AT-Texas Waterbird Society Annual Meeting

Texas Colonial Waterbird Society

Annual Virtual Meeting – Monday and Tuesday, November 16^th and 17^th from 9:00am to 12:00pm

The Texas Colonial Waterbird Society (TCWS) is a coalition working to monitor, promote research and inform management of colonial waterbird populations in Texas.  Partners include Audubon Texas, Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, Houston Audubon, Texas A&M University, Texas General Land Office, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Texas State University and U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Objectives are to:

• Provide an index to nesting colonial waterbird population trends through standardized regular surveys and censuses
• Stimulate interest and research
• Gain a better understanding of general life histories and distribution of colonial waterbirds
• Facilitate coordination and cooperation for colonial waterbird conservation by acting as a clearing house of information
• Encourage management of habitats for the benefit of colonial waterbirds

The TCWS has been active since 1973 and each year members go out and survey waterbird rookeries along the Texas coast.  In addition to yearly surveys, TCWS meets annually and members host individual events coastwide.  The TCWS would like to invite Texas Master Naturalists to their annual meeting and to participate in annual Spring surveys of waterbird colonies.  Due to the ongoing pandemic, the TCWS will hold the 2020 meeting virtually. Stay tuned for Microsoft Teams link and registration.  Agenda will be:

Monday, November 16

9:00 – 10:00       TCWS Board/Business Meeting (all are welcome to attend)
10:00 – 10:30     Upper Texas Coast Region Summary
10:30 – 11:00     Central Texas Coast Region Summary
11:00 – 11:30     Lower Texas Coast Region Summary
11:30 – 12:00     Update on Reddish Egret Working Group

Tuesday, November 17

9:00 – 9:30          Update on TCWS database status
9:30 – 9:45          Update on Texas Rookery Island Project
9:45 – 10:00        State Ranking Process for Black Skimmer, Red Knot, and Piping Plover
10:00 – 10:30     Update on Disturbance issues, Nueces Bay Rookery Islands and Black Skimmer tracking
10:30 – 11:00     Update on GCJV Nesting Island Cooperative
11:00 – 11:15     Update on Matagorda Bay restoration efforts (Audubon)
11:15 – 11:30     Update on Oyster Mariculture in Texas
11:30 – 11:45     Discussion on adding non-colonial species to the colonial waterbird database
11:45 – 12:00     Additional discussion as necessary

All topics, except the Business Meeting on Monday, qualify for Master Naturalist Advanced Training (AT). Each chapter will need to approve for volunteer hours the follow-up field monitoring of waterbird colonies in the Spring.