Texas provides a home to a huge variety of birds – some temporarily, and some year-round. The state’s birders have an opportunity to enjoy the variety when the 25th annual Great Texas Birding Classic begins April 15, running through May 15. It’s a competition, sponsored in part by Texas Parks and Wildlife.
For some, birding is a lifelong passion. For others, it come later.
A love of birding takes wing by surprise
Christina Lokey is marketing director for the Beaumont Convention and Visitors Bureau. When she first took the job a few years ago, she says she wanted nothing to do with birding. But she quickly changed her mind.
“Once you see a bird through binoculars, you’re able to see so many more defining characteristics from the actual feather patterns to different colors, styles of the beaks.”
“What’s exciting for us is that, Cattail Marsh, we’ve had a pair of bald eagles that have nested there for several years, they’ve actually undergone three different sets of what would be pregnancy, if you would. And so it’s kind of interesting because we’ve been able to watch their kids grow up. We’ve been able to kind of continue to watch them. And the nest itself… an actual human being can fit inside the size of this nest. So you have to understand that bald eagles make massive nests and they’re strong. They could hold the weight of a human being.”
“If birding isn’t something that you’re interested in it, maybe it’s nature journaling. Maybe it’s just getting outdoors and going for a walk. I think we all kind of need to be able to have those locations.”