Black Skimmers Return to Texas Operations; Open House Set for July 16

Texas - June 16, 2005

A year after leaving their historical nesting ground in Dow's Plant A to avoid predators, Dow's Black Skimmer colony has returned to Texas Operations.

"The skimmers have been coming here since 1968," said Bob Walker, Vice President of Dow Texas Operations. "We missed them last year. It's been great to see them returning home."

Texas Operations will be hosting its annual Black Skimmer Open House Saturday, July 16 from 9 a.m. to noon. The event is free and open to the public and provides the rare opportunity to view the largest nesting colony of black skimmers on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Visitors should arrive at the Dow A-41 Gate located on FM 523, approximately one mile south of the intersection of Highway 332 and FM 523. A bus will shuttle visitors to the location of the colony between 9 a.m. and noon.

This year more than 800 birds have made Texas Operations their summer home. A power charged fence was re-activated around the skimmer lot last year to protect it from predators such as coyotes and feral cats.

In 2003, more than 300 people attended the open house. Tents and refreshments will be available to provide relief from the summer heat. For more information about the Dow Black Skimmer Open House, visitors can call (979) 238-4649.

Dow has hosted an open house for the black skimmers for 19 of the last 20 years. The event gives the public a chance to observe skimmers and their chicks in a nesting colony.

In 1968, 38 black skimmers flew into Dow Texas Operations' Plant A and landed in an oyster shell parking lot. Then they just made themselves at home.

Thanks to the vision and passion of some Dow employees the former parking lot was turned into a permanent nesting ground for the birds. Starting in 1984, Dow has hosted an open house to give everyone an opportunity to view the largest skimmer nesting ground inside an industrial complex.

For most of the year, skimmers use beaches from the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean all the way to New York, but in the spring each year, they flock together to mate and lay eggs. The skimmer scouts look for the Dow site in April.

The black-winged, orange-billed fowl usually build scrapes on oyster shell or sandbars in bays, but these locations can be disturbed by predators or activities such as boating. They control temperature by shading eggs and chicks with their bodies, protecting them from the heat and incubating them in cool conditions.

The lower half of the skimmer's bill is longer than the upper half, and as the bill grows away from its face, it becomes as flat as a knife blade, but in a vertical plane. This extended lower bill allows the bird to fly just above the surface of the water with its lower bill slicing through it. Adult skimmers do not eat or drink on their nesting site, but do bring some of the catch-of-the-day home to their young. Skimmers have elliptical shaped pupils which allow them to tolerate the bright summer sun on the sand or shell surfaces that they prefer for nesting and resting.

Dow is a leader in science and technology, providing innovative chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services to many essential consumer markets. With annual sales of $40 billion, Dow serves customers in 175 countries and a wide range of markets that are vital to human progress: food, transportation, health and medicine, personal and home care, and building and construction, among others. Committed to the principles of sustainable development, Dow and its 43,000 employees seek to balance economic, environmental and social responsibilities. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted.

For Editorial Information:

David Winder
The Dow Chemical Company
(979) 238-3792