Gary is the weekly nature columnist for the Houston Chronicle.  He also publishes feature articles in state and national magazines and has written numerous books including Book of Texas Birds, Texas Wildlife Portfolio, Enjoying Big Bend National Park, Backroads of Texas, Backroads of the Texas Hill Country, Texas Gulf Coast Impressions, Texas: A Photographic Journey, and a pamphlet Birds of Southeast Texas. Gary is also a contributing author in the book, Pride of Place: A Contemporary Anthology of Texas Nature Writing.  He has won eight writing awards and is the recipient of the 2004 Excellence in Media Award and the 2010 Synergy Media Award for Environmental Reporting. Gary has been active in the birding community for over 30 years. He founded the Piney Woods Wildlife Society in 1982 and founded the Texas Coast Rare Bird Alert in1983. He served as President of the Houston Audubon Society from 1989 to 1991 and purchased the North American Rare Bird Alert for Houston Audubon in 1990.  He was vice-president of the Board of Directors for the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory from 2001 -2008. He currently sits on the Board of Advisors for the Houston Audubon Society and Gulf Coast Bird Observatory. Gary is currently Professor of Business at Lone Star College---North Harris. During his career at the college, Gary has served as Vice President of Instruction, Dean of Business, Social, Behavioral, and Natural Sciences, Professor of Business, and Professor of Developmental Writing. He has served as Faculty Senate President and is a recipient of the Teacher Excellence Award. Gary loves to watch and study birds, butterflies, moths, dragonflies, and wild mammals such as deer, foxes, and lions. He has a lifelong interest not only in birds and nature but also in subjects as varied as science, history, economics, classical and contemporary literature, Biblical literature, cosmology, astronomy, and chess. When Gary is writing books, newspaper columns, or magazine articles, his Tuxedo house cat named Socks sits on the desk to correct misspellings and to flip through stacks of books and papers to help find information.