< PreviousFeaturesbirding class from expert Dick Peake, and afterward incorporated birding in their daily life and travels. The wide-open spaces of the Galveston Island State Park is a favorite jaunt, but the best sightings have been in their own backyard on Galveston’s East End, which is plant-ed to attract birds and butterflies.“The yellow-crowned night herons nest in the live oaks, and when the juveniles are not yet flying, they hop around our deck in the morning,” Koloen said. The “babies” are about 2 feet tall, and even though they can’t fly, they have tremendous wingspans and are strong hoppers, he said.Another backyard spotting was a peregrine falcon, which arrived on a windy day.“He perched on the grape arbor and the other birds scattered,” Koloen said. “When he took off, you could see the power; it was like Brenda Dawson, a certified Texas Master Naturalist, photographs birds in the marsh along French Town Road on Bolivar Peninsula. Dawson photographs birds with a Canon 7D Mark II digital camera and 500 mm Canon Lens on a Gitzo tripod with Wimberly head. Dawson is a Galveston Bay Area Master Naturalist and a member of the Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council, Galveston County Audubon Group and Texas Ornithological Society. Greg Whittaker, animal husbandry manager at Moody Gardens, calls for additional food for the bird feeder in the Rainforest Pyramid. Whittaker is the liaison to the Galveston County Audubon Group and also the group’s chair. A scarlet ibis eats shrimp from a plastic feeder in the Rainforest Pyramid at Moody Gardens. Birding BasicsObserving the natural world re-quires curiosity, enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. Still, on a bird-ing trip you need more than good character traits. Experts share their tips for beginning birding online at www.coastmonthly.com.20 cOasTMOnTHLY.cOM / MARCH 201513450 FM 3005Galveston, Texas 77554409.737.5200www.GaryGreene.comDAVY HERRIN409.256.9749ANGELA SANDERS713.882.9821KATHY MCANDREWS409.789.5256SHANE MCDERMOTT409.771.6270DEE RICHMOND409.370.4572TERRY RUGGLES409.939.3375RAMONA BOEKER281.687.8125TERESE BUTLER409.771.0222KAREE CAMPO713.291.4300DAVID HERRIN409.457.3936DIANA STEGNER409.692.2913SAMMY TAMBORELLO713.829.1798CYNTHIA WANDER409.789.7613LYNN WINGET409.795.7230J ROY HALLGALVESTON OFFICE MANAGERREALTOR®from the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gary Greene Galveston Team.TEAM DANNY AND DENNIS409.789.2773RUTHI STAYTON 409.771.4130PATTI ZAJACK 409.789.3199Have a Fun & Safe Spring Break!SUSAN CAHILL409.457.6995Featureswatching a jet plane rise.” Backyard birding also is a pastime for O’Donell, who owns West End acreage that serves as a natural habi-tat and refuge for birds and wildlife. “A buff-bellied hummingbird came to my house for five years in a row,” she said. “After Hurricane Ike, when everything was dead, my brother helped me plant 80 Turk’s caps. Not long after, who should appear but that buff-bellied hummingbird. It made me feel like everything was go-ing to be all right.”If there is any bird that O’Donell would most like to see, it’s the foot-long Eskimo curlew, with its cinna-mon-colored feathers and long green legs. It was last officially spotted on Galveston’s West End in 1959. Long endangered, and now possibly ex-tinct, this bird, with its tragic history, might just reappear on the island. If it does, O’Donell will spot it. C Dick Peake watches birds near the Nature Center at the Galveston Island State Park. Peake is a life member of the American Birding Association and a member of the Texas Ornithologi-cal Society, Galveston County Audubon Group and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.A brown pelican is perched on the back of a shrimp boat at Pier 19 in Galveston. 22 COASTMONTHLY.COM / MARCH 2015409-763-2800 / 409-763-2955 Faxdavid@davidbowers.comThe House Company Realtors4708 Caduceus Place $319,500 3/31412 25th $374,5004/2 Mardi Gras parade route1616 Broadway $478,5003/2.5 plus carriage house apartment1202 Church 5/3 Corner house$294,5001202 Broadway $439,5003/2 Plus extra side lot!SINCE 1976DAVID BOWERS, REALTORAnd many more listings for every budget!2109-2115 P 10 units $595,0001219 33rd 5 units $115,0005628 Ave. L - PendingLook for my Open Houses in Galveston County Daily News and my sponsorship of the Sunday Crossword Puzzle with Q & A on Galveston’s architecture, history & politics.Amie and Jolie Sikes The Junk GypsiesDr. Jennifer Arnold from TLC’s “The Little Couple”&Friday, April 17th, 2015Moody Gardens Convention Center Galveston Island, TexasFor Tickets, Sponsorship or Vendor Information, visit www.GalvestonChamber.com or call (409) 763-5326Produced by:In partnership with:FEATURING:Business DevelopmentandExciting Vendor MarketCutting Edge Women’s Health Info from UTMB Health Physicians ALONG WITH GREAT UTMB SPEAKERS COVERING NEW AND TIMELY HEALTH CARE TOPICS:Je R. Temple, PhD“Teen Sexting, Cyberbullying and Emerging Trends in Social Media”Douglas Paddon-Jones, PhD“Nutrition and Healthy Aging”Joan E. Nichols, PhD“The Thin Line Between Fact, Fiction and the Zombie Apocalypse”2015 Women of the Year—Women Who Embody the Mind, Body & Spirit of our RegionMINDKaren Wagner, PhDSPIRITB.J. HerzSPIRITSharon GillinsBODYLulu Benavidez“Like” us at www.facebook.com/GalvestonCelebratingWomenFeaturesBy Marsha CanrightGalveston’s birding festival, FeatherFest, begins April 9, offering more than 100 workshops and field trips during its four-day span. About 700 participants are expected to attend, in addition to the 200 vol-unteers who staff the event, said Julie Ann Brown, executive director of the Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council. FeatherFest organizes dozens of daily activities led by knowledgeable experts for all levels of birders, Brown said.There’s a Birding Sampler led by Dick Peake; a trek to the 2,300-acre Nature Conservancy’s Coastal Prairie Preserve near Texas City; a visit to High Island’s best birding locations, and separate shorebird spotting trips to the Texas City Dike, Bolivar Flats and San Luis Pass.Birding 101 is offered for beginners, and there are classes on identifica-tion and do-it-yourself birding, Brown said.Galveston Birding with Kevin Karl-son and Birding by Kayak are just some of the new features of this year’s festival. Half-day trips are scheduled to the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory and Quintana Refuge, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, and Brazos Bend State Park. Some excursions focus on Flock this wayFeatherFest draws hundreds to Texas CoastShore birds, including skimmers, marbled godwits and avocets, flock to the east side of the North Jetties on Bolivar Peninsula at low tide. coastal birding along West Isle, and others on sighting early migratory birds.For nature photographers, Feather-Fest offers more than 20 specialized classes and field trips.For those who choose to come early and stay late, pre-festival trips have been arranged to the Aransas Nation-al Wildlife Refuge near Rockport, top birding sites in the Beaumont area, and the Katy Prairie Conservancy.Last year during the festival, bird-ers identified 235 species, and this year, they hope to break that record, Brown said. FeatherFest began in 2002 to intro-duce more visitors and residents to the abundant bird life in the area. CAn adult downy woodpecker rests high in the tree tops at Lafitte’s Cove Nature Preserve, a protected wildlife habitat on Galveston’s West End. Visit www.galvestonfeatherfest.com to register or get more details about field trips, classes, lectures and socials for this year’s FeatherFest.24 coastMoNthly.coM / MARCH 2015Welcome Homemarthaturner.com | 713.520.1981Operated by Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc.GALVESTONSchaper Drive | $90s±5,749 sf lotexceptional waterfront site | lake vistasJim Rosenfeld | 713.854.1303GALVESTONPorch Street | $980s4-5/3.5 - ±3,942 sfbreathtaking waterfront home on double lotJim Rosenfeld | 713.854.1303GALVESTONJones Drive | $140s3/2.5 - ±2,489 sfspacious living areas | marvelous updatesJim Rosenfeld | 713.854.1303LA PORTEOak Grove Drive | $490s4/3.5 - ±3,564 sfwaterfront home with views of Galveston BaySylvia Balionis | 832.646.2622GALVESTONWalsh Lane | $2.6mil2-3/2.5 - ±2,960 sfwaterfront home on ±2 acres | pool | pierMartha Jeeries | 281.914.2880GALVESTONPalm Cove Court | $710s3-4/3.5 - ±3,669 sfMediterranean-style home with 4 private verandas | marvelous bay vistas | outstanding nishesJim Rosenfeld | 713.854.1303StyleMODEL: Joylisha Lloyd, of GalvestonLOCATION: Rainforest Pyramid, Moody GardensTOP: Seamless Cami from By Together, Head to Footsies, 2211 Strand, GalvestonBAG: Mademoiselle Tote from My Flat In London at Brighton, The Front Parlor, 2111 Strand, Galveston EYE WEAR: Balenciaga sunglasses, TSO Galveston, 515 22nd St.PhOTO BY STUART VILLANUEVA26 COASTMONThLY.COM / MARCH 2015StyleStory by Sara Foley Yonker Shoppers ready to embrace warmer weather will have plenty of new styles, colors and prints to pick from this spring as designers push new silhou-ettes for women’s pants, mix up patterns and emphasize a new palette of hues. Although warmer temperatures usually mean less clothing, many of this year’s fashion trends aren’t as skimpy or form-fitting as they’ve been in seasons past. Women will see some pants get baggier, skirts get longer and sexy details become a little more subtle this spring. But for those who want to show some skin, distressed denim and lace shorts are popular, too.Area boutiques ready themselves for spring styles by shopping at wholesale fashion mar-kets in Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Florida, where they get an early eye on designer creations and make a guess at what styles shoppers on the upper Texas Coast will embrace.Although there are different trends each sea-son, spring and fall are most affected by change, said Joyce McLean, the owner of clothing and shoe boutique Head to Footsies, 2211 Strand in the island’s historic downtown.Texas fashion typically is inspired by West Coast fashion and rarely by New York trends, McLean said.“If you want to know what’s going to be in style this spring, look at last year’s summer fashion in Los Angeles,” she said. “You can pretty much bet that’s what will be coming here.”Spring feverWarmer weather brings flowy pants, new prints and feminine details COASTMOnTHLY.COM / MARCH 2015 27StylePants and jeansPants have taken a dramatic turn this spring toward loose fabric, some-times with a drawstring or wrapped waistband. These pants come in vari-ous colors of linen, cotton or draping rayon blends. “They are loose and flowy and they’ll be comfortable for us in our climate,” said Iris Speed, owner of boutique The Front Parlor, 2111 Strand in the island’s downtown.Monica Barry, owner of ha.ba’s, 2213 Postoffice St., also in downtown Galveston, said at first she wasn’t sure women on the island would embrace the loose-fitting pants when her sister picked up some at the Los Angeles fashion market late last summer.“I put a few in the store and was waiting to see what would happen with them,” Barry said. “We really sold them. Every time we brought more in, we sold them quickly.”To wear the look correctly, the loose pants should be paired with a simple and slim-fitting tank top, Barry said. “In Galveston, it’s definitely casual clothes that dominate,” Barry said. “Because it’s so hot, it also has to be breathable materials.”Shawna Doskocil, owner of Modern Vintage, 2005 Postoffice St. in down-town Galveston, said she noticed a lot of extra-baggy and cropped denim this spring. When it comes to jeans, skinny legs still are popular and have been em-braced by mainstream shoppers after Photo by stUaRt VILLanUeVaTOP: White Sheer Gingham by HYPR and turquoise crop top by Popular Basics, ha.ba’s, 2213 Postoffice St., Galveston. PANTS: Celebrity Pink Jeans, ha.ba’s.TOP: Seamless Cami from By Together, Head to Footsies, 2211 Strand, Galveston.PANTS: Flowy print pants from Ya Los Angeles, The Front Parlor, 2111 Strand. BRACELET: Black and blue beaded bracelet, Head to Footsies.Photos by KeVIn M. Cox28 CoastMonthLy.CoM / MARCH 2015Luxury High-RiseIndependent Living ResidencesNext >