Passport to Texas

Birding in Weslaco in the Rio Grande Valley

It's Good to Have a Ringer in Your Circle Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

When I hear the word ringer, I think unfair advantage. Yet, wringers are “good guys” and encouraged in the Great Texas Birding Classic’s Big Sit tournament.

You can have a team with all people who are beginning, and then they just have to be sure they have a ringer or two on their team who can ID the bird for them for it to go on their list.

That’s Texas Parks and Wildlife Nature Tourism coordinator, Shelly Plante who oversees the event. She told me our colleague, Bob Sweeney, an attorney, is a Big Sit ringer.

You know, I’ve been fascinated with birds since childhood, and even in high school I was out in the field and woods with my binoculars and my book. I just think it’s an exciting, dynamic part of the natural world, and pretty easy if you’re willing to put a little time into it to develop a minimum level of knowledge.

Bob has done that and more, and says he enjoys helping beginning birders gain knowledge and confidence.

I think any teacher has a great feeling when they feel like someone in the class gets it. Someone snaps to it. That Eureka moment may come, not during the Big Sit, but it may be something that was learned during the Big Sit that is then used in the backyard, or used on a hike or communicated to another person who is wanting to start out, so maybe the light bulb when it goes on is the confidence to transmit that knowledge—I know what that is. I saw it in the Big Sit. And here’s why I think it’s that.

The Great Texas Birding Classic is April 15 through May 15th. Stay on top of the action at birdingclassic.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Friends working together to identify birds in the Birding Classic’s Big Sit Tournament.

The Birding Classic's Big Sit Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Does sitting outdoors in a circle with friends and family sound like a birding tournament to you? It is, and it’s called The Big Sit.

 We call them lovingly the tailgate party for birders. Because really it’s wherever you can set up a 17-foot diameter circle. Be that your backyard, a local park, a state park – anywhere that makes sense for you to be able to see a good group of birds and to spend a day with friends and family.

The Big Sit is one of the tournaments of the Great Texas Birding Classic, in its 20th year. Shelly Plante, nature tourism manager at TPW, coordinates event.

You can have as few as one person on your team, to as many as you can fit in that circle throughout the course of the day. And people can come in shifts. They don’t have to stay for the whole 24 hours. So, you could have a morning group, a midafternoon group. You could have them come throughout the day. No one has to stay there the entire time.

The Big Sit tournament is ideal for novice birdwatchers.

The Big Sit is great for beginners, because it lets you get your feet wet in the Birding Classic, and see what a bird watching tournament really is. Once you get your confidence in The Big Sit it’s easier to move on to doing a Sunrise to Noon tournament; it’s easier to say hey, I want to do a Big Day where I drive around to a lot of places. And so we have tournaments for that as well.

The Great Texas Birding Classic is April 15 through May 15th. Team registration closed April 1st, but you can stay on top of the action at birdingclassic.org.

The Great Texas Birding Classic

The Birding Classic for Beginners Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

For those who don’t know how the various birdwatching tournaments of The Great Texas Birding Classic unfold…

Groups of people go out and birdwatch for a half a day or a day and even as much as a week. And, they go out with their friends and family to see how many birds they can identify in a short amount of time, and the team with the most species on their list wins. Except for one tournament.

That one tournament is The Big Sit. Shelly Plante is the nature tourism manager at Texas Parks and Wildlife, and coordinates the Great Texas Birding Classic, now in its 20th year.

The Big Sit is a fun one. In the Birding Classic, most of the tournament categories, everyone has to ID a bird for it to go on a list, but not the Big Sit.

In the Big Sit, Plante says only one team member has to ID a bird for it to make the list, either by sight or sound.

It’s the perfect event for the new birder. You can have a team with all people who are beginning, and then they just have to be sure they have a ringer or two on their team who can ID the bird for them for it to go on their list. And it turns into a really fun day for people.

The Great Texas Birding Classic is April 15 through May 15th. Team registration is closed for this year, but you can stay on top of the action 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

Birding Classic Poster 2016

The Birding Classic is Back for Year 20 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Calling all twitchers, listers and dudes…The 20th Annual Great Texas Birding Classic invites you to form a team to watch birds.

 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.

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.

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.

Celebrate 20 years of great birding with The Great Texas Birding Classic, April 15 through May 15, is for beginners and advanced birders.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Various Purple Martin Houses.

Purple Martins Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Purple Martins begin to travel across Texas this month, stopping to nest in birdhouses designed for them. They rely on our help because they’ve adapted to manmade “nest boxes” originally constructed from gourds by Native Americans.

Yet, opinions vary about how this relationship between bird and man began. Some believe native people placed gourds on the ends of their teepee poles to intentionally attract the purple martins. The birds provided insect control, and chased off creatures that tried to eat game left out to dry by the hunters.

Other martin enthusiasts believe the relationship was accidental. Native Americans hung gourds high off the ground to prevent rotting, and rodents from chewing holes in them. The clever rodents found and chewed holes in the gourds, just the same.

The purple martins, while hunting for a nesting cavity spotted openings in the gourds, and nested inside them. Living close to man meant fewer predators—and they did eat pesky insects. Their symbiotic relationship allegedly evolved from there.

Whatever the truth, today’s purple martin houses are either “gourd-type” single-family dwellings made from polyethylene, or “house-type” multi-family units made out of aluminum, or wood. And they remain a great bird to have around the house.

That’s out show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.