Photo credit: Dana Nelson, Cattail Marsh, December 18, 2018
You are welcome to attend monthly meetings, featuring speakers on birding and natural history topics, and including a delicious member-provided evening meal -- with desserts! Our monthly field trips are fun and educational, and focus on locations along the coast, marshes, prairies, and forests of the area.
Membership Meeting
Thursday March 16, 2023 7:00 p.m.
Garden Center, Tyrrell Park, Beaumont
Ecuador – Northwest Andes Mountains 2022
Ross Foreman
In early November of last year, our GTAS member Ross Foreman joined a birding group that explored the Andes mountains of Northwest Ecuador. Ross will present a slide show of the trip that will consist of amazing birds and other wildlife from the trip. The six-day trip included stops at Zuroluma Reserve, the Yanacocha Reserve, Rio Silanche Sanctuary, Mashpi Natural Reserve and Amagusa Reserve, Refugio Paz de las Aves, and other areas around the Tandayapa Valley. Ross has been an avid birder for over 30 years and has birded many areas in both North and South America including Costa Rica, Jamaica, Bahamas, Minnesota, Washington, California, and all over Texas.
We plan to have the doors open no later than 6:00 p.m., the meeting will start at 7:00 p.m. sharp
Note about Highway 124 Bridge
The Highway 124 bridge over Hillebrandt Bayou is currently closed. To get to Tyrrell Park from Highway 69, it is necessary to take IH-10 west towards Houston and exit almost immediately at the Walden Road exit, turning south (left) on Walden Road. Cross over Highway 124 onto Tyrrell Park Road and after 3/4 mile, turn left into Tyrrell Park as usual. The Garden Center is on the left, just inside the park.
Saturday March 18, 2023
Field trip to Bolivar Flats.
This trip will occur as spring shorebird migration is well under way, but while the wintering birds are mostly still present. Bolivar Flats is an internationally important shore-bird location. This trip offers an opportunity to compare many of the "true" shorebirds with lots of help in identifying them. If you want help in identifying, gulls, terns, plover or sandpipers, this is the trip for you.
Meet at the vehicle barrier at 9:00 a.m. From Winnie, take TX 124 south to High Island. At the shoreline, turn right (west) on TX 87 and proceed through Gilchrist and Crystal Beach until you reach the intersection where Loop 108 turns right (north). Turn left (the opposite way to Loop 108) along Rettilon Road. At the beach, if conditions permit, turn right (west) about 1/2 mile to the vehicle barrier. Follow recent tire tracks, and be careful to avoid any cuts that may have developed. It takes at least one and a half hours to drive from the Golden Triangle. We will leave the vehicle barrier at about 8:45 a.m., although the group will be visually obvious on the flats should you be a few minutes late.
Some walking is necessary on this field trip. If the tide is a long way out, the leaders may walk up to a mile from the vehicle barrier, but you can turnaround at any point.
Many of the participants will visit the High Island Sanctuaries as they head home.
Important Note: Galveston County operates a parking permit program on the Bolivar Peninsula. If you park on most parts of the beach, including the part next to the Flats, you must have a parking permit on your windshield. The fee for the permit is $10.00 a year and permits are obtainable from most merchants on the Bolivar Peninsula including the Big Store, which opens at 7:00 a.m.