Susan Bailey, dedicated naturalist and longtime defender of local wildlife, died at her home on the shores of Sabine Lake at the old Rob Bailey’s Fish Camp.

    Bailey was known throughout the country for her work with the National Audubon Society protecting the rookeries of roseate spoonbills and other shorebirds on Sydney Island and elsewhere around the Sabine Lake area.

    In an interview conducted by David Todd from the Conservation History Association a few years ago, she noted the historical significance of what used to take place on Sabine Lake.

    “Spoonbills was the main thing,” she said.

    “We at one point we had the biggest nesting colony in the whole world. We had 600 nests out there two or three years in a row. And then and then we started, they started having to wait to nest. And somebody said, "Well, no they don’t…they can’t just wait to nest. They have to be maturing a little bit later." But, whatever it was, they were using the same nest sites…”

    Bailey over the years became well known for her nature photography and her work with the Bridge City school district to introduce kids to the outdoors.

    My first memory of her was dates back to the late 1970s when I was in kindergarten and she took time one day while my Dad and I were there buying bait to explain to me about the monarch butterfly migration, which at the time was pretty significant compared to nowadays.

    Many local anglers will remember her and her late husband Rob for their honest fishing reports that sometimes did little to drum up business at their bait camp but gained them major respect among those who knew them.

    Bailey will be greatly missed.