Like us- At-a-Glance
- About the Kickoff
- Hours
- Location
- Friday Night Social
- Presentations and Speakers
- Door Prizes
- FUNdraising Auction
- FUNdraising Business Donors
- Hotel and RV's
- Registration
- Local Attractions
- Contact
- Bluebird Basics
- NestWatch
- House Sparrow Control
- Etc.
- Pauline Tom (512) 268-5678
- Judy Ray (972) 217-1516
At-a-Glance
Join us Saturday, February 24, 2018, for fun, education, and friendship!
At-a-Glance
[ NOTE: The 2018 event is over - the following is for reference only and the links to various items may no longer be active. ]
Don't miss the Friday Evening Social, Dinner, and EXCITING raptor presentation.
General Public and Members Invited!
At The Door Registration: $15.00. No Meal And No Door Prizes.
Email eventplans@txblues.org
Click here to download 2018 Event Photo
Click here to view photos from the 2018 kickoff.
Click here to view some of the 2018 Silent Auction Items.
Click here to view some of Silent Auction Business Donors.
About
2018 Bluebird Season Kickoff and FUNdraising Auction
Bluebird Season Kickoff
Our annual kickoff promotes the conservation of bluebirds and teaches the public how to attract and provide quality habitat for bluebirds across Texas. Guest speakers will cover topics that bluebirders, new and experienced, will find interesting and entertaining. Registrants have the opportunity to win door prizes and attendees can bid in our silent auction for many wonderful items. Additionally, members who pledge to NestWatch at least two nestboxes will receive a FREE TBS nestbox.
FUNdraising Auction
Our FUNdraising Auction, allows attendees to bid on items, donated by Texas Bluebird Society members and supporters. Each year many beautiful, handy, and fun items have been donated to this good cause. All funds raised by the auction are used to purchase materials to build TBS bluebird nestboxes!
Date and Time
Saturday, February 24th, 9:00 am-3:00 pm.
Doors open at 8:30 for registration and the silent auction.
All of the same good stuff as our previous events -
✓Great presentations ✓Nestwatching nestboxes ✓Member networking ✓Informative displays ✓Expert advice ✓Silent Auction FUNdraiser!
Location
Lodging and Friday Night Social and Dinner
Our host hotel, the highly reviewed The Stella Hotel, just 4.4 miles from the Brazos County Expo Center, offers our conference registrants a $108 + tax rate, subject to availability, for reservations made through February 2nd, 2018.
Phone hotel directly, (979) 421-4000, use code TBSK0218 for the $108.00 rate.
Google Maps For Driving Directions
Friday Evening Social, Dinner, & Raptor Presentation (FUNdraiser Open) at the Brazos County Expo Center. Sign up when you register.
$18.00. Deadline February 10, 2018.
Friday Evening Social, Dinner, & Raptor Presentation (FUNdraiser Open) at the Brazos County Expo Center. $18.00 - Deadline February 10, 2018
Cancellation Policy
If you cannot attend, notify our registrar, Mike LaDeau (registrar@texasbluebirdsociety.org), as soon as feasible. Up until January 24th, we will refund in full. From January 25th to February 10th, we will refund minus a $5.00 administrative fee. After March 10th, no refunds. Still, we will appreciate a heads up so we can make necessary adjustments.
Date and Time
Friday Evening Social, Dinner, and Raptor Presentation: February 23rd, at the Brazos County Expo Center
6:00-Social Hour with frozen margaritas and non-alcoholic beverages (No BYOB, State Law)
6:30-BBQ Dinner: $18.00. Deadline February 10, 2018
Dinner followed by John Karger: Last Chance Forever (live raptors)
Bluebird Season Kickoff: Saturday, February 24th.
9:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Doors open at 8:30 am for registration and the silent auction FUNdraiser.
Location
Brazos County Expo Center
5827 Leonard Rd, Bryan, TX 77807
Google Maps for Driving Directions
Speakers and Presentations
Dr. Patricia Gowaty - An Informal Remembrance of Forty Years of Bluebird Passions
Dr. Patty Gowaty, the World's Foremost Bluebird Researcher, is a field ecologist and evolutionary biologist, who has studied wild-living eastern bluebirds for 30 years, and captive fruit flies for 15 years. Her questions are mostly about individual variation in behavior and the correlated variables of individual lifespan and reproductive success.
Dr. Gowaty titled her scientific autobiography "Watcher", which is her main "method". She was a Distinguished Research Professor at University of Georgia, before becoming a Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA.
The National Science Foundation funded her research continuously from 1982 through 2016. Grants from the National Institutes of Health also supported her bluebird research.
Dr. Gowaty is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the International Ornithological Congress and a Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society.
Her most current desire is to find an undisturbed longleaf forest in which to watch bluebirds utilize natural cavities.
Dr. Patricia Gowaty's Curriculum Vitae PDF (221KB)
Dr. Caren Cooper - Citizen Science & Sparrow Control Alternative
Dr. Caren Cooper has a joint position as faculty in the Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources at NC State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, where she and her graduate students work behind a glass wall for all visitors to see.
Dr. Cooper worked at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for 14 years and helped create NestWatch and has over 60 scientific publications, including papers that relied on data from NestWatch, Project FeederWatch, Christmas Bird Count, Breeding Bird Survey, House Finch Disease Survey, The House Sparrow Project, and My Yard Counts.
Dr. Cooper is author of the new book Citizen Science: How Ordinary People Are Changing the Face of Discovery
Dr. Cooper is on the Board of Directors of the Citizen Science Association, and on the editorial board of its journal Citizen Science: Theory & Practice
Dr. Cooper is the director of research partnership of SciStarter.com, the largest hub of citizen science projects in the world
Dr. Cooper lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband (an astronomer) and daughter (in high school) and has one daughter who fledged the nest (currently a student at UNC-Chapel Hill).
Jeff and Mary O. Parker - Backyard Photography
Jeff & Mary O. Parker are a dynamic husband-wife team who enjoy sharing their passion for the natural world with the naturally curious. They regularly give photography workshops at their central-Texas nature preserve, Red Belly Ranch.
Jeff is equal parts nature photographer, adventurer, and conservationist. His images have appeared in many publications including Audubon and Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine. You'll also spot his images in the books Images for Conservation (Pro-Tour Series): Borderlands of Laredo and Wildlife in Focus. Jeff's work has garnered him numerous awards, including prizes in the 2010 Images for Conservation 2010 Pro-Tour.
Mary O. is an award-winning writer whose work includes books and magazine articles. In 2015, she received the 2015 Gabriele Rico Award in Creative Nonfiction, and, in December 2016 she was short-listed for the Barry Lopez Prize in Creative Nonfiction. Through her Red Belly Writing School, Mary O. gives creativity and writing workshops.
Together, the Parkers created Explore Texas: A Nature Travel Guide (Texas A&M University Press; June 2016). The book, which features Mary O.'s writing and Jeff's photography, received a 2016 "Excellence in Craft" award from the Texas Outdoor Writers' Association. Publishers Weekly included it on its list of the best travel books of 2016.
The Parkers are proud members of the Texas Bluebird Society.
Other Topics
Door Prizes Texas Bluebird Society offers Door Prizes (donated by each Board Member) to encourage early registration.
Standard Advance Registration: 2 Door Prize Tickets. Deadline: February 10, 2018
At-the-door Registration: No Door Prize Tickets.
Door prize chances are only available to early registrants. Unlike the Silent Auction items, there is no opportunity to bid on these items at the event.
FUNdraising Auction
Click here to view some of the 2018 Silent Auction Items.
Our annual fundraiser allows attendees to bid on a variety of items, donated by board members, members, registrants, and other supporters. Every dollar raised, through this auction, goes toward buying lumber for our volunteers to build nestboxes!
As soon as feasible, please send donations (or notification of donations that will be hand-carried to the event) to:
Auction Coordinator:
Beverly Davis
(281) 660-0521
2411 Stableridge Drive
Conroe TX 77384
auction@texasbluebirdsociety.orgWith shipment or email, please include contact information with street address and approximate retail value.
Donations (or notifications of donations) received after February 3, 2018 must be processed manually, one-by-one, and will miss the program publication deadline.
TBS is recognized by the IRS as a 501c3 "charitable" organization. Donations are tax deductible, as allowed by law.
FUNdraising Auction Business Donors Erva /Nature House
Explore in Focus
Cavalry Court, College Station, TX
The George Hotels, College Station, TX
My Thirty One
Aspects Inc.
The SnK Wildlife Reserve
Hotel Highly reviewed The Stella Hotel, just over 4 miles from the Brazos County Expo Center, offers our conference registrants a $108.00 + tax rate, subject to availability, for reservations made through February 2nd, 2018.
Phone hotel directly, (979) 421-4000, Use code TBSK0218 [that's TBSKzero2one8] for the "Bluebird" rate.
Recreational Vehicles There are numerous RV Parks are located in the Bryan area, CLICK HERE for more information.
Friday Night Social
Friday Evening Social, Dinner, and Raptor Presentation at the Brazos County Expo Center (Silent Auction FUNdraiser opens)
February 23rd, at the Brazos County Expo Center
5827 Leonard Rd, Bryan, TX 77807
Google Maps for Driving Directions
6:00 Social Hour with cash bar (frozen margaritas, beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages) (No BYOB, State Law)
6:30 BBQ Dinner: $18.00.
Reservation Deadline: February 10, 2018
Dinner followed by John Karger, Last Chance Forever
For More Information Email: eventplans@texasbluebirdsociety.org
P.O. Box 40868, Austin, TX 78704
Phone:
Registration Information and Form
Registration Fees At the Door Registration:$15.00 - NO Lunch and NO Door Prize Tickets
Friday Evening Social, Dinner, & Raptor Presentation (FUNdraiser Open) at the Brazos County Expo Center. $18.00 - Deadline February 10, 2018
Cancellation Policy If you cannot attend, notify our registrar, Mike LaDeau (registrar@texasbluebirdsociety.org), as soon as feasible. Up until January 24th, we will refund in full. From January 25th to February 10th, we will refund minus a $5.00 administrative fee. After March 10th, no refunds. Still, we will appreciate a heads up so we can make necessary adjustments.
