Bird Brainz: Starting a Blog

Maybe my brain is finally being replaced by feathers but after a long time spent resisting suggestions that I start a blog, I've given in. This blog will include my thoughts about the birds I see, birding in general, and books that I read about birds and birding.

I was inspired by the legendary amateur birder who lived in Rockport, Connie Hagar (1886-1973). A native of Corsicana, Texas, Mrs. Hagar moved to Rockport and began birding. She would write in her journal, pretty much every day, counting the various birds she saw and chronicling the various species she saw. Often she had to prove to the "experts" that she knew what she was talking about as they sometimes refused to believe that certain species were found along the Texas coast. She was never wrong! Her work to catalog and conserve the birds led to the Texas Legislature designating the Little Bay area of Rockport as the Connie Hagar Wildlife Sanctuary in 1943. I have to recommend that any bird enthusiast read Connie Hagar: The Life History of a Texas Birdwatcher as biography and Texas history but also for the ornithology. I learned so much about birds from the descriptions of the many, many birds that Mrs. Hagar observed every day.

So how did I get interested in birds? Interestingly for a very outdoors pursuit, it started with a book! I'll explain that story in my next post.