Gulf oil spill hits Texas beaches

OIL EVERYWHERE: Rich Matthews takes a closer look at oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill.

OIL VICTIM: A seriously oiled tri-coloured heron is spotted on Queen Bess Island near Grand Isle, Louisiana.

YOUNG HERON: Young herons impacted by oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are seen at the Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.

OIL SPILL: The Taiwanese skimmer dubbed "A Whale", left, conducts a test of its oil skimming capabilities in the Gulf of Mexico as part of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response.

BP STICKS AT IT: Work continues at the site of the BP oil well leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

GULF SPILL: Gas and oil continue to leak at the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site in the Gulf of Mexico, in this image captured from a BP live video feed.

GULF SPILL: Oil-tainted water from the Gulf of Mexico sits in jars placed before a group of business people and officials called Gulf Voices as they speak of their plight during a visit to Capitol Hill in Washington.

GULF SPILL: Crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill washes ashore in Orange Beach, Alabama.

UNDER THE SEA: AP journalist Rich Matthews takes a closer look at oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill, in the Gulf of Mexico.

UNDERWATER OIL: Patches of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill are seen from an underwater vantage.

OIL SPILL: Patches of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill are seen from an underwater vantage.

UNDERWATER VANTAGE: patches of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill are seen from underwater.

EFFECTS: Marine reef ecologist Scott Porter holds barnacle samples he removed from an oil rig in waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Porter plans to determine the effect of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill.

Marine reef ecologist Scott Porter works to remove oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill off his hands.

OIL VICTIM: An exhausted oil-covered brown pelican sits in a pool of oil along Queen Bess Island Pelican Rookery, 4.8km northeast of Grand Isle, Louisiana.

SPILL VICTIMS: Brown Pelicans, covered in oil from BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, huddle together in a cage at the International Bird Rescue Research Centre in Buras, Louisiana.

OILED: A bird is mired in oil on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast.

A Pelican sits on the beach covered in oil at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast.

GULF PELICAN: A brown pelican is seen on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon has affected wildlife throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

SPILL VICTIM: A brown pelican covered in oil sits on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast.

A Nasa satellite image of the Gulf of Mexico shows the extent of the oil released from the Deepwater Horizon spill.

BP CEO Hayward takes a first hand look at the recovery operations aboard the Discover Enterprise drill ship in the Gulf of Mexico.

US President Obama walks along the Louisiana coastline while touring damage caused by oil spill.

From a www.beowulfe.com program using Google maps to provide local perspective on the impact of the Gulf oil spill.

OIL SLICK: Workers clean up oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Pass a Loutre, Louisiana.

CONTAMINATION: CNN reporter Anderson Cooper lays down on the bow of an air boat to take a picture as Governor Bobby Jindal, right, removes a fishing net from the oil contaminated water in Pass A Loutre near Venice, Louisiana.

GULF OIL SPILL: Oil fouls the water near nesting pelicans on an island in Barataria Bay just off the the coast of Louisiana.

PELICAN COVERED IN OIL: An oiled bird on an island in Barataria Bay just off the the coast of Louisiana.

OIL SPILL: A worker shovels oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill off Fourchon Beach in Port Fourchon.

Veterinarians working for US Fish and Wildlife Services bathe a brown pelican at Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

Greenpeace senior campaigner Lindsey Allen walks through a patch of oil from the Deepwater Horizon on the breakwater in the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Greenpeace marine biologist Paul Horsman surveys oil pooled between reeds and brush.

Gas from the damaged Deepwater Horizon wellhead is burned by the drillship Discoverer Enterprise.

Oil drips from the rubber gloves of Greenpeace Marine Biologist Paul Horsman.

Dispersed oil floats on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico waters close to the site of the BP oil spill.

Dispersed oil caught in the wake of a transport boat floats on the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 15 miles northwest of site of the BP oil spill.

OIL STAINED: A cattle egret stained by oil rests on the deck of the supply vessel Joe Griffin, at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana.

OIL SPILL: A wall constructed to protect the northern shore of Dauphin Island, from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is shown in this aerial photograph.

OIL SLICK: Thick black waves of oil and brown whitecaps are seen off the side of the supply vessel Joe Griffin at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill containment efforts.

An oil soaked bird struggles against the side of the HOS an Iron Horse supply vessel at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

OIL SLICK: A man holds a plastic bag with oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill south of Freemason Island, Louisiana.

OIL SPILL: Demonstrators hold placards during a rally in New Orleans to demand the cleaning of coasts as oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continues to spread in the Gulf of Mexico.

OIL SPILL: Oil is seen on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico in an aerial view of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill off the coast of Mobile, Alabama.

GULF OIL SLICK: The crew of a Basler BT-67 fixed wing aircraft release oil dispersant over an oil discharge from the mobile offshore drilling unit, Deepwater Horizon, off the shore of Louisiana.

OIL SLICK: A band of oil from the BP oil spill off the coast of Louisiana floats in the water near Freemason Island.

OIL SPILL: Workers gather stormwater runoff and decayed organic matter on the beach in Gulfport, Mississippi.

OIL SPILL: The word Help is written in the sand on the beach at Gulf Shores, Alabama as workers battle to stop thousands of gallons of oil from a spill from hitting beaches.