In any other context, saying that someone was "for the birds" would hardly be polite. But applied to Connie Hagar, it would be high praise. The diminutive birdwatcher nicknamed Connie was reared as Martha Conger Neblett in early twentieth-century Texas, where she led a genteel life of tea parties and music lessons. But at middle age she became fascinated with birds and resolved to learn everything she could about them. In 1935, she and her husband, Jack, moved to Rockport, on the Coastal Bend of Texas, to be at the center of one of the most abundant areas of bird life in the country. Her diligence in observation soon had her setting elite East Coast ornithologists on their ears, as she sighted more and more species the experts claimed she could not possibly have seen. (Repeatedly she proved them wrong.) She ultimately earned the respect and love of birders from the shores of New Jersey to the islands of the Pacific. Life Magazine pictured her in a tribute to the country's premier amateur naturalists, and she received many awards from nature and birding societies. Connie Hagar's life history is more than just a bird book. Hers is a story of dedication to nature and the role she could play in promoting it to others, despite recurring threats of blindness and other health problems. The hundreds of species of birds that visited Rockport each year brought thousands of other birders, and Connie patiently hosted and assisted both the greenest beginners and the most magisterial experts. It was she, more than any other person, who made coastal Texas--and especially Rockport--a mecca for all serious birders. Karen Harden McCracken and Connie Hagar's Boswellian-Johnsonian relationship in the 1960s, Connie's own "Nature Calendars" containing thirty-five years of observations, and interviews with those who knew the "birdwoman of Rockport" provide the basis for this simple but exhilarating narrative.

This book documents nearly 500 US and Canadian locations where wildlife refuges, nature preserves, and similar properties protect natural sites that lie within the North American Great Plains, from Canada's Prairie Provinces to the Texas-Mexico border. Information on site location, size, biological diversity, and the presence of especially rare or interesting flora and fauna are mentioned, as well as driving directions, mailing addresses, and phone numbers or internet addresses, as available. US federal sites include 11 national grasslands, 13 national parks, 16 national monuments, and more than 70 national wildlife refuges. State properties include nearly 100 state parks and wildlife management areas. Also included are about 60 national and provincial parks, national wildlife areas, and migratory bird sanctuaries in Canada's Prairie Provinces. Many public-access properties owned by counties, towns, and private organizations are also described.

A must for savvy travelers to the Longhorn State ? Delivers frank, up-to-date travel advice on Texas, a top destination state that had more than $100 million leisure travelers in 2001 who spent $40.4 billion ? Guides visitors to the best accommodations, dining, nightlife, and sights in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Amarillo, and more ? Highlights Texas's many family-friendly attractions (amusement parks, Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks, and wonderful beaches), nature tourism options (such as the Great Texas Costal Birding Trail), and historic sites (such as the Alamo and the Caddoan Mounds) ? Provides the lowdown on Texan music and food and even offers tips on how to talk like a Texan

The ultimate road trip, celebrating the remarkable history, natural history and diversity of the Lone Star State.~Robert McCracken Peck, The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.

The Texas Gulf Coast is one of the most outstanding birding locations in North America. From whooping cranes to sandhill cranes, ducks, geese, raptors and the hundreds of song birds that migrate every year to the Texas Gulf make this a birder's paradise. There are numerous public sites that make for easy birding. Each year, during the last week of February, there is a Whooping Crane Festival in Port Aransas and Mustang Island that attracts thousands of birders. It features workshops, demonstrations, speakers, and many guided birding trips to local birding locations. Jim Foster is a noted birder. He describes each birding trail with a list of key birds, the best time of year to visit each trail, the type of terrain, size, and complete directions to each area, many with maps of each trail. Texas is one of the four best birding states in the U.S. with over 2.5 million resident birders and thousands of non-resident birders who visit the state each year. Currently there are over 51 million birders in the United States and over 20 million travel out of their state each year to view birds. Birding Trails Texas: Gulf Coast is a must book for all birders.

Millions of people know a little bit about efforts to save the whooping crane, thanks to the movie Fly Away Home and annual news stories about ultralight planes leading migratory flocks. But few realize that in the spring of 1941, the population of these magnificent birds--pure white with black wingtips, standing five feet tall with a seven-foot wingspan--had reached an all-time low of fifteen. Written off as a species destined for extinction, the whooping crane has made a slow but unbelievable comeback over the last seven decades. This recovery would have been impossible if not for the efforts of Robert Porter Allen, an ornithologist with the National Audubon Society, whose courageous eight-year crusade to find the only remaining whooping crane nesting site in North America garnered nationwide media coverage. His search and his impassioned lectures about overdevelopment, habitat loss, and unregulated hunting triggered a media blitz that had thousands of citizens on the lookout for the birds during their migratory trips. Allen's tireless efforts changed the course of U.S. environmental history and helped lead to the passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973. Though few people remember him today, his life reads like an Indiana Jones story, full of danger and adventure, failure and success. His amazing story deserves to be told.