Passport to Texas

The ocean is a birder’s paradise. Photo: Camilla Cerea from audubon.org

Where to Observe Pelagic Bird Species Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Pelagic bird species live their lives on the open water, rarely touching land except to breed.

[They need] a place where they’re going to have courtship and mating and build a nest so they can lay eggs and raise young. They can’t obviously do that on the water.

Cliff Shackelford is Texas Parks and Wildlife’s non-game ornithologist.

If you’re an angler, if you’re a surfer—you know people that really like to be out on the open water—you like boating, sailing, you’ve got to feel a special connection to these birds. Because these are your birds, because they’re out on the open water just like these people that love to be out on the water. And these birds spend their whole time out there. And it’s just remarkable.

Pelagic species go largely unseen.

In the Gulf of Mexico, we’ll have “strays” that we’ll never know are out there until somebody goes out there to look, or a specimen washes up on the beach. This is not heavily birded terrain; it’s difficult to get to. There are a lot of fishing crews that go out with guided fishing tours. Actually, a lot of birdwatchers have figured that out: don’t wait for a birding group to get a boat full of people to go out to the Continental Shelf to look at birds. Jump in on a fishing tour—one that might be out for two or three days. Instead of fishing for the big fish out there, you’re looking for birds that are also looking for fish.

The Wildlife restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Albatrosses are just one type of pelagic birds. – Photo © Ed Dunens/Flickr/CC by 2.0

Bird Word: Pelagic Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

It’s fun to talk with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department ornithologist Cliff Shackelford; I always learn something new—such as the word, pelagic.

Pelagic. These are birds of the open ocean or open water.

Cliff points out we’re NOT referring to birds that hang out on lakes and ponds. We’re talking about the big water.

So, in Texas, the Gulf of Mexico is going to be open ocean, basically. And we have lot of birds: storm petrels, shearwaters, albatrosses…these are pelagic birds. These are birds that spend most of their day, and most of their life, out in open waters.

I wondered: do pelagic bird species ever come on land?

They sleep on the water. They feed out on the water. They’re mostly flying—some of them can probably sleep while aloft. But, they of course, have to come to land when it’s the breeding season. And some of these birds don’t get to be sexually ready until maybe their fourth of fifth year like some of the albatrosses. So they might wander the ocean of the world for the first four 9r five years of their life before they ever really touch land.

A clever way to glimpse this fascinating group of birds…tomorrow.

The Wildlife restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Everyone on your boat should wear a life jacket.

Not Your Grandpa's Life Jacket Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Once upon a time, in the not so distant past, personal flotation devices were like big orange clown collars.

Those of us that are a little older, we always remember that bright orange collar lifejacket that would hang around your neck when you were a little kid. Those are a thing of the past.

And Tim Spice should know. He oversees boater education for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Right now, there’s thin, lightweight inflatable lifejackets that look like a little belt pack Or, one that you put around your neck like a scarf. [They have] a lot of buoyancy; more buoyancy that your traditional type III lifejacket that you might see a water skier wear.

Wearing lifejackets is more than a good idea, it’s the law.

So, we recommend that everyone wear a lifejacket when they’re on the water. But the law states that if you’re under 13 years of age, and you’re underway that you have to wear a lifejacket. Other than that, the law states: readily accessible, which means you want to be able to get it quickly in an emergency. The one thing that people forget is: in an emergency people start to panic, and they try to grab a lifejacket, and then it’s very difficult to put a lifejacket on in the water.

Find information on choosing the right lifejacket for you on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, Cecilia Nasti.

Everyone who goes on the water should wear a life jacket.

Life Jackets Save Lives Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

We’re on the threshold of summer; and what goes well with summer in Texas? Boating, of course. But before you get on the water, Tim Spice says: put on a life jacket.

A life jacket is something you wear that provides buoyancy if you jumped in the water or fell in the water.

Spice oversees boater education for Texas Parks and Wildlife. People make excuses to avoid wearing life jackets—including that they’re ugly—says Spice. But ask yourself this: is your street cred as a fashionista really more important than your life?

It’s one of the key components of drowning prevention. The Coast Guard estimates that 70% to 80% of the people who drown would be alive if they just wore a life jacket.

Tim Spice says, today’s life jackets are not the awkward, ill-fitting, boxy garments of a generation ago.

There are lots of new life jacket designs out there now. They don’t get in the way; they’re lightweight. Just really neat technology used today. Inflatable life jackets. And if you get into an emergency, or you’re not familiar with your surroundings—a lifejacket will be there to save your life.

“Life” is in the name, for goodness sake. Find information on choosing the right lifejacket for you and your family on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, Cecilia Nasti.

Deer suffering from Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

CWD Containment Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

During its March meeting, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioners expanded the state’s chronic wasting disease (CWD) Panhandle Containment Zone. This action followed the discovery of CWD earlier this year in a roadkill white-tailed deer.

Texas Parks and Wildlife’s wildlife veterinarian, Dr. Bob Dittmar says: “The state’s wildlife disease management response… focuses on an early detection and containment strategy… designed to limit the spread of CWD from the affected area… and better understand the distribution and prevalence of the disease.”

The test positive roadkill was among more than 10-thousand deer, elk and other susceptible exotic game animal samples…collected from a variety of sources by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department personnel… for CWD testing during the 2017-18 collection year.

Of the samples, more than 2-thousand came from roadkill. The rest were obtained through mandatory and voluntary hunter harvest submissions.

Since 2012 when the state first discovered the disease among mule deer, Texas has recorded 100 confirmed cases of CWD.

Details about each CWD detection in Texas are available on Texas Parks and Wildlife web site.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.