Birders flying high in fifth wheel
Lifelong Spokane residents Brad and Fran Haywood started out camping in a tent with three babies.
“When we graduated to a tent trailer,” says Fran, “it seemed like absolute heaven because it had a heater and an ice box and actually dried out after a rain. We thought it was the lap of luxury.”
Eventually the Haywoods bought a small travel trailer and camped with it for years. “Just before Brad retired from United Paint and Coating we got our first fifth wheel,” says Fran. “When we sold the house three years ago we bought our 28-foot Montana fifth-wheel and have lived in it full time ever since.”
For the past four winters these two RVers have drifted to the southern most tip of Texas to bake in the sun, fish the Gulf Coast waters and, most importantly, scan the horizon for thousands and thousands of migrating birds.
“My husband loves to fish and we both love birding,” says Fran. “There are more birds in Texas than anywhere else.”
A combination of factors makes south Texas one of the premier birding destinations in the country. Due to its geographic location, many Eastern and Western species overlap there; Mexican species often stray north of the boarder; and, Texas is also part of multiple migration routes.
‘Birding in South Texas’
Fran will talk about these factors and more on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. during the Spokane Audubon Society’s monthly meeting at the Riverview Retirement Center, 1801 E. Upriver Drive.
She will show slides of birds, butterflies, dragonflies and native plants from places like Falcon Dam, Santa Ana Refuge, Brownsville Dump and South Padre Island.
The Haywoods spend up to three months each winter in Donna, Tex., a little town eight miles from the Mexican boarder and in the middle of one of the primary flyways for migrating birds.
“In the spring we leave and head up the coast and spend a month on Baffin Bay just south of Kingsville,” says Fran. “Then we go on up to High Island area just south of Galveston for the month of April. That’s the big bird migration spot where at least 20 different species touch down during the spring migration.”
As the Texas weather warms, these fulltimers hitch up their fifth wheel and start heading north.
To help them decide which wind to follow, they research birds they haven’t seen before. (They currently have 597 “lifer” sightings of individual species.) Then they pull out their well-worn American Volkssport Association’s “Starting Point 2004” guide book that lists more than 1000 walking and biking trails throughout the United States.
A “volksmarch” is a noncompetitive 6-mile (10 kilometer) walk, and it got its name from its origins in Europe. Today there are thousands of Volkssport clubs around the world, including the Lilac City Volkssport Association here in Spokane.
“We have set out to do a volkswalk in every state,” says Brad. “Last spring we completed our 48th state. We’re only missing Alaska and Hawaii.”
Since they started volkswalking, Brad has logged in 10,000 kilometers (about 6,200 miles), with Fran close behind with more than 9,000 kilometers.
The ultimate for Brad, a history buff, is to find “a volkswalk in a historical area with good fishing and birding nearby.”
For more information
“ Information about Donna, Texas, the “City with a Heart in the Heart of the Rio Grand Valley,” go to www.ci.donna.lib.tx.us. Or write to Donna Tourist Information, 921 Miller Ave., Donna, TX 78537; or call (956) 464-9640.
“ The Haywoods are members of Passport America which has more than 1110 participating campgrounds throughout North America. Annual membership is $44. Check out www.passport-america.com or call toll-free (800) 283.7183.
Birding resources
There are dozens of bird field guides available through local Audubon chapters, bookstores and online book sellers.
Fran’s favorite field guides include those by the Audubon Society, National Geographic and David A. Sibley.
“ “Audubon Handbook: Western Birds” and “Audubon Handbook: Eastern Birds” by John Farrand Jr. (McGraw-Hill, $17.95).
“ “National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America,” edited by Mel Baughman & Barbara Brownell (National Geographic, $21.95).
“ “Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North American” and “Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North American” by David A. Sibley (Alfred A. Knopf, $19.95).
Contact information for the Audubon Society includes:
“ Spokane Audubon Society, P.O. Box 9820, Spokane, WA 99209, (voice mail) 838-5828, www.spokaneaudubon.org.
“ Coeur d’Alene Audubon Society, P.O. Box 361, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83816, www.cdaaudubon.org.
“ Palouse Audubon Society, P.O. Box 3606, Moscow, ID 83843, www.palouseaudubon.org.
“ Northern Idaho Audubon Society, P.O. Box 3028, Bonners Ferry, ID 83805.
“ National Audubon Society, 700 Broadway, New York, NY 10003, (212) 979-3000, www.audubon.org.
Volkssport information
“ “Starting Point 2004,” (American Volkssport Association, $15).
“ The Lilac City Volkssport Association, P.O. Box 4362, Spokane, WA 99220 or call 326-3575.
“ American Volkssport Association; 1001 Pat Booker Road, Suite 101; Universal City, TX 78148. A toll-free information line is (800) 830-WALK. Or go online to www.ava.org.