Emilie Payne
The Gulf Podcast and Oral History Project
The Gulf is an oral history project and podcast that shares stories about people and nature on the Texas Gulf Coast. For more information, visit the The Gulf's homepage.
Emilie Payne is a dedicated birder, conservationist, and former Audubon warden based in Texas. She moved from San Antonio to Corpus Christi in 1960, bringing with her a copy of the Roger Tory Peterson Field Guide to Birds. Her passion for birding was ignited in 1961 when she and her daughter attended a bird walk in Blucher Park, where they experienced a fallout, a day when the park was filled with a variety of birds. Payne's interest in birding quickly grew into a lifelong commitment. She and her daughter joined the Audubon Outdoor Club and participated in the Christmas bird count]. Payne's dedication to birding and conservation led her to spend twenty years patrolling the bay on a small boat, protecting the brown pelican population. She worked under David Blankenship, the Audubon warden at the time, and together they developed a system for banding birds to track their growth and migration patterns.
Scope and Content Note
This interview with Emilie Payne, conducted by Jen Corrinne Brown on March 2, 2017, provides a detailed account of Payne's work as a birder, an Audubon warden, and a conservationist in Corpus Christi, Texas. Payne discusses her early life and how she became interested in birding after moving from San Antonio to Corpus Christi in 1960. She shares her experiences of birding in Blucher Park, joining the Audubon Outdoor Club, and participating in the Christmas bird count. Payne also talks about her twenty years of conservation work in the bay, protecting the brown pelican population. She discusses her collaboration with David Blankenship, the Audubon warden at the time, in developing a system for banding birds. Payne also shares some of her significant findings, such as the discovery of brown pelicans with bright red gular pouches in 1972, a characteristic previously only seen in California. She also discusses the increase in the brown pelican population during the midsummer, which she attributes to post-breeding wanderers from Mexico. The interview concludes with Payne expressing her desire to transcribe her field notes to preserve her observations and findings for future research.
Please Note: The oral histories in this collection are protected by copyright and have been created for educational, research and personal use as described by the Fair Use Doctrine in the U.S. Copyright law. Please reach out Voices@noaa.gov to let us know how these interviews are being used in your research, project, exhibit, etc. The Voices staff can help provide other useful resources related to your inquiry.
The NOAA mission is to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts, to share that knowledge and information with others, and to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources. The Voices Oral History Archives offers public access to a wide range of accounts, including historical materials that are products of their particular times, and may contain offensive language or negative stereotypes.
Voices Oral History Archives does not verify the accuracy of materials submitted to us. The opinions expressed in the interviews are those of the interviewee only. The interviews here have been made available to the public only after the interviewer has confirmed that they have obtained consent.