The Lower Trinity Valley Bird Club in the past 30 years has allowed our members and guests to experience wonderful friends, meet interesting people, view amazing birds, increase our appreciation of the outdoors, and to visit magical places.

LTVBC Mission

The Lower Trinity Valley Bird Club (LTVBC) is dedicated to the:

• Development and encouragement of birders and birding
• Recreational and educational investigation of birds and nature
• Conservation of birds and their habitats.

The LTVBC and its members strive to be responsible stewards of our natural world and all living creatures.

The Formation of the Lower Trinity Valley Bird Club, 1992
by Pam Milentz, Founding member

 Many years ago, Jody Hornbeck, Mary Ann Calhoon, Ellen Pickett and I went to Baytown Sterling Library to hear a special program about birding. Ellen Pickett was the librarian then for the Liberty Municipal Library and one of her best travel friends was the librarian at Sterling Library. We were excited to not only hear the program, but for Ellen to see her friend as well. The speaker for the program was David Dauphin. We had never met him at that point, but we were so impressed with his enthusiasm and love of birding. David did an awesome job!!

On our ride home to Liberty from Baytown, we wondered if David would come to Liberty to speak and then we wondered if there were ANY other birders who would come to HEAR him speak? We really did not know of any other local birders back then. Well, we asked David if he would come and a date was selected with enough time for us to promote through local advertising about this special event. We were all at the Liberty Cultural Center not knowing if anyone would show up to hear our special speaker. We were completely and totally surprised at the HUGE turn-out that night! It was a wonderful standing room only event and we each were amazed at so many “closet” birders in our communities. They were just like us in that most were those who had enjoyed their yard birds and wanted to learn more! The shared enthusiasm and excitement was a pure delight!

About a week after David’s fantastic Liberty Municipal Library evening program, Ellen Pickett, Jody Hornbeck, and Mary Ann Calhoon came to my house for a little coffee and a lot of brainstorming. We wondered if the people who attended the program would like to form a club to continue learning about birding? We called David Dauphin and he said he and Jan would be two of our first members and encouraged us to form the club. He procured by-laws from another organization that we adapted for our newly formed club, and took to local attorney Carl Pickett who donated his legal time to help us become a nonprofit organization. The local newspapers gave us free advertising of our first meeting and , as Paul Harvey would say, “And now, for the REST of the story!”

David and Jan were generous in all ways as they shared their time and talents with all in the Lower Trinity Valley Bird club. David led field trips far and wide, gave programs on a yearly basis and asked other talented birding friends to come and speak to the LTVBC. He was a gentle teacher who never made one feel awkward as they were trying to learn how to use a field guide, adjust a scope or a pair of binoculars. Through his efforts and Jan’s, the Lower Trinity Valley Bird Club was created and has thrived all these years. He will never be forgotten by any in the club!