Clint Boal, a professor in Texas Tech's Department of Natural Resources Management and Assistant Leader of the USGS Texas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit in Lubbock, will lead viewing and discussions of ecology, migration, diet and behavior of Mississippi Kites occupying a neighborhood south of campus at 10 a.m. Saturday (Jun. 4) at Tech Terrace Park in Lubbock. The event is free and open to the public.

Participants will be able to use spotting scopes and binoculars to view the birds when perched in trees or to view nests with adults and nestlings. In addition, Gail Barnes, executive director of the South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, will bring a captive Mississippi Kite for viewing up close. Information on the Texas Tech wildlife program will be available.

Boal, who joined the Texas Tech faculty and USGS Texas Cooperative Unit in 2000, has more than two decades of research projects involving Cooper's Hawks, Northern Goshawks, Mississippi Kites, Golden Eagles, American Kestrels, Swainson's Hawks, Zone-Tailed Hawks, Common Black Hawks, Burrowing Owls, among others. He co-edited the book Urban Raptors: Ecology and Conservation of Birds of Prey in Cities with independent researcher Cheryl Dykstra.

In addition, Boal published a new book last month, Raptors of Texas: A Natural History of Diurnal Birds of Prey with co-author Craig Farquhar. Recent honors for Boal include The Wildlife Society's W.L. McAtee and G. V. Burger Award for Outstanding Service (2020); the Raptor Research Foundation's Fran & Frederick Hamerstrom Award (2019); and his election as an American Ornithological Society Elective Member, an honor based on significant contributions to ornithology. 

Boal has authorship/co-authorship of more than 100 peer reviewed papers and 200 professional presentations focused on ecology, conservation and management of avian species, editorship of two books, and chairing of two international symposiums. In addition he's served in several capacities of governance of ornithological societies, including past service as president of the Raptor Research Foundation.

CONTACT: Warren Conway, Chair, Department of Natural Resources Management, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-6579 or warren.conway@ttu.edu

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