BIRDING CLASSIC, 1: Watching birds to conserve 
habitat ... details on Passport to Texas
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PTT from TPW and the Wildlife Restoration Program

Spring migration brings out the birdwatcher in all 
of us. The twelfth Annual Great Texas Birding Classic 
offers birders from across North America a chance to 
spot species for a cause.

The birding classic is a great event to go out in the 
field and see as many birds as possible with your 
friends and families for a great cause, which is
habitat conservation on the Texas coast. :09

Shelley Plante is nature tourism coordinator for Parks 
and Wildlife. This year's Birding Classic is April 27 
through May 4. Teams pay entry fees, which fund 
habitat conservation.

We've now donated five hundred and seventy eight thousand 
dollars to habitat conservation projects on the Texas 
coast. Acquisition and restoration are the things that 
people want to fund; the teams are the ones that get to 
pick which projects get funded every year, and they 
consistently pick restoration and acquisition projects, 
because that's what we need for the birds that migrating. 
We need more habitat that is pristine and in its natural 
state, either by restoring habitat that is already owned, 
or by acquiring habitat that might do on to development. :27

While team registration is over, statewide nature-viewing 
opportunities are not.

We have a migration calendar of events that comes out 
every year in the May issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife 
magazine. And that lists activities from May of 2008 
through May of 2009 that you can do statewide. :11

Learn more about the Classic at passporttotexas.org.

That's our show ... For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm 
Cecilia Nasti.