For the past eight years Rio Brazos Audubon Society has taken part in the ‘Great Texas Birding Classic’. Billed as ‘the Biggest, Longest, Wildest Birdwatching Tournament in the U.S.’, this annual charity event, run by Texas parks and Wildlife is now in its twenty fifth year, and has raised over a million dollars towards conservation projects around the State! Our own team ‘Brazos Banditry’, named after the collective name for a group of Chickadees or Titmice, has raised thousands towards this total, largely thanks to generous sponsorship by our local bird feed and optics store ‘Moore Wild birds’ (https://www.moorewildbirds.com). Importantly, the event has also helped raise public awareness of the problems facing migrating birds and the vital role our local parks provide in ensuring refuge for them during the epic journeys they undertake during Spring and Fall migration. Incredibly, for many species, these migrations occur over colossal distances, between their Winter homes in Central- and South America and their breeding grounds in the boreal forests of Canada and the Northern United States.
During the tournament, people from all over Texas compete within a number of categories to see who can record the highest number of bird species in, or from a defined area. This can range from literally the entire state to, in our case a fifty foot diameter circle in a local park. Termed a ‘Big Sit’ contest, ‘Brazos Banditry’ team members compete with other groups around the State by working shifts within the circle over a twenty four period, listing the species they see or hear. Our ‘Big Sit’ circle is generally placed in Brison Park, College Station’s oldest park, a favorite of local bird watchers since the 1920s and termed by local bird expert Bert Frenz as the “most accessible, most concentrated and most prolific migrant trap in the county”. Migrant traps are areas in which migrating birds become concentrated during passage, often following a strong opposing wind, or rain. They provide critical refuge for exhausted species, many of which on their Spring, northbound journey may have flown across the Gulf of Mexico. They also provide the keen observer the chance to rack up sightings of large number of species including more difficult to observe birds which under more favorable conditions may prefer harder to access locations such as the forest canopy. This incredible spectacle occurs every Spring and to a lesser degree during the Fall when sightings tend to be less frequent and over a longer time span.
Written By: Mark McDermott – College Station, Texas
Mark is a long time member of Rio Brazos Audubon, a Texas Master Naturalist and a Research Scientist in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine at Texas A&M University.