Passport to Texas

Coastal bird watchers

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Any novice or seasoned birder worth their field guide comes to Texas for the Great Texas Birding Classic – a statewide bird watching tournament, April 15 to May 15.

08— It isn’t all about winning, it really is about fun. And I’m really happy to see that people are finally realizing this isn’t just
for hardcore birders.

Shelly Plante oversees Nature Tourism for Texas Parks and Wildlife. Don’t be surprised if during the tournament you see out of town birders roaming your communities.

38—We do see some traveling. We have a statewide weeklong tournament and there’s a statewide big day tournament. So, you can do 24 –hours and go wherever you want – from the Hill Country to the coast; you aren’t bounded by regional territory like you are in some of the other big day competitions. The statewide weeklong is six days of birding anywhere in the entire state. And so, we have a lot of teams doing that. Even though it’s a huge commitment, it’s a lot of fun. A lot of them go from west Texas, all the way down to south Texas, all the way to the upper Texas coast to the Pineywoods. So, they’re seeing 350 or more birds in a week; and, you can’t do that in a lot of states.
So, Texas is unique.

Winning teams choose where to direct funds for habitat conservation. Check out what the birders are seeing this year at birdingclassic.org.

That’s our show for today… Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Seen during 2008 Great Texas Birding Classic. What will you see?

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For the first 16 of its 19 year history, birders had to flock to coastal areas to participate in the Great Texas Birding Classic.

09— We’ve now gone statewide. So, this will be our third year to be a statewide competition, and people love it. They’re coming out to do all the different tournaments.

Shelly Plante is nature tourism manager for Texas Parks and Wildlife. The tournament has experienced 40% growth in participation since expanding statewide, and a 50% increase in funds available for grants.

23— The whole point of the event, and the reason this growth is so great, is all the money raised goes towards conservation grants for birding and birders. So, they can be enhancement grants, which can be boardwalks, or birding blinds. They might be acquisition grants, or restoration grants that restore native habitat that’s great for birds, or remove invasive species. So, it’s a really great win-win.

Since becoming statewide, Shelly Plante says they’ve seen greater diversity in habitat projects that receive funding.

11— Two years ago, we funded a community park project in Utopia, Texas – Central Texas Hill Country area – and that was our first project ever to not be on the coast. So, that was very exciting.

The event is April 15 – May 15. Registration ends April 1. Check out all the Great Texas Birding Classic tournaments and habitat projects at birdingclassic.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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This is Passport to Texas

The Great Texas Birding Classic – the world’s biggest, longest and wildest bird watching tournament – welcomes birders of all ages and abilities to form teams.

07— We’ve added some really good entry level tournaments, so beginning birders can take part; it’s not just the hard core listers anymore. Anyone can do this.

Shelly Plante is nature tourism manager for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

20— I loved seeing more families involved last year; a family of four could go out and do a sunrise to noon tournament because it’s an all ages tournament. A group of co-workers and their kids might go out and do a Big Sit, because there’s an unlimited number of people that can be on that team – it’s not a three to five person team like some of the others. So, there really is enough variety that you can find something that fits your needs.

The deadline to register a team is April 1. And your team can compete any day from April 15 to May 15.

23— And you don’t pick that ahead of time. Some people have really flexible schedules, and so they don’t tell me until 24 hours out from their tournament day that they’re going to go birding. They wait, look at weather patterns, see when birding is going to be really good. If it’s a really good birding day, and there’s a cold front, and birds are everywhere – they can just pick on the fly: “We’re going to go tomorrow; that’s our day.” And they just shoot me an email. So, it’s really flexible.

Check out all the Great Texas Birding Classic tournaments and register your team by April 1 at birdingclassic.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Event | Birding: Great Texas Birding Classic Download

Calling all twitchers, listers and dudes…The Great Texas Birding Classic invites you to form a team to watch birds.

09— It’s a really great win-win, where people are able to go birding with their friends or family. And then they’re raising money for a really great cause: conservation right here in the state of Texas.

Shelly Plante, nature tourism manager, says teams go into the field and ID bird species from a checklist over the course of a few hours or even a few days. Tournament winners determine which avian habitat conservation projects receive preservation and restoration grants.

05— And the more habitat we’re able to preserve here in the state, the more birding opportunities there are going to be for birders.

Birders of all ages and skill levels that register at birdingclassic.org by the April first deadline may participate in this statewide series of tournaments.

22—Go online. Fill out your registration form. Pay online. And then you’re ready to go. Everything I do is through email: I’m going to email you updates; I’m going to email you how to submit your checklists to be in the running for the prizes; I’m going to let you know who won, where the award ceremonies are. So, it’s all done online to save on costs so as much of this money goes to habitat conservation as possible.

The Great Texas Birding Classic, April 15 through May 15, is for beginners and advanced birders. More on the classic tomorrow.

Funding for our series provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti