May 24 , 2006 —Thursday morning six volunteers and Chester Smith, Sundown Island Warden headed out across Matagorda Bay to Sundown Island for the annual bird count.

Volunteers for the annual census included: Winnie Burkett (Upper Texas Coast Colonial Waterbird Steward for Audubon Texas), David Newstead (Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program), Julia Garrett, Andy Kastner, Ted Below and Travis.

Because of the abundant rain, the grass and brush were thick. The counters had to be careful where they stepped to avoid chicks or eggs and watch for snakes. The Brown Pelicans were all over the island and several tolerant pairs even nested close to the tractor shed. The egrets and hHerons were in their usual place, lodged securely in the middle of the island in the larger trees. Although rosettes were mixed with the herons and egrets, there were more nesting on the Southwest end of the island. The terns and skimmers were, as expected, on the Northwest end, nesting in the newest dredge fill sand. Here are the numbers:

This parent was sitting on eggs, close to the tractor shed, surrounded by lantanna. Photo Credit: Marcy Spears Great Egret resting in the Lantanna. Photo Credit: Marcy Spears

Breeding Pairs 2007 Brown Pelican 1,676 Neotropic Cormorant 6 Great Blue Heron 91 Great Egret 225 Snowy Egret 39 Reddish Egret 47 Tricolored Heron 389 Little Blue Heron 28 Cattle Egret 27 Black-crowned Night-Heron 79 White Ibis 276 Roseate Spoonbill 59 Oystercatcher 2 Laughing Gull 3,750 Gull-billed Tern 5 Caspian Tern 15 Royal Tern 8,000 Sandwich Tern 625 Black Skimmer 182 Crested Caracara Total 15,521

Other Birds Observed Black-bellied Whistling Ducks 6 White-faced Ibis 1 Caracara 2 Coot 5 Black-necked Stilt 4 Blue-wing Teal 1 Herring Gull 2

If you are interested in more information about colonial waterbirds on the Texas coast, also visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Texas Coastal Program site. This site includes census data on counts going back twenty or more years.