Nature to many students includes little more than Quad-rading caterpillars, attacking squirrels and alligators in the University Lakes. But some students get to know the outdoors better.
A handful of University students recently participated in the Great Texas Birding Classic and placed first in the collegiate division.
Richard Gibbons, ornithology graduate student, said the Great Texas Birding Classic is one of the two largest birding competitions in the United States. More than 400 people participated in the event, Gibbons said.
The University’s five-person team, the Tiger Herons, traveled to the upper Texas coast where they went birding, which involves scouting the terrain and identifying different bird species.
The goal of the event the Tiger Herons entered was to see how many species the team could identify – either through sight or the bird’s particular call – in 24 hours. The team identified 201 different species.
University of Texas at Tyler placed second with 181 species, and Texas A&M at Galveston placed third with 167.
According to the Gulf Coast Bird Conservatory Web site, there are about 400 different bird species in Texas during the spring. The University’s team spotted more than half of them in one day.
Justin Bosler, a member of Tiger Herons, said April is a chief month for migrating North American birds and an ideal time for the tournament.
“The event coincides with the spectacle of bird migration along the Texas coast, which peaks around the third and fourth week of April every spring,” said Bosler, biological sciences junior.
Bosler said the birds are coming from Central and South America and are on their way to their North American breeding grounds.
Gibbons, Tiger Herons captain, said they were the first team from Louisiana to participate in the Texas competition.
Bosler said the team scouted the area before the competition for many hours. He also said the tournament is for rigorous birders, and many of the competitors have prepared for the competition their whole lives.
“Some birds required extreme skill on the part of the birders, in order to locate them on the day of the event,” Bosler said.
Gibbons, who has participated in the Texas tournament seven times, said the team spent three and a half days prior to the event scouting the route the team planned on covering in the competition.
“Scouting was the key to success,” Gibbons said.
Bosler said the team as a whole has to be well prepared.
“To have a successful big day of birding, all members need to be knowledgeable about bird behavior, habitat preference and the overall appearance of the birds they are likely to encounter during the day,” Bosler said.
Gibbons said the competition raises money for bird conservation efforts, and because the University’s team won, they were able to donate $1,000 to a project on the Texas coast.
Bosler said the tournament fatigues the participants because they have to be alert for the duration of the competition.
“During the day, we would constantly remind ourselves what species we were missing and which ones we needed to keep our eyes out for,” Bosler said.
Gibbons said adrenaline propelled the team throughout the competition.
And the team members did not expend much time eating or drinking.
“It is a very tiring event, and in most cases it is a necessity to have caffeine or energy drinks on standby,” Bosler said. “We often made it through the entire 24-hour period on just crackers, pre-made sandwiches and water.”
 
Contact Justin Fritscher at [email protected]