Fame Could Not Spoil Her
April 27, 2012 (Friday)
In 1954 Connie Hagar of Rockport was on the cover of Life Magazine. Born in Corsicana, she and her sister first visited Rockport in 1933. Later she and her husband, Jack, moved to Rockport. She became one of the world’s leading ornithologists and there are several wildlife sanctuaries in the area that are named in her honor.
I first met Connie Hagar not long after moving to Rockport in 1964. I found an injured bird in front of the First Baptist Church building on Main Street. I thought of Connie Hagar, and gave her a call. She came immediately, rescued the bird, nursed it back to health and when she set it free after a few weeks, she called me to report. I called the bird a “Scissortail.” In her pleasant, genuine Southern dialect (her grandparents were from the deep south), she identified it for me as a “Tyrannus forficatus,” commonly known as the “Scissor-tailed Fycatcher,” but also as the “Texas Bird-of-Paradise” and the “Swallow-tailed Flycatcher”.
That first contact initiated our friendship, giving us a common experience. From time to time our paths would cross, and somewhere she heard me quote poetry. Afterwards, she called me and commented on the verses, sharing some of her own favorite poems. From then on, she would call from time to time, each call including another poem, which she quoted beautifully in her marvelous Southern American English. She was also a lover of music, and played the organ for a church in Aransas Pass.
I wrote about birds in the two blogs prior to this one, and that got me to thinking about one of the world’s renowned ornithologists, who claimed me as a friend. I shall always be thankful she did. I was and am humbled by the thought. She was one of the many people I met in Rockport who are special for various reasons. She died in 1973 at the age of 87, but her name is well-known today by bird watchers around the world.
Visit birdRockport.com to see photos of Connie Hagar (Click here).