Dane Jay Ferrell

Dane Jay Ferrell was born January 9, 1959 in Akron, Ohio and hit the ground runnin’. This Force of Nature peacefully closed his eyes for his final rest on October 22, 2023. Dane is preceded in death by his father, Les Ferrell; his mother, Linda Ferrell; and his brother, Shane Ferrell.

He is survived by his wife, Libby Even of Corpus Christi; brothers, Kevin, Mitchell and Patrick Ferrell all of Florida; and his sister, Gina Satti Adams (Bryan) of North Carolina. He is also survived by his favorite aunt, Nancy Ferrell Stiver; his beloved niece, nephews and cousins, and countless members of his hawkwatch family who loved him dearly.

Dane’s early life was full of sports -- flag football with his brothers and the neighborhood kids, professional golf, competitive disc golf -- and he was always serious about winning. Winning at everything. There also may have been a time or two he skipped school for shenanigans. After finishing highschool, Dane joined the Air Force and was stationed in California where his love of nature and the outdoors was focused to birds. While roaming around the Back Bay, Dane experienced the thrill of a White-tailed Kite hunting and his love of birding quickly sparked into a love of and fascination with raptors. In 2003 Dane began his first project counting migrating raptors for HawkWatch International and he never looked back. Through the hawkwatch at Corpus Christi, he met Libby and showed her a level of happiness she didn’t know existed.

Dane loved red wine for any occasion and for no occasion at all. He loved to laugh and possessed a remarkable ability to make people laugh. Even at the age of 64 he described himself as immature for his age. He also loved and was most rewarded by teaching kids about nature - at the hawkwatch, at the Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve and at the Nueces Delta Preserve for Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program. During his 20 seasons of counting at Corpus Christi HawkWatch, there were countless lessons taught by Dane: “Every bird must be counted.” “Scan, scan, scan, scan” sung to the tune of Monty Python’s Spam song. How to play Farkle by the rules of Dane. “Never let responsibility get in the way of hawkwatching.” Of the many witticisms from Dane, we know this one to be true “Great Dane is redundant.” Among the immeasurable contributions to the hawkwatch at Hazel Bazemore Park, Dane came up with the slogan “Hazel Rocks!” Going back to the watch we now realize that it was Dane that Rocks!

A Celebration of Life will be held on November 11, 2023 at 11:00am on the hawkwatch platform in Hazel Bazemore County Park, 4343 County Road 69, Corpus Christi, Texas 78410.

Dane’s family and friends request that in lieu of flowers you make memorial donations to HawkWatch International, Inc. at https://hawkwatch.org/daneferrell/ which will fund a project to perpetuate his legacy