2008 Annual Sundown Island Bird Count

June 6, 2008 —Friday morning seven volunteers, Chester Smith and Ed Taylor at the boat helm headed out across Matagorda Bay to Sundown Island for the annual bird count... read more.

Spring 2008 Workday, February 23

February 2008—Possibly nothing—puts you in a good mood like a beautiful morning on the water! We had early-morning cool temperatures and a mild afternoon, clear water, light winds, partly-cloudy skies and a smooth ride to Sundown Island.... read more.

Save the Date: Spring 2008 Workday

May 24 , 2006—Recruiting volunteers! The Spring 2008 Workday is scheduled for Saturday, February 23, 2008.... read more.

2007 Fall Workday

October 19-20, 2007—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—... read more.

2007 Annual Sundown Island Bird Count

May 24 , 2006 —Six volunteers and Chester Smith, Sundown Island Warden, headed out across Matagorda Bay to Sundown Island for the annual bird count. There were 1,676 Brown Pelican nesting pairs... read more.

2007 Spring Workday

Audubon staff volunteers started out for Sundown Island in extremely calm but VERY foggy conditions! The visibility became worse and worse the farther out into the bay we went. GPS and 'dead reckoning' (with a little help from a compass) got us to the island safely. We were greeted by several squadrons of brown and white pelicans, and Double-crested Cormorants. ...... read more.

2006 Fall Workday

Devon Energy sponsored the fall 2006 event by bringing volunteers, trees, lunch and supplies for the workday. Two new tree plots were planted in a dredge fill area created about 5 years ago. The locations selected were low lying areas to capitalize on collecting water and are protected from the wind by an existing salt cedar stand and stabilized dunes. ...... read more.

2006 Annual Sundown Island Bird Count

Nine volunteers gathered for the 2006 Sundown Island Bird Count on June 10, 2006. Breeding pairs of the American Brown Pelican numbered more than 1,000. The bird count was good, but a series of storms the following weekend took its toll on the new chicks of all species..... read more.

Sundown Island 2006 Spring Workday

Approximately twenty new trees were planted; volunteers cleaned out, watered and fertilized two other plots planted during previous workdays; Abe Moore with Texas Parks and Wildlife joined us again to interview other volunteers and film them in action; and Reddish Egrets and white morph Reddish Egrets were already displaying and setting up nests sites..... read more.

Sundown Island 2005 Fall Workday

The fall workday included the making of a new documentary. Abe Moore with the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV section is making a documentary about Sundown Island to capture the activities and enthusiasm of Workday. Almost everyone had a chance at their 15 minutes of fame... read more.

2005 Annual Sundown Island Bird Count

There were a total of 7,748 nests overall. This is a low number of nests for Sundown and some interesting things are going on there. ...read more.

Spring 2005 Workday

Twenty-six Sundown-Island volunteers gathered for the February 19, 2005 Spring Workday at the Audubon Bird Sanctuary located...read more.

Winter 2005 Reports From Chester Smith

Excerpts from Chester's e-mails about the dredge project: We are getting lots of good solid sand on the North end. The levee they dozed up is holding good. Read more...

2005 Spring Workday Scheduled for February 19th

We have a big workday planned. The Army Corps of Engineers has built a 10 foot high sand levee on the Northeast side of the island to help control erosion. Read more...

2004 Fall Workday

There were lots of juvenile and young adult Pelicans on the island. Nearly sixty new trees were planted on workday. Read more...

2004 Summer Report From Warden, Chester Smith

There are still lots of birds on the island, which is unusual for this time of year. This year’s breeding season was one of the longest that Chester could remember. Read more...

New Signs Posted On Sundown Island During The Spring 2004 Workday

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. Read more...

Boat dock completed at Audubon Bird Sanctuary on Sundown Island.

Eight volunteers joined Warden Chester Smith to water and fertilize trees planted in October 2003 and to build more shelf space in the tractor shed. Read more...

Volunteers build a dock for the Sundown Island Bird Sanctuary during the Fall Workday.

Volunteers treated for fire ants, picked up and bagged mounds of debris left over from Hurricane Claudette, planted two new plots of trees/bushes...and built a dock!... Read more.

Work visit, September 6 to check out the new dredge project.

Chester Smith and four volunteers went to Sundown Island to survey the King Fisher dredge operation, water plants, check for Rattlesnakes and fix a leak on the windmill. Read more...

2003 Sundown Island colonial waterbird
breeding bird count

Check out the numbers!

Spring Breeding Season In Full Swing!

Chester Smith and volunteers went to the Island on May 1st for some routine chores and to check on new arrivals...Read more.

Report on Snake Island - 16A in Lavaca Bay

We were looking for nesting Pelicans...but found thousands of Ibsis, White, White-face, and Glossy...Read more.

Spring 2003 Workday

The Spring 2003 workday was a great success. Nearly 40 volunteers helped with various activities on the island. Read more.

Award Presented to the Olson Family
at the Spring 2003 Workday

An award was presented to the Olson Family for their outstanding service to the Audubon Bird Sanctuary, Sundown Island. Read more.

Fall 2002 Workday

The Fall 2002 workday was a great success. Nearly 30 volunteers helped with various activities on the island. Read more.

Fall 2002 Workday Scheduled for October 19th

The bi-annual work day is scheduled for October 19, 2002. Report to Clark's Restaurant and Marina in Port O'Connor at 8:00 a.m. Get details and read more about the plans for a cistern and plants.

Spring 2002 Bird Count

The Spring 2002 bird count survey of Sundown Island (Matagorda Bay) and Snake Island (Lavaca Bay) was conducted by Chester Smith, Winnie Burkett, Petra Hockey, Phil Glass, Marty Underwood and David on May 28, 2002. See the numbers.

Spring 2002 Workday

To start...it was an incredible day, which included a cool morning, warm afternoon, and calm water. Chester Smith, the Sundown Island Warden, ferried work crews to and from the island in the brand new Audubon boat, the Egret III. Read more

New Boat!

Audubon purchased a new boat for the Sundown Island Warden, Chester Smith. Read more

Presentation to Jesse Grantham
Friday, Feb 8, 2002

November 2001 Report on Concrete Mats

Work Day Report, November 14, 2001

Surveying Expedition, September 2001

Routine visit to the island, Sept. 2001

Breeding season, March 2001

Work Day Report, Feb 24, 2001

Formosa Plastics Grant

Formosa Plastics provided a $16,000 grant to Sundown Island, for a tractor ... Read more

Workday Report, October 14, 2000

Two new nesting platforms were built, approximately 50 new trees were planted... Read more