Archive for Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival
Festin’ Year-Round
Posted by: | CommentsThe 2009 event was stellar, and we’re busy working on making 2010 even more so. Me/Marci/Chair of the RGVBF has been traveling to other Festivals to talk to folks about joining us here in November. Last week of January found me at the Space Coast Birding Festival in Titusville Florida. First week of March I’ll be in San Diego at the Audubon-sponsored Birding Festival there. Also, look for our booth at FeatherFest in Galveston in April.
Here’s a pic of me in Festival-promo-mode:
So, if you happen to be at any of these other events, stop by the RGVBF booth and say hi!
And in November 2010, it’ll be you. Here. With us and the Green Jays.
In the meantime, enjoy cruising about the website. Some highlights:
To see a smattering of fun around-the-event scenes, visit our Flickr page.
To keep tuned for 2010’s even greater event – subscribe to our blog in the orange box to the right.
To become a FAN, visit our Facebook Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival page.
Also, follow us on Twitter.
And, a special thanks to our bloggers-on-site. You can ogle their wonderful words and pix by clicking on their namelinks, below.
Some of the Bloggers who attended the 2009 RGVBF:
Laura Kammermeier from Birds, Words, & Websites
Christopher Ciccone from Picus Blog
Chris Petrak from Tails of Birding
Eric Bruder from Boring Birding
Mike Freiberg from Birding to the EDG
2009: A Good Year for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival
Posted by: | CommentsThe RGVBF, in its 16th year, has aged beautifully. Thanks to all—leaders, speakers, sponsors, vendors, volunteers, and especially, attendees. You are the ingredients that made this Festival rich, robust, and replete with the heady undernotes of success. (Hey, Burning Hawk – like our wine metaphor here?).
Here’s Danny the Prez and Marci the Chair thanking EVERYONE in the world (Okay, yeah, it’s Sunday. We’re a little punchy):
To see a smattering of fun around-the-event scenes, visit our Flickr page.
To keep tuned for 2010’s even greater event – subscribe to our blog in the orange box to the right.
To become a FAN, visit our Facebook Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival page.
And, a special thanks to our bloggers-on-site. You can ogle their wonderful words and pix by clicking on their namelinks, below.
Next year, it’ll be you. Here. With us and the Green Jays.
Some of the Bloggers who attended the RGVBF:
Laura Kammermeier from Birds, Words, & Websites
Christopher Ciccone from Picus Blog
Chris Petrak from Tails of Birding
Eric Bruder from Boring Birding
Mike Freiberg from Birding to the EDG
The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival Goes Beyond
Posted by: | CommentsThe Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival Goes Beyond
Beyond what? Beyond looking at birds. Beyond listing. Beyond the hobby.
Don’t get me wrong—all that is great fun, and fun is what we’re about.
But we want to morph that fun into worthy things that make a difference as well. And one of the main ways we do that is our kids programs.
Once upon a time, I used to be the Education Chair. One year I was hanging the Student Art Contest winners, and Kenn Kaufman stopped to admire some of the amazing stuff these kids had produced. For example:
He said to me,”You are doing the real work of this Festival.” Of course, I puffed right up like a rooster. But it was terrific that the effort of reaching kids was recognized.
These days, Susan Hoehne, who is also Education Director at the nearby Valley Nature Center, does a terrific job of running the kids programs. These include the Art/Writing Contest (prizes including really nice binoculars courtesy of Eagle Optics), a Friday morning school kid program (in which the auditorium is invaded by busloads of happy students getting to see Jonathan Wood’s live birds), the weekend family area of activities we call Kiskadee Korner (face painting this year!), and Saturday morning bird walks (‘so that’s the one I see in my backyard!’).
Even if you just reach one child per year in a solid, positive, enlightening way…well, then the RGVBF has gone beyond.
The Art of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival
Posted by: | CommentsFor sixteen years, the RGVBF has generated amazing and lovely bird art from some of our foremost artists—Kenn Kaufman, David Sibley, John O’Neill, Tony Bennett, to name just a few—always featuring a special Valley bird. I thought it’d be fun to see them all together, so here is a line-up of the entire collection of event posters:
And this year we’ve worked with Oregon’s Ram Papish to offer the vibrant Golden-fronted Woodpeckers that you see on the home page. The original painting will be on display and available for purchase in the Birder’s Bazaar silent auction area. T-shirts in men’s green and ladies cut yellow will be sold. Also, the event poster itself is available, complete with carrying tube.
We’re proud of our ongoing tradition of generating fine bird art. It’s just one of the cool components of the RGVBF.
A Flock of Vendors: The Birder’s Bazaar at the RGVBF
Posted by: | CommentsWho’s happy about the RGV Birding Festival? Our excited registrants, our energetic staff, our enthusiastic leaders, our enlightening speakers, and Santa.
Wait…what…Santa?
Yup. He’s happy because if you shop for Christmas at the Birder’s Bazaar Trade Show, his job is a little easier. And it’s a great place to do so, with some special vendors this year. To highlight a few:
Charley Harper Studios. Featuring a unique graphic style. Prints, cards, etc – there’s no one like him. Above, his Green Jay.
Duckie and the Grackle. The Tiny Birdsongs book, for all ages.
Silver Breeze. A jewelry maker specializing in inlaid silver pieces. Really lovely stuff.
Daniel Adams. A bird artist who’s recently chosen the Valley as his home, and hails from a long time career with Disneyworld.
Petal Paddles. Designing interesting woodcraft plant pot holders—hang ‘em, stack ‘em….
Mesquite Coastal Carvings. Birds and sea creatures still holding the spirit of the wood. Picture below.
Plus the Birder’s Bazaar is always THE place to upgrade your optics. Visit these booths:
Buy a new field guide or the latest book. Plan your next trip. Bid on bargains in the silent auction. And all while you win a door prize, sip a little wine, ogle a live owl or hawk. Thursday 12th – Sunday 15th. Join in the fun of this friendly event.
A SWAP: Sabal Palm Sanctuary for a Secret Jewel
Posted by: | CommentsRio Grande Valley Birding Festival ‘09 Trip Announcement
Texas Audubon had to close its Sabal Palm Sanctuary temporarily in May. They had hoped to reopen it by mid-October, but unfortunately that cannot be so.
The Nature Conservancy's Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve
The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival trips scheduled to visit Sabal Palm will instead visit The Nature Conservancy’s Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve [Southmost]. Southmost is located just east of Sabal Palm, not even a mile away, and has very similar habitats and birds. This jewel is normally closed to birders and the public, but we have made special arrangements for Festival-goers to be able to visit this preserve.
TNC’s “Secret” Southmost Preserve
Both properties have well deserved reputations, with Southmost a well-kept “secret” among the locals here in South Texas. We regret the necessity of moving this trip, but we are sure that you will enjoy the rare opportunity to visit TNC’s “Secret” Southmost Preserve!
MANY TRIPS CLOSE TO FULL – DON’T MISS OUT – REGISTER NOW!
Let’s Meet!
Posted by: | CommentsRGVBF Volunteer: Lupita Lucio
Lupita Lucio wears many hats for the Festival – literally! She’s our cap/t-shirt/patch person. But she also spearheads the fun Kiskadee Kordial social, provides coffee and goodies for our vendors, and she and her husband are long-time supporters of the Festival.
A retired R.N., she was born and raised right here in Harlingen. Both her community service and world travels are wide-ranging. So are her interests—cooking, gardening, birding, dancing, and exercise. She has run the Honolulu Marathon twice.
Special guests vie for her guesthouse, situated behind her lovely home that looks out over the native brush of the Arroyo Colorado, which you can see in the background of the picture. Her yard and gardens support a variety of wildlife, including bobcats, scores of our special birds, and an interesting damselfly, the Smoky Rubyspot.
Lupita says, “Come on down to Harlingen! We will have fun!”
For the Kiskadee Kordial, Burning Hawk Wines from California joins us, pouring red and white. The RGVBF recently paired them up with the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, a partnership combining a percentage of wine sales and migratory bird conservation. Just one of the significant ripple effects of the event…beyond the pure fun of it…
Let’s Meet!
Posted by: | CommentsRGVBF VOLUNTEER: KAY HANVY
I retired from government service in 2006. My husband transferred to Ottawa, Canada where we lived for a year before retiring. We returned to Harlingen and bought a home with natural landscaping and a Koi pond; one of the main ingredients for great bird watching. The pond is a year around magnet for hummingbirds, orioles, doves, whistling ducks, warblers, finches, cardinals, hawks, purple martins and a variety of other wildlife. We just love our new hobby of sitting and watching the birds that come in for a bath or drink from the pond.
Volunteering for the RGV Birding Festival has been a real eye opener for me. I didn’t realize that there were so many dedicated people of all ages and walks of life volunteering their time and determination to make this festival a success. The Rio Grande Valley is a birding paradise that birders from everywhere need to experience. The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival is a must see.
The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival on Birding Adventures TV
Posted by: | CommentsWell, maybe. Since I was the one being interviewed, and I’m horrible on camera, maybe we’ll end up on the editing room floor.
But it was fun nonetheless. Birding Adventures TV (www.birdingadventures.com), with host James Currie, is being aired on some national FOX channels – try to catch it in your area. James and his camera man/producer Jeff Aderman were in the Valley last week doing episodes here that are slated to air early in 2010. Our bit with them was to find and film Harlingen’s Red-crowned Parrots coming into roost.
Left to right: Rich Hoyer, WINGS birding tour guide, James Currie (looking dubious at something I’m saying), me (saying something like oops, another take please!), Jeff Aderman. Here’s another, just for fun:
And Red-crowneds we had galore – a great noisy swirling flock of them. At one point they were silhouetted against a saturated rainbow, as they squawked and seemingly argued with each other about roost choices.
It’s generally agreed that our countable population is a mix of naturally-occurring partially-vagrant natives plus an addition of released wild-caught caged birds from the 60’s. They are a vibrant part of our community. The Festival runs afternoon parrot tours, so you can come down and join the fun hunt about town.
Let’s Meet!
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Mary and Dickens
RGVBF VOLUNTEER PROFILE: MARY GUSTAFSON
Mary Gustafson is one of those rare lucky people where work and play overlap a great deal. For the past four years she has worked as a bird conservation biologist for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, working as Coordinator for the Rio Grande Joint Venture, a new bird conservation partnership. Mary is Co-Chair of the Field Trip Committee with John Yochum of TPWD’s Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco. Mary ran the Lower Rio Grande Valley Rare Bird Alert hotline for 2 years before asking John to take over for the summer this year.
Mary has been watching birds since she was about 6 years old, largely due to her grandfather’s influence. She got serious about actively seeking birds at 14 when Robert Segedi of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History got her interested in the more scientific side of birding. She’s lived or worked in Ohio, New Jersey, Washington, Ontario, Maryland, and Texas. Mary was part of a team that won the World Series of Birding “a long time ago” and organized the team that won the “Big Sit!” of the Great Texas Birding Classic in 2009. She still holds the record for a big year in Delaware.
Bird Banding
South Padre Island Pelagic-Summer '09
Mary loves nothing more than a bird identification puzzle to work on. One of Mary’s real passions is pelagic birding, and she loves to go out on the ocean and see what turns up. In her free time when she’s not working or birding she has three horses that she finds time to ride.
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