WATERBIRD WATCH

Waterbird Watch Coordinator:
Lee Elliott, Texas Audubon Society
205 N. Carrizo
Corpus Christi, TX 78401
voice phone: (512) 884-2634
email: lelliott@interconnect.net

PLEASE NOTE: If you already are a participant of the Waterbird Watch Program and want to report census data, please go to the:
Waterbird Watch Census Form Page

PROGRAM BACKGROUND
WATERBIRD WATCH SITES
EDUCATIONAL SIGNS
SIGN-UP INFORMATION

PROGRAM BACKGROUND
Waterbird Watch is a volunteer-based bird monitoring program administered by the Texas Audubon Society. Participants in the program adopt a local wetland site where they conduct regular (at least monthly) censuses of one or more guilds of waterbirds (waders, shorebirds and seabirds). Waterbird Watch is similar to Audubon's Christmas Bird Count and other avian census programs in the sense that it was developed to encourage amateur birders and other non-professional ecologists to "bird with a mission". In the case of Waterbird Watch, the mission is to collect better information about the status and trends of local Texas' coastal waterbird populations.

The need for Waterbird Census Data
Currently, most Texas coastal wetlands are poorly monitored. Although a few ongoing census programs count coastal waterbirds (e.g. Christmas Bird Count, Colonial Waterbird Survey, Breeding Bird Survey, International Shorebird Survey), most provide information about either a select guild of waterbirds, or focus on a restricted period of time. Another limitation of most census programs is their failure to create local advocates out of census participants. Because most census programs are group efforts that are over soon after they begin, participants often do not feel personaly involved with the protection of the species they counted or the site they visited. Waterbird Watch encourages participants to maintain a strong personal connection to their adopted site and its bird population because it is a year-round program linking individual participants to a single wetland. By visiting their sites regularly, Waterbird Watchers are often able to recognize subtle needs of, and threats to, their site and its bird population. This personal connection often turns beginning Waterbird Watchers into committed coastal stewards dedicated to the protection of their adopted wetland.

EXAMPLES OF SOME WATERBIRD WATCH SITES

The JFK Causeway Black Skimmer Site
The Mollie Beattie Sanctuary Site
The Indian Point Park Site
The Sunset Lake Site
The Corpus Christi Pass Site
The Newport Pass Site
The Oso Creek Site
The North Padre Island Site

EDUCATIONAL SIGNS
Audubon has been helping Jennifer Lorenz, the Executive Director of the Coastal Bend Bays Foundation, to develop interpretive signs that will be erected at many Waterbird Watch sites (e.g., Oso Creek, Newport Pass, Sunset Lake). A prototype of one of the signs can be viewed by following the following link:

Prototype sign

BECOMING A WATERBIRD WATCHER.

More Waterbird Watchers are needed to monitor other sites along the Texas coast! If you would like to participate in Waterbird Watch, please contact us with the following information:

Your Name:

Your Address:

Your Phone:

Your Email:

Do you have a site in mind? Where?

What group of birds will you count (one or more of the following: Shorebirds, Waders, Seabirds)

Waterbird Watch Coordinator:
Lee Elliott, Texas Audubon Society
205 N. Carrizo
Corpus Christi, TX 78401
voice phone: (512) 884-2634
email: lelliott@interconnect.net

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