For many years, WildBird has sponsored teams in birding events like the World Series of Birding in New Jersey and the Great Texas Birding Classic. While the events give birders the chance to challenge their identification and scheduling skills, they also give birders the opportunity to raise money for habitat and species conservation efforts. That ties in perfectly with WildBird's mission statement, which appears on the table of contents in each issue.

The forward-thinking bent — conserving habitat today to ensure the birds' survival for many tomorrows — extends to WildBird's sponsored teams. We typically support younger birders, often in college or beginning their careers.

That tradition holds true with this year's Classic team, TAMUG WildBirders. Based out of Texas A&M University Galveston and co-sponsored by Kowa Sport Optics, the team included Katie St. Clair, Nikki Darwin, Laurissa Noack, professor Susan Knock, Jason Perry and driver Andrew McInnes. They competed in the one-day upper Texas coast division, and their adventures appear here. Read what it's like to bird competitively, and see how they fared against other teams.

Here's to tomorrow!