CHESTER ISLAND BIRD SANCTUARY
An exciting new nesting season has begun with the early arrival of Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Reddish Egret and Brown Pelican.
Chester Island Bird Sanctuary is a low-lying island built from dredge spoils in 1962. It is located near where the Matagorda ship channel and the Gulf Intra-coastal Waterway cross in Matagorda Bay, east of Port O'Connor and southeast of Port Lavaca, in the Texas coastal bend. The Island is leased from the General Land Office and managed by the Audubon Texas Coastal Sanctuaries program, as part of the Society's 13,000-acre network of islands. It's also known as Sundown Island, and locally as Bird Island.
Chester Island is a breeding colony for approximately 18 species of birds - that collectively are called Colonial Waterbirds, because they prefer to nest in colonies. The island is recognized as a globally significant Important Bird Area. In 2016, nearly 20,000 nesting pair of breeding birds were found on Chester Island, including more than 4000 pair of Brown Pelican. The eastern end of the island is characterized by a large sandy beach and is a breeding territory for Black Skimmers, Royal, Caspian, and Sandwich Terns.
Audubon Texas manages 80 coastal sanctuaries that host the largest Reddish Egret and Roseate Spoonbill breeding populations in the world and helped the Brown Pelican recover from endangered species status.
The shoreline is under constant attack from wind-driven waves, strong tidal currents, storm tides and ship wakes. The resulting erosion causes the island to shrink over time. Thanks to maintenance dredging of the nearby shipping channels, the island's shoreline is occasionally re-nourished with new dredge spoils. Dredge material placed between 9/2016 and 2/2017 expanded the island to 86 acres - an increase of almost 25 acres. The resulting shoreline perimeter is 1.9 miles. Beneficial Use of Dredge Spoils by the US Army Corps of Engineers and their contractors is critical to maintaining this and other bird rookery islands.
