GREAT TEXAS BIRDING CLASSIC, 1: Changes to the Great 
Texas Birding Classic make it bigger and better in 2013 
...details ahead on Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

What started 17 years ago as a way for TPW 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 WFR 
program ... providing funding for a variety of conservation 
projects throughout Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti.



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