Passport to Texas

Pileated Woodpecker

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Fragmentation of old growth forests in the southeastern US and may have contributed to the “extinction” of the ivory billed woodpecker. In 2005, sightings of the bird in Arkansas were reported indicating that after nearly 60 years in oblivion, this phoenix had risen from the ashes.

12—We’ve been getting a lot of calls since that announcement in oh-five, from people in east Texas that are wondering why there’s all this hoopla over ivory bills, because they’ve hand them in their yard for years.

Cliff Shackleford is a non-game ornithologist with Parks and Wildlife. While the ivory billed woodpecker is the largest woodpecker north of Mexico…

09 – We didn’t do a very good job telling people there are two big woodpeckers. And the other one is a common bird in the eastern third of Texas, and that is the pileated Woodpecker.

That’s the bird people have spotted, said Shackleford. It’s an easy mistake to make, too, as the woodpeckers are similar in size and appearance.

18—They’re black, white and they have some red on them. But the big difference between the two—when they’re perched on the tree—the ivory billed has a white backpack. So, the folded wings give it the look like it’s carrying a white backpack. Whereas in the pileated, there’s no white [backpack]. It’s just continuously dark on the back.

Even so, researchers still want to hear about possible sightings of the ivory billed woodpecker…because they never lose hope.

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

Dr. Robert Rice (back row, right), with colleagues from Smithsonian Migratory
Bird Center.

Conservation: Bird Friendly Coffee Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Coffee is an agricultural crop that thrives in the tropics.

14—These areas oftentimes are coincident with biodiversity hot spots; that is, areas of really high biodiversity, whether in birds, or insects, amphibians—what have you.

Dr. Robert Rice works with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, which certifies coffees “Bird Friendly” when growers meet certain stringent criteria. Studies suggest shade grown coffee offers the greatest benefit as habitat.

15—Where coffee still is managed with a shade cover of the kind that we like to see and have defined with “bird friendly” criteria, then coffee oftentimes is some of the last remaining canopy cover—even though it’s not forest—it’s acting very much like a forest.

With habitat loss from deforestation, shade grown coffee estates serve as refuge for neo-tropical migratory bird species that travel through Texas, including the Black and White Warbler, the Baltimore Oriole, the Cerulean Warbler and others.

:15—So, they just hang out there. They might be running around with mixed species flocks, and trying to stay alive and ultimately fatten up before they make the trip back north again. So this quality habitat becomes quite important for them in terms of making the trip back.

So next time you order a cup of coffee, you might ask your server if it’s for the birds.

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

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center:
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/coffee/default.cfm

Backyard Birding

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You don’t have to travel to the Rio Grande Valley to log some respectable bird watching this winter, says TPW non game ornithologist, Cliff Shackelford.

10— We have the wildlife viewing trails all across Texas. These are hot spots that you can find easily that might be close to you or near where you’re going. And they’re available for people to go an look at birds [and other wildlife].

Find the wildlife viewing maps on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. Cliff Shackelford, a non-game ornithologist for Parks and Wildlife, says Texans can plan a birding “staycation” with a little planning.

30— You can attract a lot of winter birds to your backyard. You can do something as simple as putting out a bird feeder and a birdbath. Or better, creating a wildscape, which is gardening for backyard wildlife. And we do that in our yard and we get so many white-throated sparrows that stay the winter with us because we have provided them with the cover that they need. We have a lot of berry giving shrubs, so we get a lot of cedar waxwings, and American Robins wintering with us. So, you can attract a lot of things in your backyard and have a really good time.

Find birding information and the wildlife viewing trail maps on the Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Birding in Weslaco in the Rio Grande Valley

Birding: Best Winter Bird Watching in Texas Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Birders who are in the know travel to south Texas in winter.

10— Wow. The Mecca down there is The Valley. And the three or four counties along the Rio Grande are just the powerhouse for winter birding in Texas.

Cliff Shackelford is a non-game ornithologist for Parks and Wildlife.

30— Birdwatchers from all over the country – really all over the world – are going there to see birds that are stacked up and wintering in big number, because it’s very mild down there. Cold snaps are very unusual and that’s why there’s a lot of agriculture – like citrus that doesn’t handle freezes very well at all. But, where there is remaining thorn scrub habitat or riparian woodland, that can be just really excellent birding in the wintertime.

Shackelford says while the Rio Grande Valley is, as he said “the mecca” when it comes to sheer volume and varieties of overwintering migratory species in Texas – the valley isn’t not the only place to see a variety of migratory birds.

More on that tomorrow.

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

Green Jay

Birding: Winter Migrants in Texas Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Texas is a birder’s paradise in winter, and TPW non-game ornithologist, Cliff Shackelford knows why:

15— We are on the receiving end for a lot of our continent’s breeding birds that have to winter in mild climates; water birds that can’t handle water that freezes over – and we don’t have a lot of that in Texas especially the farther south you get.

Migratory species begin flocking to Texas in fall, and become our winter birds.

37— In the fall we get a lot of shorebirds we don’t see in the summer months that have bred up in the tundra. Then come your woodland birds – a lot of the vireos, warblers, tanagers… start pouring through in October. A lot of the raptors [that don’t stay, they only pass through]; things like Broad-wing Hawks, Swaisnon’s Hawks, Mississippi Kites –they’re pouring through up until October. Then the sparrows really pour in starting in October and November. So, really by mid-November, most things are in place – where they’re going to be – for the next several months.

We tell you where to find some of these migrants on tomorrow’s show.

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.