Annually, Damien Carey leads field trips for Houston area birding and nature groups. He’s lead field trips throughout Texas. He founded the Lake Houston Area Nature Club in 1995. In 1999, he established and compiled the Lake Houston CBC and Sheldon Lake SP (SLSP) WBC. He also compiles the Texas Colonial Waterbird Census of SLSP’s rookery islands. Carey rewrote the “Birds of Sheldon Lake SP” in 2006. He serves on the advisory board of Legacy Land Trust (LLT) and conducts habitat valuations and baseline bird surveys in support of its conservancy efforts. Sparrows are a passion of Carey’s and he conducted several surveys for Project Prairie Bird. He has served as president and a director of the Friends of Sheldon Lake SP since he founded it in 2004. He speaks on behalf of conservation, birds and birding, to civic and service clubs. He is active in advocating for more access to the outdoors for families. With his wife Caroline, he established a nature club for at-risk children at a Humble ISD elementary school. Inspired by the students’ fascination of bird song, he wrote The Stories of Mimm, an oral story that offers a fanciful answer to the riddle of “why mockingbirds mock” and a lesson about conservation. When not birding he can often be found wade fishing in the waters around Galveston. He is a business consultant and writer.
Galveston Birding and Nature Photo Festival
Damien Carey
Upcoming Events
In northeast Harris County, Lake Houston dams the confluence of the two forks of the San Jacinto River, Luce Bayou and Cypress Creek. The mighty San Jac watershed bottomlands hold a bounty of flora and fauna along its courses. Beaver and river otter share Lake Houston with alligator and banded water snakes to name a few. Overhead gulls, pelican and waterbirds move in groups plying the water of the lake for fish. In the spring, the dawn song from the forest is large and loud. Target local nesters include Brown-headed Nuthatch, Red- headed Woodpecker, Bald Eagle, Anhinga and Pine Warbler. Neotropic nesters we hope to encounter: Prothonotary Warbler, Swainson’s Warbler, Painted Bunting, Hooded Warbler, Purple Gallinule and Yellow-billed cuckoo. This habitat also serves the avian migration north, with respite for Blue Grosbeak, Black-throated Green Warbler, Swainson’s Hawk, Western Sandpiper and many others.
Find out more »Upper Texas Coast (UTC) birders begin their birding life chasing showy warblers; THE group of birds most responsible for turning casual nature lovers into birders. Annually, UTC birders find about three dozen or so warbler species each Spring; sometimes 25+ in a day. Though warblers can be accessible in numbers, they’re restless subjects that are hard to keep in a binocular view. Though colorfully plumed, it is daunting to tease them apart. It’s the finding and teasing apart of the warblers that makes for better and lifelong birders. Yep! Warblers can teach you birding skills.
Find out more »Birding by Ear
Ever chase a bird song in the canopy of tall oaks then chase it until the bird stops singing? Ever sit in your backyard and hear a strange bird song in the distance? In both cases you had no chance to see the bird. In both cases you wondered what it was. All birds vocalize and for songbirds’ song is necessary for species survival. A unique biology found only in birds lies behind bird song and communication. The genetics that drive bird vocalizations are not very different than humans.
Find out more »