First Segment - August 27, 2005
by Michael Hunt

The first segment of the survey was launched at 09:08 from Gary Bell’s House in Seascape and landed on Shell Beach in Shoreacres at 11:30. It was a short distance, but we spent a large portion of the time at Pine Gully investigating the sediment pileup and blockage.

During the paddle, we identified 17 species. The most uncommon sighting was a pileated woodpecker in Pine Gully Park. This is the first one I have seen in Seabrook
thought not the first I have seen in the area. The most exciting sighting was a pod of six Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. They were seen about 300 yards from El Jardin.

• 38 brown pelicans
• 10 herring gulls
• undetermined number of laughing gulls
• 10 royal terns
• 6 snowy egrets
• 2 tricolored herons
• 2 mourning doves
• 6 rock doves
• 3 willets
• 1 pileated woodpecker
• 2 immature little blue herons
• 3 cormorants
• 6 Atlantic bottlenose dolphins
• Approx. 12 cannonball jellyfish (a very small number compared to a week earlier
• or the hundreds we saw on the launch date)
• Additionally, we saw numerous fiddler crabs, mullet, and some menhaden

Galveston Bay Log - July 31, 2005

Vic Madamba, Roger Kelley, and Michael Hunt paddled around Atkinson Island starting from Shoreacres at 08:20 and returning to Shoreacres at 14:25. The trip was largely for reconnaissance, and only limited data was collected. The following is a partial list of sightings:

Birds

• brown pelicans
• purple martins
• cormorants
• hummingbirds
• black-necked stilts
• black skimmers
• willets
• sanderlings
• solitary sandpipers
• ruddy turnstone
• great blue herons
• cattle egrets
• little blue herons (two immatures still completely white and numerous matures)
• white ibis
• scissor-tailed flycatchers

Fish

The only fish we observed on this trip were mullets, Gulf menhaden, and flounders
caught by fisher people we passed.

This is a preview of what we will be looking for on the official legs of the Galveston Bay Eco-Paddle survey.