Birding News and Features

Many New Ebird Features Added

1) eBird Checklist Sharing

2) Determining when and where a species was last seen in a county or at a hotspot

3) Photo Uploads

4) Users may Merge personal locations with shared Hotspots

5) Over 1,000 ebird hotspots in Texas submitted by users and over 20,000 hotspots submitted overall

Post-Ike Upper Texas Coast Birding Update

The Inspiration of Louis Agassiz Fuertes

A few months ago my friend Randy Pinkston wrote a short note on Texbirds that talked about the art of Louis Agassiz Fuertes and his relationship to Texas. I too have seen many of the old photos from the Oberholser/Fuertes 1901 Trans-Pecos journey, and I marvel at how much they accomplished in such difficult surroundings. How they would have marveled at the worst of our challenges being whether or not we might need a four-wheel drive SUV to carry us to the upper reaches of Pine Canyon! Thank goodness that Fuertes lives on in the Fuertes Red-tailed Hawks that so commonly winter here (as well as his art that illustrates Oberholser's Birdlife of Texas).

Texas Bird Conservation Alliance

The fledgling Texas Bird Conservation Alliance (TBCA) will be meeting in conjunction with the 4th International Partners in Flight convention 13-16 February, 2008, in McAllen, Texas. The TBCA gathering will be held on 13 February from 8 AM until 5 PM at the McAllen Convention Center in Room 102A. Anyone interested in bird conservation in Texas is invited to attend.