On the morning of January 1, 2000, Mark T. Adams started 
counting birds. His goal was to find the largest possible number of 
species in one year in Texas, an undertaking known in birding 
parlance as a Big Year. By the evening of December 31, he had 
tied the record of 489 species seen or heard within the state’s 
borders in a single calendar year. Traveling thirty-thousand miles 
across Texas by car and eighteen-thousand miles by plane, Adams 
alone saw 92 percent of all bird species reported in the state in 
2000.

    In Chasing Birds across Texas, Adams invites birders and others 
with a broad interest in the outdoors to join him in exploring Texas’ 
varied habitats on his quest for birds—from the upper coast to the 
lower coast; into the Hill Country, the Panhandle, and the 
Chihuahuan Desert; and up the Davis, Chisos, and Guadalupe 
Mountains. As he happily celebrates the bounty of the Valley’s 
spring migration or desperately searches for a Panhandle rarity, we 
watch him grow as a naturalist, exult in the Texas landscape, and 
benefit from the company of some of the world’s best birders.

    Informative, inspiring, and great fun, Chasing Birds across Texas 
conveys as perhaps no other bird book can the humor, obsession, 
dedication, and adventure that are all part of the sport of birding.

_________________________________________________________

MARK T. ADAMS is the former assistant director of the University of
Texas at Austin–McDonald Observatory and now lives in Charlottesville,
Virginia. An astronomer by trade, he is one of the top West Texas birders.


Number Thirty-five: Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment
Series

What people are saying about this book

“The book is an odd adventure story, one that those who love 
birds and Texas geography will savor. Adams continually used 
his scientific instincts and knowledge to report his observations.”
—Texas Co-op Power

“. . . a superb book. I have seldom read a book that opened my 
eyes to so many things that I did not know about. . . . shows what 
an attractive and enticing path to learning birding can be as well 
as how much the author enjoys it.”—Lonn Taylor, Desert-Mountain 
Times

“. . . this year's best entry. Adams is not the first to attempt to
find the most birds ever in a year in Texas, nor will he be the
last, but he surely has written a good account of the journey.
From the pine siskins feeding in his own backyard in the Davis
Mountains on New Year's Day to the long-eared owls missed on
the 366th day in the Panhandle, this is a great read.”—San
Antonio Express-News

“What could be bigger than a full year of tracking down every 
bird in the fabulous state of Texas? Join ace birder Mark Adams 
on this play-by-play of how he did it. A great ride and a great 
read.”—Kenn Kaufman