Beak of the Week – American Oystercatcher

American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliates) Family: Haematopodidae By Spencer Poling, Houston Audubon Coastal Conservation Technician This week’s Beak of the Week, the American Oystercatcher, is one that would be difficult to confuse with any other species in the area. Oystercatchers, family Haematopodidae, are known to frequent coasts around most of the world and for their bright […]

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Beak of the Week – Loggerhead Shrike

Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) Family: Laniidae By Colleen McDonough, Houston Audubon Coastal Conservation Technician The Loggerhead Shrike, nicknamed “butcherbird”, is a songbird with unexpected carnivorous tendencies. Similar in size to a cardinal, shrikes are mostly gray with a black eye mask, hooked bill, and white wing patches visible in flight. The Loggerhead Shrike is one […]

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Purple Martins Over Houston: Watching the Skies Light Up with Radar and Roosts

Caroline Nixson, Volunteer Coordinator, Houston Audubon Houston may be known for its freeways and skyscrapers, but it’s also a city shaped by water, sky, and the creatures that move through both. Perched at the intersection of coastal prairie, piney woods, bottomland forest, and estuarine wetlands, the Bayou City is uniquely positioned at a vibrant ecological […]

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Great Lakes Piping Plover Spotted at Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary

Wyatt Egelhoff, Sanctuary Manager, Houston Audubon We’re excited to introduce everyone to a “new” Piping Plover at Bolivar Flats – “VGV” (short for ”Violet, Dark Green, Violet”)! This female Piping Plover was born in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (Lake Superior), Wisconsin  in 2023. She returned to the area in 2024 and this past summer […]

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Plastic-Free July: Innovative Solutions in the Fight Against Plastic Pollution

By Schyler Brown, Bird-Friendly Communities Program Manager, Houston Audubon It’s Plastic-Free July, which means acknowledging and finding ways to reduce our plastic use and waste. Each week in July, we shared a different kind of plastic pollution and how it impacts birds and wildlife.  In previous weeks, we discussed some of the different kinds of […]

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Plastic-Free July: The Harmful Truth about Plastic’s Beginnings

By Schyler Brown, Bird-Friendly Communities Program Manager, Houston Audubon It’s Plastic-Free July, which means acknowledging and finding ways to reduce our plastic use and waste. Each week in July, we will be sharing a different kind of plastic pollution and how it impacts birds and wildlife. This week, we are talking about plastic production and […]

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Plastic-Free July: Micro-plastic Pollution

By Schyler Brown, Bird-Friendly Communities Program Manager, Houston Audubon It is Plastic-Free July, which means acknowledging and finding ways to reduce our plastic use and waste. Each week in July, we will be sharing a different kind of plastic pollution and how it impacts birds and wildlife. This week, we are talking about macro-plastics and […]

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Murder at the Rookery: A Story of Trespass and Triumph

By Pete Deichmann, Land Conservation Director, Houston Audubon It was April 9, 2020. COVID-19 had swept across the country, forcing federal, state, and local governments to issue quarantine restrictions. Non-essential businesses shuttered their doors, Houston Audubon staff adopted a “work from home” schedule, and for the first spring since the initial High Island acquisition of […]

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A Promising Spring for Bolivar’s Beach-nesting Birds

Wyatt Egelhoff, Sanctuary Manager and Victoria Parker-Thacker, Seasonal Coastal Avian Technician, Houston Audubon Shortly before the woods fill with migrating songbirds, Houston Audubon staff spring into action, readying the beaches of the Bolivar Peninsula for the arrival of our beach-nesting birds in mid-March. For over a decade, Houston Audubon has monitored and stewarded several key […]

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Plastic-Free July: Macro-plastic Pollution

By Schyler Brown, Bird-Friendly Communities Program Manager, Houston Audubon It is Plastic-Free July, which means acknowledging and finding ways to reduce our plastic use and waste. Each week in July, we will be sharing a different kind of plastic pollution and how it impacts birds and wildlife. This week, we are talking about macro-plastics and […]

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