• General Information
• All About Butterflies/Moths
• All About Dragonflies and Damselflies
• Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge - Option 1 (Yellow Rails) * Marquee Event
• Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge – Option 2
• Attwater Prairie-chicken Preserve * Marquee Event
• Bird Banding and Quintana (Neotropic Migrant) Refuge * Marquee Event
• Birding and Port History by Boat
• Birding Bolivar with Don and Dick * Grand Marquee Event
• Birding Bolivar with Kevin * Grand Marquee Event
• Birding by Own Kayak…Easy Galveston Island State Park
• Birding for New Birders
• Bluewater Highway/BNWR
• Dikes, Levees and Other Bird-Friendly Structures
• East Isle Easy Birding
• East End Lagoon Preserve with Kevin * Marquee Event
• Easy Birding/Shorebirds
• Easy Birding/Songbirds
• Exploring Pelican Island * Marquee Event
• Galveston Complete Birding Sampler * Marquee Event
• High Island’s Famous Sites * Grand Marquee Event
• Interpretive Bay Walk
• Interpretive Beach Walk
• North Deer Island Rookery by Boat * Marquee Event
• Shorebirds and Other Avian Delights with Kevin
• Turtle Research Station Tour
• West Isle Marsh and Shorebirds * Marquee Event
• West Isle Songbirds
• Xmas Bay Birding by Kayak * Marquee Event

General Information

Departures: All trips, including those aboard the Seagull II boat, will depart at Saengerfest Park, 23rd and The Strand, in downtown Galveston, unless otherwise noted.

Times: Registrants should assemble 15 minutes ahead of the listed departure time. Trips WILL leave on time, and there will be no refunds for missed departures. The listed times relate to departure from and arrival back to Saengerfest Park.

Participation: Attendees will be permitted on trips according to final sign-up records posted in the Registration Area.

Food: For trips extending beyond mid day, attendees should arrange for their own snacks or lunch. Fresh, specially-made boxed lunches may be ordered in advance from The Birders’ Café inside FeatherFest headquarters. Lunch orders will be available for pick-up between 5:30 AM – 8 AM Thursday, Friday and Saturday. For those looking for something to eat at other times, a variety of coffee shops and restaurants are within easy walking distance from headquarters.

Boat/Kayak Trips: Weather conditions will dictate whether these trips will occur as planned. Decisions may be made close to the time of departure. Check the sign-up records in the Registration Area for status.

Event Descriptions: 2010 festival “headliner” events have the Grand Marquee designation. Other highlighted activities are noted as Marquee events. Descriptions are presented below in alphabetical order.

Event Recommendations: Activities on the Event Schedule are suggested for participants based on skill level, from novice to experienced.

In general, FeatherFest planners reserve the right to cancel any activity or substitute qualified presenters when necessary. If we cancel an event for any reason we will offer alternatives where practical.

Each of these days a “Butterflies and Moths” inside workshop is scheduled at Old Galveston Square from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. You may choose to JUST attend the inside workshop, but you MUST attend the inside workshop IF you plan to sign up for this field trip. The field trip people count is limited. Participants will learn about a variety of butterflies and moths that are found in this part of the Texas Gulf Coast and then identify them in the field. Their symbiotic relationship to flowers will be explained.

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For just this one day there will be an inside workshop from 1:00 pm. to 2:00 pm. at Old Galveston Square, followed by a field trip by van. You may choose to ONLY attend the inside workshop, but you MUST attend the inside workshop if you wish to sign up for the field trip. Bob Honig is an expert on dragonflies and he will explain the basics in the workshop and then search for examples in the field. Bob is also a great birder and his guests will often see birds that no others do.

This trip leaves Galveston later than Anahuac Option 1 and does NOT include the search for Yellow Rails. If the number of guests makes it possible, the Option 2 group will join the Option 1 group for all except the Yellow Rail search.

As with Option 1, after leaving the ANWR, the bus will stop at High Island but will not spend as much time there as the HI field trip does. Other sites will be visited on the return journey as time permits.

Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge is located along East Galveston Bay. With 25,000 acres of brackish and freshwater marsh, treed areas and a sandy East Bay shoreline, the refuge offers the full range of bird species. New trails and boardwalks will provide good viewing of several varieties of herons, egrets, waterfowl, likely views of Anhinga, some raptors, and alligators.

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For those who are not able to take the longer boat trip to North Deer Island, this shorter trip aboard the SS Seagull ll will provide a one-hour view of Galveston from the water and some interesting facts about the Port, plus an opportunity to see the dolphins and many seabirds. The Seagull II is a 50-passenger catamaran hulled boat.

This is an easy trip suitable for young children and those less mobile.

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Bring your own kayak – or rent one of ours – for an easy, delightful natural experience. Enjoy birding at water level while slowly exploring the bay waters of Galveston Island State Park, one of the area’s premier ecological jewels. This 2,000-acre public park offers a multitude of habitats that support a wide variety of birds: waders like herons, egrets, Roseate Spoonbills and shorebirds; the elusive resident Saltmarsh Sparrow; and waterfowl and overhead raptors like ospreys, White-tailed Kites and Northern Harriers, looking for cotton-tailed rats and rabbits. You may get lucky and see a raccoon cleaning his food at water’s edge and perhaps even a coyote. Guests are advised to wear old sneakers, be ready to get a bit muddy, use sunscreen, and bring a plastic bag for your gear.

This inside workshop and outside walk are for those who are new to birding and want tips on using binoculars and watching and identifying birds. After an hour inside discussion, you will take a leisurely walk (about two city blocks) over to the docks, where numerous species of birds are easily seen around the shrimp boat fleet.

Explore the mainland beyond the western tip of Galveston Island, along Bluewater Highway and en-route to Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge with a guide who knows this very pleasant trip well. Snooze for the first part, then leave Galveston Island by way of the San Luis Pass toll bridge as the sun comes up behind you. If the tide is low, take a quick look for shorebirds on the sand flats of Follets Island, on the west and north side of the bridge (or make a note to stop there on the way back), then move west along Bluewater Highway where there are small lagoons on the beach side of the road with salt cedar brush, nesting herons and usually some remnant wintering waterfowl. Hurricane Ike did a lot of damage along this coast and the stops are not as productive as they used to be, but life will return.

The land on the north side is flat and you can see from beach to bay. Keep an eye open for raptors, harriers, osprey, caracaras, and hawks. Then make tracks for Brazoria NWR and a broader range of birding. BNWR is a 40,000 acre refuge famous for its spectacular birding. In winter, thousands of migrating ducks and geese stop over, relishing the fresh water marsh habitats, and some are likely to still be present. Neo-tropic migrants will also be on view, plus late wintering raptors. It is also a place to see alligators and many marsh animals. A number of rare bird sightings have been reported from this refuge. The trip leaders will have some discretion as to where to go and how long to stay depending on latest bird sighting reports. The return journey, along the coastal highway, close to the sea and bay in the afternoon, will again be spectacular under a different light, with some predictably “birdy” stops along the way as time permits.

This is a very interesting trip with a wide range of largely man-made structures and associated bird species. Just over the Causeway, on the mainland, there are colonies of Cave and Cliff swallows nesting under several bridges. A few miles further there are catchment ponds for the refineries which could still hold some Eared Grebes plus late wintering waterfowl and usually Roseate Spoonbills and herons. A bit further takes guests to the Texas City Dike (if re-opened from hurricane damage) which is a peninsula built to protect the port of Texas City. It projects way out into East Galveston Bay, almost to Pelican Island, and is an excellent vantage point to see birds that prefer a true marine environment. Some late wintering loons, gulls and terns will likely be present, plus some bay ducks, mergansers, etc. Afterwards, drive along Skyline Highway on the top of a levee, for an outside chance to spot the white morph of a Great Blue Heron. If time permits the trip will seek out one of several colonies of Monk Parakeets colonially nesting atop the power transmission towers, and perhaps an Anhinga along the freshwater canal at Highland Park.

This is designed to be a slow-paced trip for beginners to novices. You will be taken directly to the wide open sandy beaches at the east end of Galveston Island, where there will be many species of shore birds, gulls, terns, skimmers, sandpipers, plovers, avocets, black necked stilts, etc. Stops along the way will highlight birds preferring marsh habitats. A few binoculars will be available for those without them.

The City of Galveston owns 686 acres of land at the eastern tip of the island and the intent is to transform it into a world class natural recreational area and nature preserve with an interpretive center. All the habitats associated with a barrier island - beach, uplands, fresh water ponds, brackish lagoons and wetlands - are present.

After practicing a bit with binoculars at the east end and assuming there is time, the leaders may move on to Corps Woods, where the spotting will be a bit more difficult.

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Easy Birding Shorebirds is designed for early stage birders who want to quickly learn about birding and experience the fun of FeatherFest on a budget. You may choose to ONLY attend the inside workshop, but you MUST attend the inside workshop if you wish to go on the field trip. The workshop is from 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Easy Birding Songbirds is designed for early stage birders who want to quickly learn about birding and experience the fun of FeatherFest on a budget. You may choose to ONLY attend the inside workshop, but you MUST attend the inside workshop if you wish to sign up for the field trip.

A Texas Master Naturalist will lead this exploration of a sample of the southern edge of Galveston Bay. The variety of plant and animal life at the bay’s “edge” will become clear and the incredible value of these fringe habitats will be better understood. Wear footwear that can get wet, as you may be doing some seining and water sampling.

Go for a leisurely walk and do some beachcombing with someone who does this regularly and writes about it. Learn about “life at the edge” ...what’s above and below the sand and in the water.

While shorebirds will be the focus of this trip, with some advanced tips applied from Kevin’s Friday inside workshop, guests will enjoy all the avian diversity of Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula. Kevin will explain some of the finer points of shorebird ID with troublesome species such as dowitchers, willets, small peeps and plovers. The group will also look at the birds that reveal themselves and apply some updated Birding by Impression field techniques.

This is the only research facility of its kind dedicated to rearing threatened and endangered sea turtles in captivity. Currently, approximately 450 sea turtles are reared here each year. These turtles are involved in research on new tagging methods before they are used in the field, as well as growth and feeding studies. Most Importantly, these turtles are used to test fishing gear designed specifically to prevent sea turtles from drowning in fish trawls and becoming entangled or hooked in long-line fishing gear.

What will you see on your visit? Over 400 live sea turtles housed in saltwater tanks. There is no glass or fence between you and the turtles – you can get face to face if you wish as long as you don't touch!! Your tour will include a little sea turtle biology and ecology, treats to sea turtles, and on-going research, conservation and protection measures being employed to save sea turtles from extinction.

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This afternoon field trip searches for the spring songbird richness found on the Upper Texas Coast, with a special emphasis on colorful songbirds such as warblers, tanagers, orioles, grosbeaks and buntings. Short walks will be made at the Laffite's Cove Nature Preserve, Dos Vacas, and several isolated oak mottes. There will be a potty stop at Jim Stevenson's Heartbreak Hammock. Several dozen species of land migrants should be recorded, and likely many neat water birds seen incidentally.

For Further Information

Email: NatureTourismGalv@juno.com
Phone: 409.392.0841 or 1.888.425.4753
Fax: 409.737.2264
Mail: Galveston FeatherFest, P.O. Box 1468
Galveston, TX 77553-1468

FeatherFest is a project of the Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council which supports eco-tourism and education, and promotes the value of area natural habitats.
www.GalvestonNatureTourism.org