Passport to Texas

Nature Photography in Texas © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

TPWD Photography Contest, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Grab your camera or your camera phone and get to a state park. Texas State Parks Outdoor Activity of the month for March is photography and nature viewing.

03 – Go to the closest state park and take lots of photos

Chase Fountain is a professional photographer working for Texas Parks and Wildlife. Now through April 30, when you upload your Texas State Park photos to our Flickr photo sharing account, you’re entered into a contest.

24–[For first place] the nice folks at Whole Earth provision Company provided us with a Go Pro camera, which does high definition video; it’s also an 11 mega pixel camera. It has a lot of different attachments where you can put it on your helmet, on your bike on your canoe; it’s completely waterproof up to 197
feet. Second prize is going to be a weekend camping excursion at a state park of your choice; and third place is the Texas Outdoor Family workshop for six.

Chase is one of the contest judges.

20 –The winner is going to be based on composition creativity and overall impression. I want real good family oriented type shots – the more the better. You don’t have to be a professional photographer to come up with great shots. Some of the better shots are from a mom and her kids out in the park, and they just take a great shot. I’m always amazed. And I’m the first one to say: that’s a great shot.

Go to www.texasstateparks.org/photography for complete details.

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

Nature Viewing and Photography © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

TPWD Photography Contest, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s not unusual to see people snapping photos in state parks. The beautiful scenery makes it nearly impossible to take a bad photograph.

04 – It’s just waiting for the right time of the day to take the right shot; a lot of its just luck.

Chase Fountain is a professional photographer working for Texas Parks and Wildlife. Every month the agency highlights state park outdoor activity of the month.

07 –And for March it’s photography and nature viewing. Grab your kids, grab your camera – go to the closest state park –and take lots of photos.

Through April 30th, enter your state park pictures in the Texas State Parks photo contest. Anything goes.

21 – Just everyday activities that you experience at a park; if it’s your kid and they catch a fish for the very first time and their eyes are wide open and they’re very excited get that shot. Share that moment. If you’re taking a nice walk, and you get lucky enough to come up on some wildlife, take that picture. If it’s a beautiful sunset? Absolutely — take that picture. You don’t have to have expensive cameras; your phone is just fine. They take wonderful pictures these days.

Prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place.

Go to www.texasstateparks.org/photography for complete details. We’ll have more on the contest tomorrow.

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

The Great Texas Birding Classic 2013 Poster

Wildlife: The Great Texas Birding Classic, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Texas provides important habitat for species migrating throughout the US and North America. The annual Great Texas Birding Classic – April 15th through May 15th –raises money to conserve that habitat.

09—By paying entry fees, by getting a sponsor for your team, you are donating money to grants that we’re going to award for habitat projects here in our state.

Shelly Plant nature tourism manager for Texas Parks and Wildlife, says the tournament is statewide this year, with an expanded date range, creating new opportunities for birders.

30—We have made this so easy for anyone, anywhere in the state to participate by going statewide. You can now go in your backyard; you can go down the street to your favorite park. You could travel wherever you wanted and you can do this anywhere. In addition, by having it opened up from April 15 to May 15, and your pick whatever day you want to participate, it makes it very easy to blend with whatever your schedule is. So, hopefully, we’ll have more teams than ever before, which means more registration fees, which means larger grants than we’ve ever given, which is better for the birds.

There are tournaments for all ages, interests, and abilities…and registration fees are lower than they’ve ever been.

06—So, hopefully, by taking these steps, we’ve made this as easy as possible for anyone who likes biding or birds to get out here and participate in the birding classic.

The Great Texas Birding Classic is April 15 through May 15, and registration deadline is April 1st. Find details at www.birdingclassic.org.

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

Birdwatching in Texas

Birding: Great Texas Birding Classic Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

What started 17 years ago as a way for Texas Parks and Wildlife to promote its Coastal Birding Trails and fund conservation projects, the Great Texas Birding Classic has since become one of the country’s premier birding tournaments.

08—The birding classic allows you to test your skills and see how you rank against other birders here, in one of the best birding locations in the world.

Shelly Plante oversees nature tourism for the agency. Once held exclusively along the Texas coast, this year the tournament is statewide.

07—You can now go in your backyard; you can go down the street to your favorite park; you can travel wherever you wanted, and you can do this anywhere.

The Birding classic has also expanded the date range.

29—For the first time ever, we’re having a very long range of dates for the tournament: from April 15th through May 15th. You get to pick what day you participate. You can pick that based on the weather, on your team’s schedules –whatever works for you. In the past we designated specific days for a tournament, and everybody had to compete on those specific days regardless of weather. Well, now, you can watch weather patterns. And if there’s affront that going to ground some birds and make it a great day for birding, you can go out on that day.

More in the Birding Classic tomorrow.

That’s our show for today…with support from the Wildlife and Sport fish Restoration Program…providing funding for a variety of conservation projects throughout Texas.

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

50th Anniversary: Share Your Memories Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Help Texas Parks and Wildlife celebrate 50 years of making life better outside by sharing your favorite Texas outdoor stories, as well as your outdoor photos and videos – from long ago or yesterday.

Everything is better when you share it; upload photos that show how Texas Parks and Wildlife has touched your life. It could be a special moment at a Texas State Park, your child’s first fish, or that 30-year-old snapshot of hunting with your granddad.

Tell us your story, from the past or present, and you could be featured on the Passport to Texas radio series, the PBS Television Show, and our YouTube channel. We’ll select the most compelling stories and send out a producer to capture them.

We’ll curate our favorite photos and share them on our website and social media outlets. We hope to end up with the biggest scrapbook of outdoor memories in Texas!

We have directions online describing how to label your photos, videos and stories when you send them to us.

All photographs must be your own work and you must own the right to distribute the image. You must have the consent of those whose faces are visible in the image, too.

Log onto tpwd.state.tx.us/50years… tpwd.state.tx.us… forward slash…the number fifty … years…and start sharing your memories of the Great Texas outdoors today.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…Cecilia Nasti