Passport to Texas

You have to see ’em to catch ’em.

TPW Magazine: Ready, Aim Catch Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

David Sikes is the longtime outdoors writer for the Corpus Christi Caller Times. You can call him a multimedia journalist, but just don’t call him an expert.

02–I reject this title.

Even so, he’s the go-to guy when people in south Texas have questions about the outdoors- including sight casting-the definition of which, says Sikes, elicits broad interpretation.

12-Even a flipping bait fish, or surface bait fish, or a swirl in the water-any of those things that give you an indication through sight that there might be a predator fish down there-is, to me, sight casting.

David Sikes writes about sight casting for redfish in the June issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

12-A redfish looks pretty contrasting against a seagrass bed. It does take some adjustment; you have to have a really good pair
of polarized lenses-you have to have decent eyesight. You have to have a “practiced” eye.

Sikes’ first sight casting attempts were not fruitful.

19- When I first started doing this, I had guides who had been doing it for years who would say: “He’s right there, David. It’s right….” And I’m saying: tell me how many feet away it is. After a while, you learn what to look for. It’s a lot easier to do now
than it was before. I may not get an accurate cast to it, but at least I saw it.

Find David Sikes’ article on Sight Casting for Redfish in the June issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine. The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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

Scissor-tailed flycatcher; photo by Robert Bunch

Texas' 12 Most Beautiful Birds Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

No parent wants to openly admit they have a favorite child, just as ornithologist, Cliff Shackelford, hesitated to reveal his picks for Texas’ 12 most beautiful birds in an article for Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine’s May issue. He called it a 639 way tie.

07—The 639 is how many birds are documented in Texas; and to me, they all have some beauty in one form or another.

Cliff said his picks were not the “obvious choices.”

22— I kept out—purposefully—birds that most people would agree are super gorgeous and super obvious; things like: Northern Cardinal, Cedar Waxwing, Painted Bunting… You can’t be a ‘shoe in’. And I think some of these birds are considers a shoe in, but [sigh] too much bling, too much gaudiness, like in a painted bunting—to me—kept it off the list.

In fact, the color of a bird’s plumage had less to do with it making the list of beautiful birds than did its behavior.

20— And I pointed that out in the article. Some birds maybe didn’t have the jazziest colors, but they excelled in other ways. Like, the Swallow-tailed Kite is a very simple black and white
bird, but the Swallow-tailed Kite makes up for it with its graceful flight—very effortlessly soaring against a blue sky—is just, to me, breathtaking and beautiful.

Which birds made Cliff Shackelford’s list for most beautiful? Find out in the May issue of TPW magazine. What’s on your list of beautiful Texas birds? Tell us at passporttotexas.org.

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

TPW Mag: Nature Without Borders Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Men create borders which nature ignores.

07—Down in the Big Bend area there’s a heck of a lot of nature and there’s a border running right through it and the animals and plants just don’t care.

Nature Without Borders is an article by writer Melissa Gaskill for the April issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine. She explores how the US and Mexico coordinate their efforts to preserve our shared flora and fauna.

20—They’ve actually been collaborating for a really long time in trying to work together. This is really one big ecosystem – the Chihuahuan desert. The way to protect it and effectively manage it, you really have to do that by cooperating on both sides. One side can’t be doing half the job and the other side doing a completely different half the job. It just wouldn’t work that well.

One of the biggest challenges both sides face is the shear vastness of the area in question, but that’s not all.

20—We’re talking about three million acres all told, and that’s a lot of ground to cover for anybody. The fact that there’s an international border in the middle of it—even when you can cross—it just complicates things. You have two governments; two very different approaches to conservation between the two countries; you have a language issue. And then there are the specific challenges in terms of the types of animals out there.

We’ll hear about those tomorrow. The April issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine is available on newsstands and for download on the new Magazine APP. Find download information at tpwmagazine.com.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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

Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine on an iPad.

Tech: Adding Tech Spice to a Well-Seasoned Magazine Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine has a new app.

09— This is a digital delivery of the magazine; you’ll be able to download it to a device like an iPad, and then you’ll be able to carry it with you.

Publisher, Randy Brudnicki says the app provides the core content of the print edition. But, Art Director Nathan Adams says the experience is entirely new.

21— It would be like if you took Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and handed the sheet music to Yo Yo Ma – a classical cellist – you’d expect a certain performance to come out of that. If you handed it over to Elvis Costello and the Roots, you’re going to get a completely deferent feel; different sound from that experience. Although the core music is the same, the experience is very different.

Elements of discoverability in the app will keep outdoor loving techies engaged, says Brudnicki.

11— So I think people will be able to say: ‘Well, what happens if I touch here? What happens if I hit this button, or swipe this way? What happens? We’ll have some instructions, but we’ll
leave some of that discoverability up to the reader.

Free to download from the iTunes store, the app includes video, audio, and a variety of free content. Readers may purchase the magazine individually or as a subscription—print or digital.

11—You’ll be able to tie in the digital version with your print version if you want, and you can do a combo buy, where you can get both the print and the iPad version for just a few dollars more.

Find details on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Evolution of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine

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Before Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine Art Director, Nathan Adams started work on an app for the publication, he wanted to know:

03— How do people interact with digital media?

Whereas print readers may find a comfy chair to sit and digest content at a leisurely pace, digital readers consume their content on the go.

06— [So] it was very important to me that we didn’t just take the print version and throw it onto an app.

The app addresses expectations of younger readers coming to the magazine.

08— It‘s not just a matter of reading, but there’s interactivity; there’s an expectation that you can touch and that the app will react to swipes and touches and whatnot.

Adams said these new readers expect traditional print content integrated with the agility, innovation, and depth of a digital platform.

32—[As well as] the expectation of always being connected and of always having whatever information you wanted right at your fingertips. So, for example, if you were reading in the magazine about an activity at a state park, there is an expectation digitally that you should be able to push a button and find out how to get to that state park. How far away is it from where I’m at? Is there a map to that state park? What are the hours? All of that information which would be very labor intensive, very space intensive, in a printed publication becomes just a tap away in a digital version.

The user experience; that’s tomorrow.

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