by Norma Friedrich
On April 27, 2021 five members of the RGVCTMN New Class 2021 participated in the Great Texas Birding Classic (GTBC). Selecting the Sunrise to Noon tournament, the team members sent in the $30 registration fee for each member. This tournament required a minimum of 3 and maximum of 5 members. With the registration fee each received the GTBC 2021 t-shirt featuring a Belted Kingfisher.
The Newbies was chosen as the name for the team after submitting the name TMN Newbies which was not allowed due to the fact TMN did not sponsor the team. Deciding to do this shortly before the entry deadline did not allow us time to seek a sponsor.
South Padre Island was chosen as the location for our bird count, and we met at 7:00 am at the Convention Center on the Island. After one and a half hours and 20 some odd species of birds we headed to the SPI Birding and Nature Center. Here we birded in the parking lot, from the back porch deck, and a short way on the boardwalk. We added some special birds here with Blackpoll Warbler, Swainson’s Warbler and a Black and White Warbler all in one tree. We continued our trek to the Valley Land Fund Lots on Sheepshead Street for even more species.
Reviewing our list at this point we headed to Isla Blanca Park for some shorebirds and achieved our goal with Ruddy Turnstone and Sanderlings. The bird of the day and biggest surprise was seen as we left the park. Sandra mentioned that she had seen birds in the grassy area by the church early in the week. We pulled into the drive and started scanning and near to us was an odd-looking bird that turned out to be a Bobolink. Hoorah!
We were running low on time and returned to the SPI BNC to hurry farther down the boardwalk for some of the birds being seen in that area. We found them with in minutes of our deadline of noon adding Least Bittern and Purple Gallinule to our list. Seconds after we closed our eBird submission we saw a Solitary Sandpiper. Our total official accepted count was 70 species of birds. Not too bad for five hours of birding.
After the June 2 Virtual Awards Ceremony winners will be posted on the Birding Classic website and the Birding Classic Facebook Page.
Team The Newbies participants were Leader Norma Friedrich with Molly Smith, Sandra Trevino Crespo, Betsy Hosick, and Barbara Peterson. All the team members contributed with spotting birds and identification. We enjoyed every minute and are already looking forward to next year, April 15 – May 15, 2022.
