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The Victoria College. Full-time salaried position with benefits available...
DISTRICT "Champions for Community Wellness" has the following positions...
AUSTWELL - The bicycling boy wonder continues his birding travels in Texas after breaking records for a fossil fuel-free big year.
As of Tuesday, 16-year-old Malkolm Boothroyd had identified more than 509 birds since June 21, when he started his one-year bicycling journey in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory in Canada, down the West Coast and cutting east across the United States.
His parents, Wendy Boothroyd and Ken Madsen, biked along with him and helped him surpass the goal of raising $12,000 for bird conservation.
The trio gave their “Bird Year” presentation to groups of students at the Aransas National Wildlife Center on Tuesday after traveling more than 11,700 miles. They will continue their big year until June 21, ending in Big Bend National Park.
A “big year” is a competition among birders to see who can identify the most bird species in one calendar year. The record is 745, but that’s with use of planes and cars.
Malkolm started studying birds when he was 8 years old, reading bird books in the back seat while traveling with his father, who worked to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling. Both his parents are conservationists.
Malkolm realized that trying to break a “big year” record would pollute the air with emissions if he used a vehicle, so he decided to set a different record, only walking and bicycling to discover the birds. It went with his message of conservation.
“Fossil fuels contribute to climate change and pollute the air,” he said. “Every small step counts.”
He estimates the family saved nearly 4 tons of greenhouse gases by bicycling instead of driving a minivan.
Traveling through Texas and across the continent opened his eyes to how different places are connected. He remembers seeing a baby short-eared owl near his hometown in the summer and then again at Aransas in the winter.
“Maybe it was the very same bird,” he told the crowd of students.
Malkolm and family just left Mad Island after spotting a black rail, an elusive bird that birders use their ears to spot.
“Kee, kee, kurr,” his mother said, trying to replicate the sound. “That’s the cadence of it anyway. It’s unique.”
The trio will continue to Corpus Christi today after getting word a piratic flycatcher, usually home in the tropics, was spotted there. Birds have led Malkolm to 10,000-foot mountain peaks, desert roads and sea-level coasts.
“It’s always an adventure,” he said.