Sundown Island Bird Sanctuary

An Audubon Bird Sanctuary
Port O'Connor, Texas

Work Visit, September 6, 2003

Pictured in front of the dredge operation, from left to right, Ed Taylor, Chester Smith (Warden), Jimmy Smith, and Phil Cruzan. Marcy Crowe took the photos on this trip.

Saturday, September 6, 2003
Photo Gallery

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. The dredge fill operation that started last Thursday will clear two shallow areas in the channel caused by Hurricane Claudette. King Fisher Marine, based in Port Lavaca, expects to pump about 60,000 cubic yards of fill on to the island over a period of two weeks.

The July hurricane also carved about 100 yards off of the northeast end of the Island near the windmill. The windmill on the island pumps fresh water to 3 interior ponds. It was a short hike from the shore. Now it is more like a hop, skip, and a jump from shore. Volunteers, Ed Taylor and Jimmy Smith temporarily patched a leak in the windmill until arrangements are made with a windmill service.

Some of Sundown Island's plants did not survive the storm well either. Claudette carved out half of an experimental tree plot near the windmill. Volunteers found stakes and plastic tubes used to support plants, littered along the shore. Some of the small trees, still alive, were clinging to what was left of the small sandy bluff along the shore. While Claudette severely damaged the Northeast side of the island, she dumped sand along the south and west sides of the island.

In November, Sundown Island will be the beneficiary of approximately 100,000 cubic yards of dredge fill. The fill will be placed on the northwest side of the island to provide nesting habitat. This project is part of the regular maintenance of the ICC. The area to be dredged ranges from the Gulf to the turning basin in Port Lavaca. Providing sandy areas for nesting habitat is important to certain colonial species common to Sundown Island, such as Terns, Gulls, and Black Skimmers.