Clayton grew up in a small rural community just north of Victoria, Texas, where wildlife—especially birds—captured his attention from an early age. Many of his formative hours were spent on the back porch watching the feeders, slowly learning the rhythms and residents of his local patch. He went on to earn two degrees from Texas A&M Galveston in 2012: Marine Fisheries and Marine Biology. The following year, a close friend formally introduced him to birding, and he has been fully immersed in the pursuit ever since.
Clayton has volunteered for numerous birding festivals and events across the Upper Texas Coast, leading trips and sharing his enthusiasm for birds and the special places they inhabit. Although he enjoys birding throughout Texas, he has an especially strong fondness for West Texas and makes multiple annual trips to its mountains, canyons, and desert oases. He currently serves as the eBird reviewer for Galveston County and is a former Secretary and voting member of the Texas Bird Records Committee—roles that reflect his deep engagement with Texas ornithology and bird documentation.
Clayton has more than a decade of experience across all ecozones of Texas in every season, and he specializes in planning complicated logistics for birding trips. From the “Colima Death March” to multi-day routes during peak warbler migration, he has the expertise to meet clients’ needs no matter how unique. He enjoys target trips, casual birding, and everything in between. Clayton also birds throughout the Gulf Coast states and visits Southeast Arizona every summer for its unique rarities.
In addition to birding, Clayton enjoys all aspects of the natural world; any trip with him will be one filled with information. He finds that when the birding gets slow, it’s rewarding to explore the environment and appreciate the habitats that birds depend on.
At home, Clayton and his wife, Linsey, are raising two young children, Laiken Maxine and Cassin Clayton, both of whom love the outdoors and often join in on family nature adventures. For Clayton, birding is as much about the experience as it is the identification: “The joy of birding is about appreciating the challenge of identification, the peace of being in nature, and the camaraderie of fellow birders.
