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ZEISS sponsored LSU Tiger Herons win the College Challenge at the Great Texas Birding Classic
Each year, during Texas’ amazing spring migration, for 7 days the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory sponsor the Great Texas Birding Classic. During this weeklong event, birders from around the globe converge on the Texas coast for fun and friendly team birding. The Classic has three main purposes: to help promote bird habitat conservation, to increase public awareness of Texas bird diversity, and to promote community nature tourism development. There are opportunities
to improve your bird identification skills, participate in local community birding activities, attend Classic sanctioned events and raise money for avian habitat conservation. Birders of all ages are invited to attend for one day or all week of the Classic.
The LSU Tiger Herons, ZEISS's team in the Classic this year, were: Richard Gibbons, Coordinator, Louisiana Bird Resource Center, LSU Museum of Natural Science; graduate students in Biological Sciences and undergraduate students in Biological Sciences Phred Benham, Devin Eby-Bosler, Justin Eby-Bosler, and Jacob Saucier.
Richard Gibbons, the team leader, recounts part of the day's highlights:
“As we were leaving the Pineywoods, we were resigned to have missed Swallow-tailed Kite and Bald Eagle. We didn't locate them during scouting. As we raced south along a rolling, dense pine-lined county road, someone called out "Turkey Vulture!" as a distant dark bird was flying low over the highway toward us. The feigned excitement was to accentuate the first of many Turkey Vultures for the day. Within seconds it was clear that this was not a Turkey Vulture, but an adult Bald Eagle! It maintained
its course low over the road and we crossed paths. What a rush it was!”
“Later in the day wading through the Yellow Rail Prairie at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge with rope and rock-filled plastic jugs in tow, we flushed a Yellow Rail. This may not sound all that exciting since we were in the Yellow Rail Prairie, but most were thought to have already migrated and they are always difficult to find. It was a lifer for a couple of the guys.”
“At the end of the day we went back to Anahuac and I tried my best Black Rail vocalization as we sat on top of the van trying to get above the mosquitoes. "Kee Kee Durrr", the guys laughed at my attempts, but a chorus of various rails began and finally a distinct "Kee Kee Durrr" sounded clear as a bell. Phred asked "Was that you?" knowing that I had either vastly improved my mimicking or that we had finally heard the ever-elusive Black Rail. What a great way to finish
the day.”
“The Great Texas Birding Classic is birding with a purpose. In ten years, the classic has raised a quarter of a million dollars for bird habitat restoration and protection. If quantified, the amount of public outreach for birds, nature tourism, and habitat conservation would far exceed this figure and we are honored to be a part of this tradition. This was the first team from LSU to compete in the classic and we were happy to spice things up a bit.”
Sponsoring the LSU team and providing them with optics for their use is just part of the renewed effort at ZEISS to support birding and the birding community. We are a small company, with limited resources, but we do our best to identify efforts that are making a difference. Go LSU Tiger Herons!
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