Richard Brietzke and Ingrid Rivers prepare their plot area for the new trees. It was a bit overgrown so they had to clear the area first. Notice Ingrid's snake leggings. Chester warns all volunteers about watching out for rattlers. They are on the island.

View photos: Workday and Condition of the Island

Article by Marcy Spears

October 19-20, 2007 —On Friday Chester Smith, Warden of Sundown Island, met Lynn Travis in Port O'Connor to prepare for the Devon Energy volunteers arriving on Saturday. Chester mowed paths to the new tree plots and to the shed; together they moved the small trees, tarps, fertilizer and tools needed for each tree plot area. Fifty-two one-gallon trees and two-five-gallon trees were brought over for planting in the new tree plots. They also restocked and organized other supplies needed for the volunteers.

On Saturday morning, twelve more volunteers arrived to help with the workday. The weather was gorgeous except for the choppy wet boat ride to the island. There were one-thousand-plus juvenile pelicans on the island to greet us—evidence of a successful breeding season. There were many young adult pelicans, but most of the breeding adult pelicans were gone. Also seen flying over the island were White Ibis and Neotropic Cormorants. Off shore Peggy and Barbara spotted five American White Pelicans, feathered winter-Texans. Hundreds (well, at least fifty) Scissor-tailed Flycatchers in brand-new plumage were also visiting the island. Perhaps they were filling up on bugs before their migration?

Because of the abundant rain this year, the grass and brush were thick. It was difficult walking on the paths, even the mowed ones, because of the size of the dead sunflower stalks. The same breeze that caused the choppy ride kept the mosquitoes down, except in the more densely vegetated areas.

Brenda and her daughter Molly Eskelson and Lynn Travis worked on the new tree plot near the windmill. Richard Brietzke and Ingrid Rivers (a new Devon Sundown Island volunteer) planted the trees in the second plot, further inland. As an experiment the two-five gallon Ebony trees were planted by Jennifer and Jarrod near the tractor shed. Devon Energy volunteers have been creating habitat on the island for at least seven years now. Most of the plots have done well and provided much needed nesting sites for the colonial water birds. The herons, egrets. ibis and spoonbills are regular users of these trees.

Gary Eskelson drove the tractor to clear paths and spray for fire ants. Dale Blakeman was the man for all-seasons by assisting with the water supplies for the tree plots, weed-wacking and tractor maintenance. Barbara Van Horn and Time and Peggy Wilkinson worked beach cleanup. Richard Brietzke and Chester Smith also repaired one of the broken water pipes coming from the windmill.

Tim Wilkinson, Chester Smith's son-in-law, was our main boat driver for workday as well. It took three trips to get us all out there, and two trips home. Marcy Spears took photos of the activities, feathered residents and documented some of the erosion on the Northeast side of the island.

If you are interested in more information about colonial water birds 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.