Passport to Texas

Birding in the Rio Grande Valley

Birding: Big List Birding Pitfalls Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

With enough time and money, dedicated birders can compile “life lists” (of species they’ve observed) numbering in the thousands.

11— Their lists are their life experiences. When they look through the list they can relive the incredible memories they’ve had traveling the world, going to exotic places, and seeing incredible things.

Russell Roe, managing editor of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine, wrote about “big listers” for the August / September issue. These folks exceeded the 8,000-bird level; only about two dozen people in the world can claim this accomplishment. Why so few? Chasing after the big list affects more than just the birder.

11— You do hear tales of birders who spend months on the road, and miss their family’s birthdays and strain their marriages and everything else.

What motivates these people? Roe says for one subject in his article named David Shackelford, it was a chance encounter with a bird.

23— David Shackelford grew up at Pedernales Falls State Park, and he told the story of having this encounter with a Golden Cheeked Warbler. He was climbing up a cliff to get a closer look at a plant. And he heard a Golden Cheeked Warbler; it landed on his finger. He just had this incredible connection to this bird. To me, he was always trying to relive that connection by going out and trying to find all these birds in the world.

Read this article in the August/September 2013 issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine.

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

Birders at the beach, image Texas Parks and Wildlife

Birding: Big List Birders Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

There are birders…and then there are birders.

15— Some birders can spend a lot of time and a lot of money and they’ll see maybe four thousand or five thousand birds in their lifetime. So, seeing eight thousand birds like these two people have, really requires very extensive amounts of travel where you’re going to every single corner of the globe.

The two people are David Shackelford and Phil Rostron. Writer, Russell Roe, penned an article about the men for the August/September issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine.

He says these men rank among the top ten “big listers” worldwide. They have each seen and listed more than 8-thousand bird species apiece.

08— There are about 10-thousand known species, and once you get up to those certain levels, it gets harder and harder to reach another level.

Reaching new levels is not just harder, it is also more expensive…

12—Phil Rostron says his cost per bird keeps going up Every trip he used to see maybe 200 new species on a trip, and now he’s lucky to see 20 new species on a trip. And he’s spending the same amount of money on the same type of trip.

More on big list birding tomorrow… Find this article in the August/September 2013 issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine.

Support provided by Ram Trucks. Doing what’s right and good regardless of the degree of difficulty — takes guts. Those are the people who build Ram trucks. RAM.

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

Environment for the Americas

Birding Event: International Migratory Bird Day, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

International Migratory Bird Day falls on the second Saturday in May in both the US and Canada.

04-We encourage groups to host a program or an event when it works for them and the birds.

Susan Bonfield is Executive Director of Environment for the Americas, which coordinates this international event. She says the goal is for attendees to experience birds firsthand.

12-I want people to go to these programs and have one of their first opportunities to see a bird. To use binoculars, to use a field guide, to get excited about birds, and to want to become involved in bird conservation.

Find events at www.birdday.org. But if you can’t get to one, don’t fret.

25-You know, your backyard is just a great place to celebrate migratory bird day. I think that anything you do around your house to help conserve birds—we have information up on the website about threats to birds, and what you can do to minimize the threats at your home. Any improvement of habitat in your yard, cleaning your bird feeders. Any very basic and practical activities are a wonderful way to help conserve birds.

You can also just sit in a lawn chair in your yard with a beverage and binoculars and see who comes along.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and funds conservation projects in Texas.

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

Image Courtesy National Park Service

Birding Event: International Migratory Bird Day, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In the early 1990s, scientists started noticing that some populations of migratory birds were declining.

10-There was a concern about what these causes were, and at the same time there was considerable interest in getting the public involved in learning more about birds and their conservation…

Susan Bonfield is Executive Director of Environment for the Americas. Her non-profit coordinates International Migratory Bird Day, an event created as a direct result of scientists’ concerns over declining avian populations.

12-Several researchers at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird center came up with the idea of hosting a public event to get communities involved in learning about birds. And that was the origins of International Migratory Bird Day.

It is the second Saturday of May for the US and Canada, and is intended to occur during peak migration. The idea is to give folks an opportunity to see these migrants.

09-That doesn’t work for everyone. So, for example, in some parts of Canada it may too early, and some parts of the United States, even, it’s a little bit too late—migratory birds have already passed over.

This time of year is excellent for bird watching in Texas. Tomorrow: celebrating birds at an event, or your own backyard.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration project supports our series…and funds diverse conservation projects in Texas.

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

Snowy Owl

State Parks: Birding Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Birding is one of the fastest growing outdoor hobbies in the United States, and Texas and its parks are major birding hot spots. Our State Park Guide Bryan Frazier tells us more.

51 – You have hundreds of different bird species, and incredibly rich and diverse birding habitats. From the lower Rio Grande Valley, all the way up to the panhandle and east Texas. You have this vast array of colors of birds. Now is the time to get out and enjoy them. You have the great Texas Birding Festival [Classic]; the 17th year it’s going on. It’s tournaments, it’s sit ins. You can do birding checklists, you can help parks do birding counts. There’s lots of different way to get involved in a public way. Or you can just sit in your backyard by your bird feeder and watch the vas array of birds that will come there. But birding, identifying the species…take your binoculars, take your camera, take your kids. And show them just how enjoyable that can be to see those creatures that live here year round or just seasonally.

Thanks, Bryan.

Find additional information at texasstateparks.org.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

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