Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, through the Great Texas Birding Classic, awarded Quinta Mazatlan a conservation grant to support its Great Homes for Great Birds project. The project focuses on Purple Martins, the largest swallow species in North America that rely on humans for nesting sites, and aims to increase bird habitats, support further research, and offer new and innovative educational and outreach programs.
Quinta Mazatlan, the mansion with a mission, is an urban sanctuary that works to enrich lives by sharing knowledge about birds, plants, and environmental stewardship in South Texas. The grant will allow the center to provide gourd housing and trees as additional habitat for birds, install nest cameras inside gourds for live steaming video of birds in the nests, support bird banding research, and encourage citizen science projects that enlist the public’s help in counting and recording observations of bird populations in the area.
“We are fortunate to have been awarded this grant, especially in light of the competition. This is a great accomplishment,” said Mayor Jim Darling. “We look forward to visitors of Quinta Mazatlan being able to view birds in their natural habitat via live streaming video and assist in birding research.”
By promoting interaction between birds, visitors, researchers, and utilizing every resource, Quinta Mazatlan aims to become a model of bird conservation that can be replicated in backyards, schools, and local communities throughout South Texas.
The Great Texas Birding Classic, celebrating its 20th anniversary, had a record 750 participants applying for a range of tournament categories. To date, the Classic has awarded over $800,000 for on-the-ground habitat acquisition, restoration and enhancement projects. This year, Quinta Mazatlan was one of seven organizations that received funding totaling $36,000.