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Speaker Announced for August 16th Quarterly Meeting

Victor Emanuel, of Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, will be our speaker at the Monday, August 16, meeting, set for 10 a.m. in the Wimberley Community Center. His topic will be "The World's Best Birding Places."

Victor, whose company is the largest in the world specializing in birding tours, started birding in Texas 61 years ago at the age of eight. His travels have taken him to all the continents, with his areas of concentration being Texas, Arizona, Mexico, Panama and Peru. He is founder and compiler for 50 years of the record-breaking Freeport Christmas Bird Count, and served a term as president of the Texas Ornithological Society. He initiated the first birding camps for young people and holds a B.A. in zoology and botany from the University of Texas and an M.A. in government from Harvard. In 2004, he received the Roger Tory Peterson Award from the American Birding Association and the Arthur A. Allen Award from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

David Newstead, coastal program manager for Audubon Texas, and WBS meeting speaker, recommends two websites to those wishing to stay current on environmental issues. These are Coastal Habitat Alliance, www.coastalhabitatalliance.org; and Border Wall, www.notexasborderwall.com. In addition, websites for the Travis Audubon Society, www.travisaudubon.org and Environment Texas, www.environmenttexas.org are recommended.

WBS Overview

The Wimberley Birding Society promotes the watching, protecting and enjoying of birds in and around Wimberley and other locations.

It was founded in 1986, as the TLC Bluebird Society, with the aim of protecting and restoring the local bluebird population. Each member was given two bluebird houses upon paying membership dues; hundreds of nest boxes were erected and many are still in service throughout the area. (TLC stood for the tender loving care required to bring back the bluebirds.)

The club currently has some 130 members. Meetings are held quarterly, generally on the third Monday of May, August, November and February. An active trip schedule is maintained -- excursions have ranged from half-day excursions around Wimberley to an 18-day African safari. For a look at upcoming trips, check our Calendar.

Donations from the club have supported such endeavors as the Adopt-a-prairie-chicken program of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Driftwood Wildlife Association, Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, Audubon Texas and similar avian programs. A current major project of the club is the Patsy Glenn Refuge, a Wimberley bird sanctuary which has been developed with a Chimney swift tower and information kiosk, paths, wildflower areas, native tree plantings, bluebird nest boxes, bird viewing platform, and feeding and watering sites.

In addition to trips around Texas, the club takes at least one major trip each year. Past journeys have been to Costa Rica, Panama, Peru and the Amazon River, Trinidad and Tobago, Maine, Hawaii, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, Orcas Island, California, and Africa.

"We enjoy birds and we also enjoy eating," said Sandy Wallace, club president. "Our annual salad supper is always a treat." Club members come from Houston, Justiceburg, Wimberley, San Marcos, Dripping Springs, Kerrville and Austin.

Annual dues are five dollars per person. If interested, make check payable to Wimberley Birding Society and send to:
            WBS
            P. O. Box 1526
            Wimberley, Texas 78676.

Additional Information: Jerry Hall, publicity chairman at publicity@wimbirds.org or 512 847-3730