By Karen Gleason
Birders from across Texas, and the nation, winged into Del Rio this week for Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s “Birding on the Border” event.
The event began Thursday and will run through Sunday, May 2.
“We are almost full. We only have a few spots available on Sunday,” Val Verde County Extension Agent Emily Grant, one of the festival’s principle organizers, told the 830 Times earlier this week.
“This year we have added a virtual component. Saturday’s birding seminars will be virtual, and people can register for those if they don’t feel like coming in person,” Grant said.
The birding event’s full itinerary can be viewed at the following web address:
wildlife.tamu.edu/birding
The first-ever Birding on the Border seminar had been slated for April 2020, but the pandemic intervened.
“We had to cancel. We waited until the last minute, and who would have thought that we would still be talking about this same thing a year later? We were very hopeful we were going to be able to go on, even when we started hearing about the pandemic last year, but we cancelled about two weeks before the event,” Grant said.
At the last minute, the festival was changed to a virtual birding seminar, which she said still drew more than 200 participants.
“When we reopened the registration for this year, we didn’t think we’d still be dealing with COVID, but we are,” she said.
Prior to COVID restrictions, Grant said, she would have been able to accommodate 70 participants on each day of the festival.
“Now, though, we’re taking 58 participants per day, because of the COVID restrictions,” she said.
The festival currently has a total of 65 participants.
“They’re from everywhere. It is a nationwide event at this point. We have people coming from Arizona, Pennsylvania and California, though most of them are from Texas. It’s neat to see people respond to the opportunity to bird here, and to get that kind of national response is really overwhelming, because Extension is really new to the birding community, and this is Del Rio’s first birding festival,” Grant said.
The festival will provide an opportunity for birders to experience some of the region’s extraordinary avian residents, including the festival mascot, a hybrid Tropical-Northern Parula, a type of small, richly colored songbird.
The festival also gives participants opportunities to bird on private properties normally closed to the public.
“We will be doing a tour below Amistad Dam, which is part of the Amistad National Recreation Area, but which is normally restricted to visitors, and we will be on four private ranches in the area,” Grant said.
“We are also happy to be partnering with The Nature Conservancy this year, which will be giving us access to their Dolan Falls property on the Devils River,” Grant said.
She also pointed out that other excursions, such as one to the Devils River State Natural Area would allow festival birders access to areas of the park normally closed to the public.
“We are hoping to make this an annual event, and we are very pleased at the support that was given us by the county and the city via hotel occupancy tax funds. Most of our participants will be coming in and staying in local hotel rooms. The economic benefit to this community could be substantial, especially if this program continues to grow and flourish,” she said.
“Birding is a tremendous industry throughout the state of Texas, and it’s important for is to be getting our first festival under our belts. I would encourage the community to be welcoming to our birding visitors,” she said, adding she has partnered with a number of local businesses to support the event efforts.
Among the planned events are a welcome social at the Val Verde Winery tonight and “Birds and Beer” at Mesquite Creek Outfitters on Friday.
