Stories of Chester Island | Audubon

By Peggy Wilkinson, Coastal Warden, Audubon Texas

As building of the Matagorda Ship Channel started again in 1962 to permit ocean-going vessels to journey from the Gulf of Mexico into Matagorda Bay, a small island started to kind from the sand and dust dredged up from the bay backside. It didn’t take lengthy for the brand new island, three miles off the coast of Port O’Connor, Texas, to be found by waterbirds and for floor nesters like gulls and terns to begin nesting on the sand. As time went on, grass and small brush grew on the island and tree nesters started to nest there, too. The birds appeared thrilled about this new island – most probably attributable to it being a secure website far sufficient from different land that only a few mammal predators might entry.

In 1975, the Nationwide Audubon Society observed the birds being drawn to the island, then named Sunset Island, and took motion to lease the island from the Texas Normal Land Workplace. Jesse Grantham, Texas Director of Hen Conservation and Texas Sanctuaries Supervisor, was on task to discover a warden who wouldn’t solely steward the birds, but additionally monitor and keep the island. A Port O’Connor resident got here extremely advisable by the native ironmongery store proprietor. Chester Smith was identified to be a reliable one who liked the outside and had a “get it completed” angle. After the primary interview in early 1986, a match was made and Chester turned the primary Audubon Coastal Warden of Sunset Island.

Chester Smith Picture: Randal Ford

Chester was on a mission to carry again certainly one of his favourite chook species, the Brown Pelican. Within the 1940’s, the Brown Pelican inhabitants declined attributable to detrimental impacts of the pesticide DDT entering into their meals chain. When the pelicans ate contaminated fish, it resulted in egg-shell thinning. Earlier than the embryo had an opportunity to develop, the skinny egg shell would break below the load of the mother and father. Consequently, the Brown Pelican was unable to breed successfully, and their numbers in Texas dropped to lower than 100 birds within the late 1960’s, and fewer than 10 breeding pairs. Thankfully, using DDT was banned in 1972 – however the harm had been completed. The Brown Pelican had turn into endangered and sightings within the Matagorda Bay space had been uncommon.

Chester teamed up with Ray Little, who was the Audubon Coastal Warden for the Corpus Christi space, the place the Brown Pelican inhabitants had first begun recovering, and tried to reintroduce them to the Matagorda Bay space. Chester and Ray gathered a couple of chicks and transported them to Sunset Island. Chester constructed a pen utilizing wooden and rooster wire, and put the chicks inside. He additionally put a bucket of seawater with small fish in it for them to eat. Each morning, Chester would exit to the island along with his forged web, catch some fish, and restock the bucket. It labored! The chicks survived and thrived, and Chester turned a full-time cast-netting mum or dad for a couple of weeks. Then, he began leaving the highest to the enclosure open, and placing the bucket exterior to coax the rising chicks exterior the pen. Earlier than lengthy, they found the recent minnows swimming simply off of the seaside, and now not wanted the bucket. And that’s how the Brown Pelican acquired its begin on Sunset Island. As we speak, they’re seen in nice numbers throughout Matagorda Bay and Port O’Connor!

Chester was acknowledged for his efforts to avoid wasting the Brown Pelican with a number of awards and honors. By way of good coverage and the efforts of many different conservationists like Chester, the restoration of the Brown Pelican was very profitable up and down the Texas Coast, and throughout the U.S. Resulting from this dramatic restoration, the Brown Pelican was eliminated in 2009 from the U.S. Endangered Species Listing. That is the place my DNA is available in… Chester was my father. My husband, Tim, and I had been Chester’s volunteer assistants for a few years, and later turned the wardens after Chester’s demise in 2011. Chester was so pleased with his involvement with Audubon that he was buried in his Audubon coveralls and hat with the crimson Audubon patch. Sunset Island was renamed to Chester Island Hen Sanctuary in his honor.

Some 60 years after Sunset Island was first shaped, 18 species of waterbirds arrive every spring to take up residence on the island to construct nests and lift their chicks. This low-lying, 70-acre chook island close to Port O’Connor has turn into one of many high 3 largest rookeries alongside the Texas Coast for colonial waterbirds. In Might 2023, the Texas Waterbird Survey recorded greater than 22,000 nesting pairs of colonial waterbirds on Chester Island – together with greater than 2,300 nesting pairs of Brown Pelicans. The August/September 2023 challenge of Texas Parks and Wildlife Journal options an article about Audubon Texas marking 100 years of coastal conservation in Texas, and seeking to challenges forward. Pictures within the article are from Chester Island, and have a number of of our companions and volunteers!

Word: Should you fish across the island, please DO NOT stroll on the island. There are eggs on the seaside and plenty of younger fledglings hanging out on the shore line. We kindly ask you to remain out at the very least 50 yards from shore – whether or not in your boat or wading. And please, no strolling or fishing on the concrete mat the place many younger birds spend their days. The rookery island is protected by federal regulation, and we ask you to assist us hold Chester’s Birds secure.

Might 2023 Chester Island Survey Outcomes (by species and # nesting pairs)

Brown Pelican – 2,305

Dbl.-cr. Cormorant – 16

N. Cormorant – 92

Nice Blue Heron – 302

Nice Egret – 971

Snowy Egret – 380

Tricolored Heron – 2,112

Reddish Egret – 180

Cattle Egret – 214

B-c Night time-Heron – 107

White Ibis – 1,294