quintana need regular mowing, trimming, weeding, and bird feeder maintenance.

  • Flowerbeds:

Looking for a project for your group? We’re in need of a few local/community groups to adopt a flower bed around the headquarters building.  These groups come out once a month or more and weed, water, tend to plants, etc.

  • Native Plant Nursery:

Do you have a green thumb? Our native plant nursery needs a steady group of volunteers to help keep it thriving.

group of smiling volunteers in red shirts

Dow volunteers take a break from building a boardwalk to smile for the camera.

  • Workdays:

Don’t have a reliable schedule? No problem! Like being outside don’t things like trail trimming and grounds cleanup? Even better! We have occasional workdays where we need help at our headquarters or at our sanctuary in Quintana. We’d love to add to our core group of helpers.

 

  • Workshop Leaders:

Have expertise in a particular area of interest to birders and/or nature lovers? We’re seeking leaders for monthly GCBO hosted workshops. Let’s talk!

  • Online Auctions:

Web savvy and like the satisfaction of managing a project from beginning to end? We’d love to find someone to manage our twice yearly online auctions. This person would set up the auction, monitor it while running, etc.  This includes trouble shooting the program we use, running a test run to make sure it doesn’t crash, and possibly even researching other online programs to see if there’s a better program.

 

  • Have another skill you think we could put to use? Let us know!