\u201cI had a great time!\u201d said Melinda Write on her first GTBC, serving as team captain for Twitchers Gone Wild, a Central Texas Coast Big Sit team. \u201cI first saw [the Great Texas Birding Classic] right after it ended in 2025 and have been waiting to do this for a year!\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the birds, the teams recorded an amazing Spring migration, identifying a record 435 species throughout the tournament. This included several Review Species for the Texas Bird Records Committee (TBRC), meaning these birds have been recorded four or fewer times per year in Texas over a ten-year average. These species include but aren\u2019t limited to, the Short-Tailed Hawk, Mottled Owl, Gray Flycatcher, Black-whiskered Vireo, Brown Jay and Golden-crowned Sparrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love that TPWD does this,\u201d said Annelise Turner, team captain of Hawkward Silence Flies Again, a Heart of Texas East Sunrise to Noon team, competing for their second time as a mother-daughter trio. \u201cWe plan on coming back next year, but our competitiveness is kicking in now that we don\u2019t feel like newbies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Birding Classic awarded\u00a0 $85,000 in Conservation Grants in 2026, a 42 percent increase in amount awarded from the previous year and a record amount awarded for a single year thanks to team registrations and sponsorships. With that, the 30-year tournament total rose to $1.36 million for on-the-ground acquisition, restoration and enhancement projects for native Texas wildlife habitats.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year one of our participants made an anonymous donation of $20,000 through a specific option for retirees to make charitable donations for the event,\u201d said Shelly Plante, Birding Classic tournament coordinator. \u201cBecause of this donation, our overall conservation grants went through the roof, and we couldn\u2019t be more grateful. As the tournament continues to grow, we look forward to donating more toward habitat conservation projects in Texas through these grants.\u201d<\/p>\n
This event is made possible by team sponsorship and registration fees, donations from event sponsors Toyota and the Texas Ornithological Society, and awards ceremony sponsor, Audubon Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had an amazing day on Saturday, with volunteers staying much longer than they\u2019d signed up for because they were having such a good time, new friendships, so much learning\u2026it was a blast!\u201d Remarked Cassie Festa, the team captain for The Peli-Cans Audubon Texas, a Heart of Texas East Big Sit team.<\/p>\n
Each year the winning Birding Classic teams get to select which projects to fund, and as the tournament continues to grow, more funds are raised which are then donated to habitat conservation projects in Texas.<\/p>\n
This year, conservation grants were awarded to:<\/p>\n
$50,000 Combined Conservation Grants<\/p>\n
Weeklong Conservation Grant ($20,000)\u00a0\u2013 Selected by Two Chicks & A Chat, sponsored by Dickinson Bayou Fleeting<\/p>\n
Upper Texas Coast Big Sit! Conservation Grant ($10,000)\u00a0\u2013 Selected by CenterPoint Wirebirds, sponsored by CenterPoint Energy<\/p>\n
Charitable Distribution from Anonymous Donor ($20,000)\u00a0\u2013 An anonymous donor made it possible to increase this project funding from $30,000 to $50,000, helping this new trail project come to fruition.<\/p>\n
Project:\u00a0Virginia Point Victoria Baker Birding Trail \u2013 submitted by Scenic Galveston, Inc.<\/p>\n
Project Location:\u00a0Galveston, Galveston County<\/p>\n
$10,000 Heart of Texas East Big Sit! Conservation Grant\u00a0\u2013 Selected by The Peli-Cans Audubon Texas, sponsored by Audubon Texas<\/p>\n
Project:\u00a0Wings Over Wildgrass: Grasslands Restoration for the Birds \u2013 submitted by Mitchell Lake Audubon Center<\/p>\n
Project Location:\u00a0San Antonio, Bexar County<\/p>\n
$10,000 Heart of Texas East Big Day Conservation Grant\u00a0\u2013 Selected by Just Wingin\u2019 It<\/p>\n
Project:\u00a0Rebirth Sanctuary \u2013 submitted by Hill Country Master Naturalists, Bird City Kerrville Project<\/p>\n
Project Location:\u00a0Kerrville, Kerr County<\/p>\n
$5,000 Lone Star Bird Award Conservation Grant\u00a0\u2013 Selected by Swarov Ski Patrol, sponsored by Swarovski Optik, N.A.<\/p>\n
Project:\u00a0Habitat Restoration at Singleton Preserve \u2013 submitted by Cedar Hill Parks and Recreation<\/p>\n
Project Location:\u00a0Cedar Hill, Dallas County<\/p>\n
$5,000 Toyota State Park Conservation Grant\u00a0\u2013 Selected by Saltwater Songbirds<\/p>\n
Project:\u00a0Water Feature and Visitor Seating Updates for Goose Island State Park Wooded Area Bird Viewing Stations \u2013 submitted by Goose Island State Park, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department<\/p>\n
Project Location:\u00a0Rockport, Aransas County<\/p>\n
$5,000 Heart of Texas East Sunrise to Noon Roadrunner Conservation Grant\u00a0\u2013 Selected by Hornsby HERons<\/p>\n
Project:\u00a0Water Feature for Joan & Scott Holt Paradise Pond \u2013 submitted by City of Port Aransas<\/p>\n
Project Location:\u00a0Port Aransas, Nueces County<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image-1000x1000.png\")
Grand Prize artwork by Townsend Keller\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The event saw record participation, species identified and Conservation Grant amount awarded in 2026 July 31, 2026 \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-396434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}