Lower Trinity Valley Bird Club Meeting

LIBERTY, December 4, 2007 - The December meeting of the LOWER TRINITY VALLEY BIRD CLUB will be held on, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. in the meeting room of the First Liberty National Bank located at 1900 Sam Houston in Liberty. Our speakers for December will be Gary and Kathy Clark. From Hwy. 90 turn on Travis Street, between Kentucky Fried Chicken and Whataburger, cross over the railroad tracks and take a right into the bank parking lot. Be sure to come early at 9:30 a.m. for coffee and our “Birder’s Chat” time. If you have any questions Call President Gary Holmes at 281-577-0574 or e-mail him at lisashepholmes@verizon.net. It is free and open to the public. The LTVBC will host our annual Christmas Nibbles (lunch with finger foods) after the meeting, so bring a tasty finger food if you can.

Gary and Kathy Clark’s topic will be about the El Cielo Biosphere Reserve situated in the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range in the state of Tamaulipas in northeast Mexico. The reserve is known for its spectacular cloud forest that serves as a rainwater catchment for the low tropical forest.

El Cielo has been a United Nations recognized Biosphere Reserve since 1987. El Cielo serves as a crossroads for North and South American bird species – providing a wonderful birding experience. Some species include the ornate hawk-eagle, thicket tinamou, singing quail, military macaw, Aztec parakeet, maroon-fronted parrot, white-crowned parrot, red-loried parrot, yellow-headed parrot, red-crowned parrot, squirrel cuckoo, bronze-winged woodpecker, ivory-billed wood creeper, blue mocking bird, flame-colored tanager, elegant trogon, mountain trogon, blue-crowned motmot, and fifteen species of hummingbirds. A keel-billed toucan (the largest toucan found in Mexico) has even been sighted in Gomez Farias and Alta Cima

Gary Clark is a Dean of Instruction at Lone Star College--North Harris in Houston, Texas and he writes the weekly "Nature” column for the Houston Chronicle. He has published numerous nature articles in such magazines as AAA Journeys, Birds & Bloom, Birder's World, Living Bird, Rivers, Texas Highways, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Texas Wildlife, and Women in the Outdoors.

Gary wrote the text for the book, Texas Wildlife Portfolio (Farcountry Press, 2004) and Gulf Coast Impressions (Farcountry Press, 2007). He is a contributing author in the book, Pride of Place: A Contemporary Anthology of Texas Nature Writing (University of North Texas Press, 2006) and Birding the Border (Publish America 2007). He has won seven writing awards, and he is the recipient of the 2004 Excellence in Media Award from the Houston Audubon Society.

Gary has been active in the birding and environmental community for over 30 years. He founded the Piney Woods Wildlife Society in 1982 and the Texas Coast Rare Bird Alert in 1983. He is a past president of the Houston Audubon Society and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory and Board of Advisors for the Houston Audubon Society.

Gary also co-leads bird-photography tours with his wife, professional photographer Kathy Adams Clark. Kathy is the Past-president North American Nature Photography Association and will be a presenter at the 2009 Florida Birding & Photofest.