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Photographed at Hogg Bird Sanctuary by Ben Hulsey
Leader: Skip Almoney
Note: Due to the pandemic, we will practice social distancing. Please bring a face mask with you.
About the Survey
Houston Audubon Society is conducting a monthly survey at Hogg Bird Sanctuary. The surveys are held on the first Monday of the month. Skip Almoney is our leader. The Hogg Bird Sanctuary is adjacent to Bayou Bend and shares its parking facility at 1 Westcott Street. Meet at the parking lot at the dead-end on the south end of Westcott Street. We meet at 7:30 AM in the parking lot. If the gate is locked, we can park in the upper parking lot and then walk down to the lower parking lot to meet. Everyone is welcome — beginners, experts, or even if you’re just curious. Please bring binoculars. If you don’t have any, let us know in advance and we’ll provide them.
The Eastern Glades portion of Memorial Park is also included in the survey. The Eastern Glades will be a pretty short survey (30 minutes to an hour max). We should finish both by 9:30. If you can’t stay that long, no problem. Right now the Eastern Glades is still under construction, and our access is limited. However, in 2020 there will be a nice boardwalk and lake, so it should eventually become a great birding area. For more information about the Eastern Glades, please see below.
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If you have any questions or need a pair of binoculars for the survey.
About Hogg Bird Sanctuary
The Hogg Bird Sanctuary is located at the south end of Westcott St., just off Memorial Dr. It is across Buffalo Bayou from River Oaks Golf Course. It shares the parking lot with Bayou Bend. It has been managed by Houston Parks and Recreation Department since its origin on October 21, 1958. The Hogg Bird Sanctuary is a special place, being a small natural area essentially unchanged by development. It is more a sanctuary than a park and contains no recreational equipment. It remains a natural area with many native plants. It also has quite a few non-native invasive plants. Efforts to control the invasives are continuing. For example, most of the large rain trees have been removed, but new growth trees continue to be a problem.
The First Monday Bird Survey began in 2010. At that time it was fairly difficult to get around in the area. Since then the Houston Parks and Recreation Department has continued to create and maintain a number of hiking trails, resulting in a much more accessible sanctuary. The bird population varies as seasons and weather change. The average number of species seen during a survey is 23. The total number of species recorded is over 60. Included are mostly local nesting species such as Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, American Crow, Carolina Wren, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee, White-winged Dove, Northern Mockingbird, Pileated, Downy, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, to name a few. Because much of the boundary of the sanctuary is Buffalo Bayou, a few waterbirds have been recorded such as Snowy Egret, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, Wood Duck, Belted Kingfisher, two varieties of cormorants, etc. There have been a few migrants, but it is difficult to know if they will nest or move on to Minnesota or the Arctic. A nesting Red-shouldered Hawk was a favorite until the sycamore branch that held the nest broke.
Please join Outside Nature Club for the Houston Ornithology Group monthly meeting, online via Zoom (and perhaps also at Bayland Community Center, 6400 Bissonnet St, Houston).
6:30 pm Social
7:15 pm Program by Kendra Kocab, “Birds and more in Southeast Asia”
Join CEC and the City of Houston on December 11 to leverage community resources and create strategic opportunities for Houston-area youth to engage in civic conversations and actions around climate resilience. This virtual, collaborative planning workshop is for all Houston informal educators and community engagement coordinators. Details and free registration via this Eventbrite link.
This is not an Armand Bayou Nature Center event but is done in partnership with the Houston Audubon Society. The Audubon Society invites birders of all ages and skill levels to participate in this international event. Birders will rise with the sun and spend one day counting every bird they see. This is the largest avian census and not possible without volunteers just like you!
Armand Bayou Nature and Houston Audubon Society also need lots of feeder watchers within the circle so if you can’t make all day and would still like to participate, please sign up to be a backyard feeder watcher/counter, at the same email address.
Time:Â 10:30 to 12:00 pm
Parking:Â City Lot H
Location:Â The Water Works at Buffalo Bayou Park (105 Sabine St.)
Enjoy a free walking tour in Buffalo Bayou Park highlighting the landscape and ecology of 19th century Texas that created Houston, as well as the importance of prairies in rebuilding this astonishing and all but vanished ecosystem.
PACE – A New Financing Option for Industrial Energy, Water and Environmental Projects
How can you improve plant efficiency, reducing operating costs and attain ESG objectives without competing for internal capital? Texas PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing enables industrial site owners to obtain affordable, long-term financing covering up to 100 percent of the cost for energy efficiency, water conservation and on-site generation technologies. PACE secures private, cash-flow-positive financing for terms that match the projected useful life of the improvements, resulting in savings that exceed the amount of the repayment. The Texas PACE Authority operates PACE programs for 55 cities and counties across the state.
Speaker: Dub Taylor
The Nature Discovery Center Naturalists offer weekend Meet the Animals sessions aimed to give you a more in depth introduction to Nature Discovery Center animals. Come learn about their behavior and ecology as well as the characteristics that make them unique in an interactive program with both live animals and natural history specimens.
Limit: 10 people to allow for better social distancing. Please bring and wear your masks as social distancing may not always be possible on the trails.
Days, Dates, Times & Topics:
Saturday, January 16 at 1:00 pm – Fuzzy Mammals
Saturday, March 20 at 1:00 pm – Reptiles
Saturday, May 15 at 1:00 pm – Insects and Inverts
Cost: $5 / person
Meet: Behind the Center at the Pavilions.
Advance registration is required. This is not a drop off program. All children must be registered and accompanied by registered adults.
Register Online Now: https://naturediscoverycentertexas.z2systems.com/eventReg.jsp?event=436&
Note: This program is subject to cancellation due to inclement weather or due to changes in the status of the pandemic and corresponding city, county and state regulations.
Attracting birds to your property is not only good for them, but fun and relaxing for you as well. Learn tips to support local and visiting birds and how to make your yard a sanctuary for our feathered friends. Face coverings are required.
Matt Reidy, a wildlife biologist with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, will give EarthShare of Texas an overview of birds of prey. A bird aficionado, Master Falconer, and avid hunter, Matt really enjoys learning about and managing native wildlife and habitats. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Ecology and Management from Texas A&M University and a Master’s degree in Range and Wildlife Sciences from Texas A&M-Kingsville. He has been with TPWD for 13 years and covers Atascosa, Bexar, and Medina counties.
Presenter: Matt Reidy, Wildlife Biologist, TPWD
Zoom Link
Click HERE to Join the Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 846 2631 3053
Passcode: 826738