We have added a new page to the Fermata weblog – Avitourism and Birding. This page details our work in birding, and provides links to both our research articles and reports as well as to the various macro-level surveys of birders (NSRE, USFWS, Outdoor Foundation). In the next few weeks we will post a “crib sheet” with bullet points that every birder and conservationist should know, as well as a PowerPoint with voice that can be used to argue the economic case for bird conservation.
The current gusher despoiling the Gulf of Mexico has captured the attention of the world, and no aspect better illustrates the sickening impacts than the birds. Photographs of oiled birds litter the media, and discussions of effects on the coast usually include people and birds. No one can gaze at the grisly photos of brown pelicans completed immersed in toxic goo without feeling both compassion and fury.
No one knows this part of the world more intimately than we do, at least when it comes to the places where birds are to be seen along the Gulf. Since our inception in the early 1990s we have worked on numerous birding projects in the Gulf, including the development of the first birding trail in the world, the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail. The following is a list of the Gulf of Mexico birding projects we have been involved in, with links to the trails themselves and, in some cases, our reports and products as well.
Mexico
Laguna de Aves (Tamaulipas)
Mesoamerican Ecotourism Alliances (MEA)
RARE invited Ted Eubanks to aid in the original establishment of the Mesoamerian Ecotourism Alliance, or MEA. MEA includes representatives from the Yucatan, thus the connection to the Gulf. Meetings were held in Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. Through those meetings we met Jon Kohl, who works with Fermata on guide training. This photo, taken by Ted, is from the meeting in Lancetilla (Honduras).
Texas
Madge Lindsay of Texas Parks and Wildlife and Ted met while working on Governor Ann Richards’ nature tourism plan for Texas. After completing the plan the two of them began to plot ways to actually implement the recommendations (including brainstorming at the Watchable Wildlife conference in Corpus Christi in 1993). The result? The Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, the first in the world.
Nature Tourism in the Lone Star State
Here are the first three trails, in their order of development. The dedication of the first trail took place in Rockport, with Roger Tory Peterson as the guest of honor.
Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail (central coast)
Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail (upper coast)
Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail (lower coast)
British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2001
The success of the birding trails led to establishment of the World Birding Center and its partner sites in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of Texas. The following is research that Fermata conducted as part of the feasibility study.
However, another article predated this research that should be mentioned. Earlier Ted, Dick Payne, and Paul Kerlinger published High Island: A Case Study in Avitourism (Birding 25: 415-420. Eubanks, T., P. Kerlinger and R. H. Payne, 1993), an article noteworthy in two aspects. First, this survey is among the first conducted in Texas regarding the economic impacts of birding. Second, in this article Ted coined the word “avitourism,” a word that has come into worldwide usage.
The following are but two of the studies that we completed for the World Birding Center and its member communities. We also completed strategies for Hidalgo, Weslaco (which ultimately led to the creation of the Llano Grande State Park), and Mission. Our economic feasibility study for the South Padre Island WBC resulted in a sizable ($ 1 million) grant from the Texas legislature.
World Birding Center
South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center
Fermata also worked with the Texas Coastal Bend to develop a birding initiative – Bird The Bend.
Fermata has also helped Galveston over the years. Here are a couple of the projects we have been involved in.
Ecotourism in Galveston Bay – – An Economic Opportunity
GINTC
Ted, along with his coauthors, compiled their decades of birding in two landmark publications. The following are the two books, published by Texas A&M University Press.
Birdlife of Houston, Galveston, and the Upper Texas Coast (Texas A&M Press) (Eubanks, Behrstock, and Weeks)
Finding Birds Along the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail (Texas A&M Press) (Eubanks, Behrstock, and Davidson)
Fermata organized an interpretive exhibit comprised of many of Ted’s bird photographs. The exhibit, Faces of Flight, showed in Galveston as well as Houston Hobby Airport. The interpretive panels that accompanied the exhibit informed the public about the habitats of the Texas coast and the need to protect them.
Fermata also created an interpretive sign for the Galveston Seawall, informing visitors about the birds in the area. During Hurricane Ike volunteers rescued the panel, and stored it until after the storm. Little remained atop that stretch of the seawall, and our sign surely would have been destroyed. It has been reinstalled, and is back to telling people about the incredible birds of the Gulf coast.
Fermata aided The Conservation Fund in the establishment and organization of the Texas Pineywoods Experience. This intiative generally focuses on the woodlands and rivers of East Texas, but it does extend south to Beaumont, Port Arthur, and the Gulf. Andy Jones and the TCF staff have been instrumental in the recent establishment of the Neches River NWR (against withering opposition from Dallas and the water boards), and the expansion of the Big Thicket National Preserve.
Slightly to the west, Fermata completed a study of the nature tourism market along the Trinity River. The river flows south from Dallas to Galveston Bay. Our results are available here.
Trinity River Site Inventory
Trinity River Market Study
Trinity River Recommendations
Two additional Texas coastal projects are still in their nascence. Bird and Bayou is focused on the birds and bayou system of Houston. Buffalo Bayou, where Houston began, flows into Galveston Bay. We are also hopeful that we can get Tides to Tall Timbers off the ground as well. This initiative will connect the Galveston region to the Texas Pineywoods Experience.
Louisiana
Inspired by Texas, Louisiana followed with a series of birding trails of their own. The state engaged Fermata to develop the trail, beginning with the coast. America’s Wetland adopted that trail, and it has become the America’s Wetland Birding Trail. Fermata then completed the remainder of the state.
Louisiana Birding Trails
America’s Wetland Birding Trail
The Mississippi River Birding Trail
The Mississippi River Birding Trail (now known as the Great River Birding Trail) is a highway trail connecting prime birding sites along the Upper Mississippi River. The upper GRBT is a project of the Minnesota office of the National Audubon Society, as well as a number of partners from Minnesota and the adjacent states of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. The coalition contracted with Fermata Inc. to conduct a seminar to give purpose and direction to the project.
The Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program also contracted with Fermata Inc. to conduct an introductory workshop on creating a Louisiana Coastal Birding Trail.
Mississippi and Alabama
Mississippi and Alabama developed their coastal trails around the same time as Louisiana. In Alabama, Fermata aided in the creation of the North Alabama Birding Trail. Mississippi is part of Audubon’s Great River Birding Trail which extends from Minnesota to the Gulf. Ted spoke in Mississippi at a Governor’s rural development conference to aid in the development of their birding trail (as he also did in Minnesota to help in the Great River Birding Trail).
Great River Birding Trail
Coastal Alabama Birding Trail
Florida
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has developed a series of spectacular birding trails along their coasts. Staff from Florida met with Fermata early in the project, and we were happy to provide tips on how its done. Ted Eubanks also traveled to Florida and spoke at their annual ecotourism conference about developing birding trails.
Should the oil catch the Loop Current and head up the Atlantic Coast, we have important experiences and projects to share as well. Virgina developed their birding and wildlife trails on the heels of Texas. Representatives from Virginia visited Texas to see how the trails worked, and soon hired Fermata to help develop the trails in their state. These trails, a project of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, became the first birding trails to encompass an entire state. Of particular interest is the initial trail developed along the coast.
Fermata also worked with the New Jersey Department of Fish, Game, and Wildlife to assess the value of wildlife viewing in Delaware Bay. This study aided the state in better understanding the risks of over harvesting horseshoe crabs and the subsequent decline in red knots. Our report can be downloaded here.
Ted also met with representatives on the Delmarva Peninsula about birding trails on a number of occasions. Jeff Gordon and others have developed a wonderful series of birding trails in Delaware.
Pennsylvania has no Atlantic coastline, unless you consider (as we do) the Chesapeake Bay simply to be an extension of the Susquehanna River. Fermata is currently completing a Conservation Landscape Initiative (CLI) for PA DCNR for the Lower Susquehanna. The final report should be available soon.
Finally, if the oil somehow wanders as far north as Maine, we have been there as well. Fermata assisted the state in developing an implementation plan for nature tourism, including coastal Down East. Here is a link to our recommendations.
We pray that our efforts along both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts aid the public in understanding what is at risk. These are rich, complex, diverse ecosystems that are under assault. As Theodore Roosevelt said, “The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased; and not impaired in value.” Each American generation must embrace that responsibility. Will we accept ours?
Daily text messaging among American teens has shot up in the past 18 months, from 38% of teens texting friends daily in February of 2008 to 54% of teens texting daily in September 2009. And it’s not just frequency – teens are sending enormous quantities of text messages a day. Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month. Older teen girls ages 14-17 lead the charge on text messaging, averaging 100 messages a day for the entire cohort. The youngest teen boys are the most resistant to texting – averaging 20 messages per day.
Text messaging has become the primary way that teens reach their friends, surpassing face-to-face contact, email, instant messaging and voice calling as the go-to daily communication tool for this age group. However, voice calling is still the preferred mode for reaching parents for most teens.
A new report issued by US federal agencies, including the US EPA and the US Geological Survey, estimates that sea levels will rise higher than estimated as recently as 2007. The new report concludes that Florida and Louisiana are the states most vulnerable to sea-level rise, followed by North Carolina and Texas. The report presents three scenarios for sea-level rise by 2100: a rise of about 16 inches, of about 2 feet, and of about 3 feet. The report notes that if sea level should rise more than three feet during the 21st century (the worst-case scenario), “it is likely that some barrier islands in this region will cross a threshold” destabilizing and breaking apart.
Galveston is currently considering how to resurrect itself from the unimaginable destruction of Hurricane Ike (the worst natural disaster, in terms of damage, in Texas history and the third worst in U.S. history). The new Long-Term Community Recovery Committee (LTCRC) has integrated “sustainability” into its considerations, but I wonder if meeting the challenges of sea-level rise is among those issues being considered. To be blunt, how can it be avoided?
Concurrently, the USACE is considering several new development projects on the west end of Galveston Island (in truth, pre-Ike holdovers). The most recent (Marquette) has apparently ignored the impacts of Ike in its resubmission. Not only must the damage wrought by Ike be considered in any new development proposal and permit (how can we add insult to injury as the Bay is still healing?), but the USACE must also consider the impacts of the 2-to-3 foot rise of sea level within the foreseeable future. We can only hope that the new administration, with its clear commitment to new U.S. leadership in meeting the challenges of global warming, will extend this commitment to how its agencies, specifically the USACE, oversee the permitting of proposed coastal developments.
Ted Eubanks
For more information about the impacts of sea-level rise on Galveston Island, read the following:
Final Report – Abrupt Climate Change (US Geological Survey et. al)
Living with Geohazards on Galveston Island: A Preliminary Report with Recommendations (Gibeaut, Anderson, and Dellapenna)
Coastal Geomorphic Responses to Sea Level Rise: Galveston Bay, Texas (Leatherman – PDF)
Modeling Future Changes in Barrier-Island Wetlands on Galveston Island, Texas (Gibeaut)
Hurricane Impact Map [prepared] for Galveston City Hall, Galveston, Texas (PC Weather Products, Inc.)
Coastal Erosion, Global Sea-Level Rise, and the Loss of Sand Dune Plant Habitats (Feagan, Sherman, and Grant)
How Will Climate Change Affect Transportation Decisions – The Gulf Coast Study (American Meteorological Association)
Look at Past Sea-Level Rise Points to Troubling Future (Anderson et.al)
Changes in Barrier Island Environments During Sea-Level Rise (PPT by Gibeaut)
National Assessment of Vulnerability to Sea-Level Rise (USGS)
Global Warming Risks for Texas (Environmental Defense Fund)
Summary of Coastal Program Initiatives that Address Sea-Level Rise as a result of Gobal Climate Change [according to this report (Feb 2008] “at this time the Texas Coastal Program does not have sea-level-rise policies or initiatives specific to climate change.”]
Florida Tool Box for Coastal Planning
OCEN 400 Environmental Sustainability PPT (beach alternatives)
Beach Preservation and Stratetic Retreat (West Carolina University)
In year’s past Yellow Warblers were exceedingly uncommon in Texas in the winter season. There would always be that odd one or two in the extreme lower Rio Grande Valley, but by in large they were absent until returning in the spring. Of course there are those warbler species that winter here at the northern fringe of their wintering range (Black-and-white, Black-throated Green, Wilson’s, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush), but Yellow, for the most past, has not been among this group.
In the past several years this has changed. Now Yellow is being seen regularly in winter as far north as the Coastal Bend (see Ebird map). This year there have been several along the central coast, including one in Port Aransas at the Turnbull Birding Center and four at Hans Suter Park in Corpus Christi. There have also been several Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, with one seen as far north as Galveston. So what gives?
As most CBC participants are aware, there are good years and there are bad years. There are years when there are volumes of lingering migrants, and there are years when you couldn’t buy one. But when we look across the vagaries of these annual fluctuations, it does appear as though there are increasing numbers of neotropical migrants that are short-stopping their flights to the tropics to spend the winter season along our coast.
The difficulty with assessing the concepts of global warming as applied (not theorized) is in finding tangible evidence of its impacts. Sea level rise in Texas? No problem. Melting ice shelves and glaciers? Got ’em. Rising mortality in coniferous (boreal) forests? No doubt. But what about these seemingly insignificant scraps of evidence such as lingering neotropical migrants or tropical species (Couch’s Kingbird, Green Jay, Greater Kiskadee, Clay-colored Thrush) pushing north? Aren’t these just as important in piecing together the global effects of temperature changes?
Texas is on the frontier of this work. By being positioned at the doorstep of the tropics, slight changes in northern ranges in bird species are felt here first. This is precisely why it is critical to collect as much information on these wintering birds as possible, including being sure that the data related to these sightings are entered into a repository such as eBird. Yes, it is great fun to find a rarity out of season (such as the recent Swainson’s Thrush). But this find may also provide evidence of a much more significant change afoot, one that will ultimately impact us all, feathered or not.
Of course you can contribute to piecing this puzzle together. Enter your sightings, not matter how brief or (to you) insignificant into Texas eBird. The combined efforts of thousands of birders are critical to documenting these changes at the landscape scale. Spend the time necessary to correctly document and identify these lingerers (isn’t it amazing how many species one can turn an Orange-crowned Warbler into?). Finally, follow these lingering neotrops throughout the season. Some are late fall migrants, but many are true winter residents. The trends in those that actually remain here for the entire winter could be a critical study.