Facilities is in need of plastic containers, preferably with screw or snap on tops, that are transparent & translucent.  The mouth of the container should be large, similar to a spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, bullion cubes, dog treat containers, ect, from small to medium size.  They could also use small (less than 16oz) plastic coffee containers.  Please have the containers cleaned and washed out.  They can be dropped off at the Maintenance Barn.   Thanks.

Lyman Brown has updated his Plants of Armand Bayou documents.  See the home page to check them out!  

157 species – New record!

We did it!  With 71 counters in the field and 9 feeder watchers counting, we reached a new record with 157 species plus 3 more seen during count week.  Many people ask about the results, but do not realize that they are online for all to see.  You can even check out other results in the state or in the country.  To see Armand Bayou’s results, click on the following link -  http://netapp.audubon.org/cbcobservation/ObservationCircle.aspx and enter TXAY  for the count code.  This will show you the entire number of species seen during count day and count week (which is identified by a “0” in the number section).  While browsing through the results you will also notice abbreviations under certain categories.  To see what those codes mean, look at the following file.   http://birds.audubon.org/sites/default/files/documents/CBCEditorialCodes.pdf

Most of the “editorial codes” we see are:  PH (photo), GD (good details), AQ (adequate details), & MD (marginal details).  In the “Flag” category, you will encounter HC (for high count) and US (for unusual species). 

If you are really interested in how various species have fluctuated for the Armand Bayou count, check out the historical data section (http://audubon2.org/cbchist/count_table.html)   I found it interesting to see how the various species have fluctuated and especially the change of species names.  How many realized on this count that Common Moorhen is now called Common Gallinule? 

Lastly, I want to thank each and every one of you.  After the tally rally dinner, I was excited to see how we got even more species with the help of our feeder watchers! You all made such a difference.  Also, a special thank you to all of you willing to take photos.  A picture is worth a thousand words and we had some wonderful photos taken.  I hope you consider submitting some of them to the CBC gallery which will be posted about in time for the 113^th CBC (http://web1.audubon.org/imagePublic/cbc_form.php) .  It is a great chance to share you photos with all and give Armand Bayou some great publicity. You even might get published in the American Bird magazine!

I would be remiss if I didn’t give  special recognition to Judy Sharp for helping me with this year’s count, along with my birding buddies Sandy Parker and Susan Hesley who helped me scope out areas.  Thank you.

Happy birding.

Check out the latest version of Lyman Brown's Compendium of Plants on the home page! 

Check out the three volumes of plants at ABNC that Lyman Brown has put together for us at the bottom of the home page! 

Please read and be prepared to vote at the next volunteer meeting

Here is the full document:  2011 bylaws

Gardening volunteers met during the social time before the Volunteer meeting on August 12.  This will be a regular meeting time on second Thursdays.  Other volunteers are welcome to join us.

We discussed ways to communicate more often with the group, whether by e-mail or in person, particularly about that all-important chore of Watering.  We decided to have two days a month when we can actively plan ahead to be there, knowing that there's a good chance we will meet at least one other gardener in the garden.  This should lead to more cohesive planning and action!  It will also be a good time for other interested volunteers to see what we’re up to.

These two days will be:
- the first Thursday morning,
- the third Saturday afternoon.....

Click here to read more

A nice overview of Harmful Algal blooms (and a brief mention of my Phyto iPhone app) in a podcast (audio) put together by NOAA: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/podcast/nov09/mw111209.mp3

Rebekah and I have been working with NOAA and the master naturalists identifying phytoplankton.  As part of that effort I wrote a small iPhone app to help learn the different species and it was featured on the "NOAA World" web site. (It mentions ABNC)

We have released a new web site that is more interactive.  If you are a volunteer hit the register link in the upper right corner to begin!