A century after wildlife wardens began protecting a small island in Texas, the 35-acre site has become the world’s largest nesting colony for Reddish Egrets. Green Island sits in the Laguna Madre, a coastal lagoon in southern Texas. In 1923, Audubon Texas signed its first sanctuary lease with the Texas General Land Office to protect the island. At the time, coastal birds were under severe pressure from hunting. Their feathers were highly valued by the fashion industry, while people also collected their eggs and hunted the birds for meat. This caused Reddish Egret numbers to fall sharply across the Gulf Coast, leaving the species close to disappearing from Texas. Today, Green Island is the centre of a much larger conservation network. Audubon Texas manages 175 coastal islands, and the Texas Gulf Coast now has the world’s largest concentration of Reddish Egrets. The islands are also home to thousands of Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills and Snowy Egrets. Audubon recently highlighted the history of Green Island and the continuing work of coastal wardens in a report on a century of conservation along the Texas coast.
Get breaking news anytime, anywhere. Download the TOI app now!
