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LTX Birders (from left to right) TJ Monroe, Jordan Herbst, Robert Butler, Jimma Byrd, Neal Leavell and Daniel Hodges stand together as they identify and watch a ladder-backed woodpecker, a Downey woodpecker and a red-bellied woodpecker work away at a standing dead tree at Cooper Spring Nature Park. “We never cut down trees here,” Harrell Clary said, “because there is as much life in a dead one as a live one.” JOYCESARAH MCCABE | DISPATCH RECORD
“We’re a loose collective,” Daniel Hodges said with a grin, as he talked about his fellow Lampasas County birders. The group, LTX Birders, started gathering about three or four years ago and has no formal meetings, setin- stone dates they meet, or hard and fast rules. It is a relaxed group of individuals who are quite knowledgeable and enjoy both the pursuit of birds and camaraderie with one…