From where it all began with stewardship and conservation along the Texas coast, to where we are today with programs and centers across the state.

We look forward to celebrating our history throughout the year, while collectively taking on a future-focused lens and using the past to inform our future endeavors. Audubon Texas will look beyond our legacy stewardship work at coastal bird islands and develop new strategies to protect coastal habitats and increase coastal resiliency in key geographies such as Matagorda Bay. We’ll also explore how our geographies across Texas and at our centers are interconnected along migration flight paths and Texas’s waterways.

Enjoy this video about one of our projects in Matagorda Bay:

Since 1923, Audubon Texas has managed and protected bird rookery islands along the Texas Coast. We established our first bird sanctuaries at Green Island and the Vingt-et-un Islands in 1923, and today we lease or own 177 islands along the coast. In partnership with the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program and Houston Audubon Society, we steward these islands by patrolling and monitoring bird populations during nesting season and managing the habitat during the non-nesting season. Audubon-managed island sanctuaries are home to 20+ species of colonial waterbirds, and the majority of waterbirds that nest along the Texas coast nest on an Audubon-owned or -leased island.  

Our coastal sanctuaries host some of the largest Reddish Egret and Roseate Spoonbill colonies in the world. Stretching over 367 miles, the Texas coast provides wintering grounds and stop over sites for many species of long-distance migratory birds. The coast faces mounting challenges from erosion, loss of habitat and increased storm impacts. It is our goal at Audubon Texas to protect existing coastal habitats while also working to build new bird habitats to sustain populations into the future. We are focused on linking the choices we make inland to their impacts on the Texas coast. Audubon's coastal management program has been recognized through the Governors' Blue Ribbon Committee on Environmental Excellence.

Listen in on this podcast with Alexis Baldera to find out how Audubon Texas works to keep island bird sanctuaries from losing ground.