Welcome to Golden Triangle Audubon

Membership Meeting

Thursday, February 21, 2008

7:00 PM, "The Green Barn"

adjacent to the Garden Center, Tyrrell Park, Beaumont

 

A Community-based Web Site System for Birding

Jeff Pittman

 

Jeff, who teaches at Lamar University in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, will be presenting at our February meeting. The GTAS website has gone through several iterations over the years, at one time showing the bird classification, along with photographs of different species taken by our members, especially Don Jeane. A new system is now in place on the GTAS website that will restore and add exciting capabilities to our site. Jeff will demonstrate how to log in to the web site and use the system to add bird sightings, upload photographs, and communicate with other GTAS members. This functionality will be important as we start using our website to greater effect all during the year, to augment efforts during Christmas Bird Counts and Migration Counts, and to help with Audubon's efforts in bird conservation and monitoring. A most important part of the new web site is the facility for adding locations, described by simple latitude and longitude coordinates. Location coordinates may be specified for various content items, allowing for search queries that focus on specific areas. The presentation will include an example of how bird sightings made on an afternoon foray to a local area would be added to the web site, and how such reporting is coordinated with the long-standing an ongoing efforts of GTAS to keep local bird sightings records.

 

Jeff's interests, in addition to web site programming for such local groups as GTAS and the Big Thicket Association, include research on dinosaurs and geology, which is his educational training. Recently, he has trained for research in field biology, and is studying an area near Woodville called Rush Creek, with Randall Terry, botanist at Lamar.

 

      We will plan on having the doors open by 6:00 p.m. and the program will start at 7:00 p.m. sharp.

 

               Field Trip to Sheldon Lake State Park.

Saturday February 23

     Sheldon Lake State Park has lake, marsh, some woodland and agricultural field habitats. Nancy and Don Fisher of the Friends of Sheldon Lake will be our hosts. Last year, we saw an all white Red-tailed Hawk, two Harris Hawks and also added Sprague's Pipit to the park bird list!

      This year, unlike last year, we will meet at the Environmental Learning Center at 8:15 a.m. The Environmental Learning Center is at 15315 Beaumont Highway (Business 90) at Park Road 138. Normal travel time from the Golden Triangle should be about one hour 30 minutes to one hour 40 minutes. It is about 85 miles from Beaumont, and a little further from mid and south county.

      From Beaumont (and points north), the shortest route is to take Highway 90 to Dayton. From Dayton continue on Highway 90 west for a little under 20 miles to the intersection with FM2100 in Crosby. In Crosby, take the Beaumont Highway (Business 90, not the "main" US 90) and proceed about 5 miles to the park entrance to the right. If you reach Beltway 8 you have gone too far.

      From south county, take Highway 73 to Winnie, then IH10 west to Beltway 8 and turn north. After just under four miles cross (under?) US 90. Go another half mile or so and turn right on Business 90 (Beaumont Highway) and proceed less than a mile to the park entrance on the left.         From mid county, take FM365 to IH-10, turn left (west), proceed to Beltway 8 and follow the directions given for south county above.

      The park does not open until 8:00 a.m. The park telephone number is 281-456-2800.