Passport to Texas

Northern Cardinal

Birds/Wildlife: Attracting Backyard Birds Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Birding is a year-round activity in Texas that’s growing in popularity among all age groups. The wide variety of species found here keeps it interesting.

08—Texas is Mecca for birders around the world because we are on the migration flyway for the entire Western hemisphere.

Valerie Staats is past Executive Director of the Travis Audubon Society. She says birds have very simple needs.

04—Birds need food, shelter, water, and a place to raise their young.

Ms. Staats offer a few simple ways to entice a wide range of bird life into your neighborhood.

28—In the ideal world if you want to bring birds to your backyard, you’re going to have several feeders offering different types of food. Have water available- if anything, that’s more important than food. The water alone will bring a lot of birds to the backyard. One thing that people often forget is that the birds need a shelter, and by that I don’t mean a home per se, but a way to be protected from their predators while they’re enjoying what you’re offering in the backyard.

Interested in birding? Find birding information on the Texas Parks & Wildlife website.

That’s our show for today .. Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Camping at Inks Lake

Nature: Outdoor Resolutions for the New Year Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Don’t you love the start of a new year? It‘s totally fresh and filled with possibilities. So, take a few minutes to consider how you’re going to make this year better for you and your family.

One way would be to get outside more, because—as we like to say: life’s better outside.

Spending time in the natural world has a way of resetting the brain and giving you a fresh perspective. Researchers have discovered that children who spend time in nature do better on exams, and are less disruptive in the classroom.

Bring a pair of walking shoes to the office, and during your lunch hour, stroll outdoors in the fresh air. Even if you’re in a city, you can still observe the varied wildlife and plant life you see along the way. It’s amazing how much nature you can actually find in a concrete jungle.

Spend time with friends or family at one of our many state parks. Most folks are within 90 minutes of a state park or natural area; many are much closer. Take a nature hike, ride a bike. Pitch a tent and sleep under the stars, or find a park with cabins and rough it indoors.

Commit to learning something new about Texas history by visiting one of the state’s incredible historic sites.

There’s a world of wonder out there, and once you spend more time outdoors, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

That’s our show…Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Project FeederWatch

Birding: Feeder Watching Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Christmas Bird count, which takes place from December 14 – January 5 is a project of the National Audubon Society where for three weeks volunteers count birds during a 24-hour period in a 15-mile diameter circle.

05—But there aren’t any on December 25th—you can’t compete with family time and ripping open presents.

Cliff Shackelford is Texas Parks and Wildlife non-game ornithologist. Volunteers submit their observations to the lead person, called a compiler.

05—That compiler then crunches all the numbers and turns in—nationally—a count for the whole circle.

Audubon isn’t the only organization counting birds this winter. The Cornell Lab or Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada offer a feeder watcher program for folks who prefer to count birds from the comfort of home.

23—That’s someone that just merely watches out their back window and looks at the birds coming to the feeder and just counting those things. It’s a really good niche for someone that’s not able to get out if it’s too cold, or you’re just not physically able to get out, or maybe you have a newborn at the house, These are people that might have their eyes open watching the feeder and can contribute.

Find links to more information on the bird count and feeder watch at passporttotexas.org.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… supports our series as well as conservation programs in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Christmas Bird Count, image Jerry Acton, www.audubon.org

Wildlife/Birding: Christmas Bird Count Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

More than a hundred years ago people participated in a time-honored Christmas tradition.

06— People would go out and do what was called a side hunt, and the winning group would come back with the biggest pile of dead critters.

How festive. The majority of critters in those piles were birds. Cliff Shackelford, a non-game ornithologist with Parks and Wildlife, says conservationists had a better idea.

05—Early conservationists thought that we ought to count birds and not try to collect birds.

Today we have the nationwide Christmas Bird Count. Between December 14 and January 5, volunteers, armed with bird lists, head into the field and count birds over a 24-hour period.

15—What people do is they get into teams, and they have a defined 15 mile radius circle that they’re counting in, and that circle never moves. The hope is that you would count that circle for decades and decades and over time you would see trends.

Different groups pick different days within that three week period to count birds. Researchers use the census information to assess the health of bird populations, and to guide conservation action.

05—They might need a full year’s heads up to chew on it and figure out, hey, I want to do this next year.

Go to audubon.org for more information. The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our program. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Fiches at feeder, Goliad State Park

Birds: Odd Behavior at the Feeder Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Fall and winter offer bird-watching opportunities – especially in your own backyard when you hang feeders outside your windows for up close viewing.

05—There is no place better in the world for attracting birds than right here in Texas.

Mark Klym, an avid birder, oversees the Wildscaping program at Parks and Wildlife. Common feeder fare is the black oil sunflower seed, which attracts various species, including cardinals, finches, and sometimes chickadees.

06—And watch the way they feed. Some of them will actually sit and break the seed right there on the feeder and eat it.

If you’re new to feeder-watching, some of the behavior you observe may seem perplexing.

15—We get people who are frustrated all the time; they say, ‘how come that bird comes in and throws half the food out?’ Well, what they’re doing is, a bird like a chickadee or titmouse, they don’t have a bill that’s designed to crack that seed. So they’ve got to go back to the branch and bang it on the tree to break it.

But what are they doing when they hurl seed to the ground?

07—They’re actually weighing the seed to make sure there’s enough weight there to make sure it’s worth their while to fly back to that branch before they get their meal.

Now you know. Find additional information about birds on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.