Wilkinson takes over as Sundown Island warden

Tim Wilkinson, the new warden for Sundown Island, knows he has big shoes to fill following in the footsteps of the late Chester "Pop" Smith, who was warden for 25 years. However, it helps that Wilkinson was Smith's son-in-law.

Smith passed away June 26 at age 90. He was hired by Audubon Texas as the warden for Sundown Island in 1986. Smith, who was credited with helping save the brown pelican population from near extinction in Texas, recruited his daughter, Peggy Wilkinson, and her husband, Tim, to be volunteers in 1998 after the couple moved to Houston from Dallas.

As volunteers, the Wilkinsons secured corporate sponsorships for the island, donations of materials, coordinated volunteer work days and assisted Smith in his many trips to the island to complete a task or to observe the birds.

Smith had homes in Baytown and Port O'Connor. Wilkinson became familiar with Port O'Connor while dating Peggy.

"Anyone who came into the family was introduced to Port O'Connor. Chester (Smith) grew up as a young boy in the Seadrift/Port O'Connor area. But when one of the older brothers got a job at the Exxon refinery in Baytown, the whole family moved there," Wilkinson said. "Chester worked for the refinery for 32 years. After he retired, he had more time to spend in Port O'Connor and that is when Audubon found him."

Wilkinson became Audubon Texas' newest warden for the island, also known locally as Bird Island, in September. Wilkinson, who lives in Sugar Land and works as a petroleum engineer, also has a vacation home in Port O'Connor.

The work he did with Smith and his ability to travel to Sundown Island made him a good choice for warden.

"Toward the end of Chester's life, we were pretty active in assisting him at the island. He wanted someone he knew to continue his efforts on the island, and he let Audubon know," Wilkinson said. "After he passed away, we talked to his boss about it. Audubon posted the job. The job was open to other people to bid on. I applied for the part-time job and I got it. I work as warden on the weekends and at night."

Smith and Wilkinson shared the same wish for the island and that is why Wilkinson applied for the job.

"Working with Chester all these years, I saw the impact he had on the island. I saw his passion for the birds, and I think that spread to Peggy and I. I wanted to see his efforts continue in Port O'Connor. I have seen things improve there as far as water quality and minimizing the human impact on the wildlife," Wilkinson said. "There is value in a job like this."

The island is a global important bird area in Matagorda Bay and a key site for brown pelicans. Volunteers log more than 900 hours annually as they join the warden in planting and fertilizing trees, weeding invasive grasses, spreading fire ant bait and cleaning up the shoreline.

The island is leased from the General Land Office and managed by the National Audubon Society's Texas Coastal Sanctuaries program as part of the society's 13,000-acre network of 33 islands that stretch from Mexico to Louisiana.

Of course, the interest on Sundown Island is the birds, Wilkinson said, which number in the thousands.

The island is set aside as a sanctuary for many birds, common and endangered, both ones that nest there and others that only pass through. At least 18 species of birds call the island home, ranging from the laughing gulls, as many as 10,000, to roughly 1,200 pair of brown pelicans and some threatened reddish egrets.

In addition, the white ibis, the great blue heron, the roseate spoonbill and the black-crowned night heron also roost on the island.

Colonial water birds are the most visible bird life on the island with as many as 25,000 pairs who nest there in a season, including sandwich terns, royal terns and others.

For all of its beauty, Wilkinson admits that the island is a tough environment for the birds, and that is why constructing a habitat with artificial nesting platforms is so important for their survival. The birds in turn use the nesting platforms.

Wilkinson is always on the lookout for natural predators, like raccoons and coyotes, that can do damage to the population. Human disturbance can also thwart the bird population, so he is sure to update signage that warns people to stay off the island.

As warden, Wilkinson will monitor the progress of the nesting season and keep track of when birds arrive, when they nest, if they abandon the nest and also he will be involved with the community to educate people about how to protect the birds.

"The island is in a tough location at the intersection of the ship channel and the Intracoastal Waterway. It was a convenient spot created by dredge spoils, but there are wind driven waves and a lot of erosion. We try to find ways to reduce erosion and ask the Army Corps of Engineers to add dredge spoils whenever they dredge to offset the erosion," Wilkinson said.

People can drive their boat around the island to see the birds on the shoreline, Wilkinson said.

"Boaters need to stay upwind. Don't go downwind or you will get a strong odor from the birds," he said.

What Wilkinson misses the most about his father-in-law was Smith's enthusiasm for the island and its inhabitants.

"Everybody loved Chester. He was a grandfather figure. He had a way of getting you involved in things you didn't know you knew how to do, and that helped him get so many people involved in Sundown Island," he said. "One thing Chester always said was that he wanted to do his part to help the bird populations do well, to recover, so his grandkids and great-grandkids could enjoy them."