An Audubon Bird Sanctuary
Port O'Connor, Texas

© 2000-08 Sundown Island

New Signs Posted On Sundown Island
During The Spring 2004 Workday

Steve Tripp and Chester Smith display one of the new signs for Sundown Island.

Nearly fifty volunteers showed up to help get the Sundown Island Audubon Bird Sanctuary ready for the Spring 2004 breeding season. Volunteers came from Houston, Katy, Victoria, Port Lavaca, Palacious, Port O'Connor, and Corpus Christi...to name a few. The weather was pleasantly warm but the wind made for a chopping crossing to and from the island. Warden, Chester Smith would like to thank all of the volunteers that came with their enthusiasm and to lend a hand! See more photos!

One of the most important jobs of this workday was to replace the sanctuary signs that were destroyed during Hurricane Claudette. Three new signs were posted and one recovered sign was placed in a different location. The signs are all slightly different: "Brown Pelican Nesting Site, NO LANDING," "Colonial Water bird Nesting Site, NO LANDING" and "Bird Sanctuary, DO NOT LAND." We hope the message is clear. NO ONE should be on the island without the express permission of the Audubon Warden. Besides not disturbing the birds, rattlesnakes are a serious safety issue.

The day before and on workday, Devon Energy provided a crew boat, the Joe M (Muchowich Offishore Oil Services), to move materials and volunteers to the island. Without the crew boat, it would have been difficult to ferry volunteers and materials to the Island. Audubon and Warden Chester Smith thank Devon Energy for their generosity and for providing lunch for all volunteers.

John Reilley, Manager of the USDA Plant Materials Center in Kingsville, measures trees that were planted by his group four years ago.

John Reilley, the manager of the USDA Plant Materials Center in Kingsville, returned to the island to inspect a plot of trees planted by him and a USDA crew approximately four years ago. The purpose of the experimental plot was to see which plants would thrive on wildlife habitats such as Sundown Island. He was pleased to discover that most of the plants had gained good height and sturdy trunks. Of all of the plants, the Wesatche (huisache, or sweet acacia tree) seem to have fared best.

Bill Van Wie and Gary Ekelson tackled the broken windmill. During a visit to the island last September, Chester and a small group of volunteers tried to repair the windmill, but to no avail. Van Wie and Ekelson cut the bent section out of the pipe and pieced the remaining sections together. Hurray! When the volunteers left the island, the windmill was enthusiastically pumping water to all but one pond on the island.

Ed Olson and other volunteers built two more nesting platforms. These platforms have been readily adopted by the Brown Pelican. They are always full during breeding season and help protect young chicks from fire ants and snakes.

Linda Olson led the beach clean-up crew. Rob Muir, from the Goverment Land Office (GLO) came with a four-wheeler assist in the cleanup by picking up the bags of trash or moving supplies. Other volunteers took photos of the workday activities, served lunch to the volunteers, fertilized plants and hauled equipment and supplies where needed. Special attention was given to the tree plots that were planted during the Fall Workday. The plants were doing well. The fertilizer jell used in October seemed to give the trees the jump-start hoped for.

The newly installed dock received an extension. Volunteers added an extension to the dock to make it easier for volunteers to move equipment and supplies from the dock to land. Before the extension, it was a pretty step jump to dry land.

Spraying for fire ants is generally a workday activity. This time it didn't happen. Some rats built a nest in the sprayer and chewed threw the wiring. Some electronically adept volunteers got it fixed in no time, but by then it was too windy to spray. The tractor stayed busy the rest of the day moving signs and lumber.

All in all it was a record workday!