Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

While the mockingbird might be the official state bird of Texas, every July it’s the hummingbird that earns a place of distinction in the state.

July is usually the start of our hummingbird migration when we’ve got thousands of ruby-throated hummingbirds heading this way from the northern regions.

Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Mark Klym heads up the annual Hummingbird Roundup Survey in Texas, where some 18 different species of hummingbirds have been documented.

The round-up really provides us with information about the hummingbird population here in Texas and gives us an idea of where they’re being found.

While the bird count takes place year-round, the birds are more prevalent in the state from July to October.

This would be a good time to start looking at possibly increasing your number of feeders if you have a yard that is going to be actively used by hummingbirds…the best way to get hummingbirds in your yard is to prepare a good hummingbird garden. Lots of plants that will feed the birds, salvias, Turks cap, trumpet vine.

Take part in the annual Hummingbird Round-up and receive your own survey kit…find out how… when you visit passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show for today. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

[SFX – hummer] Summer is a great time for hummingbird viewing in Texas.

Obviously the places people see them most often is around feeders.

Mark Klym is in Wildlife Diversity and a hummingbird enthusiast. You can attract hummingbirds to your yard with a hummingbird feeder filled with a solution of one part sugar to four parts water. Once you’ve hung a feeder, Klym says to keep the contents fresh.

During the summer months you want to change that every two to four days. During the winter months, you might get away with four to six days, but certainly no longer than that.

If you’d prefer to see hummers in the wild, you’re in luck: we have eighteen species of the bird in Texas. But you have to know where to look.

If you’re looking on the wild, you’re going to want to look in areas where there are a number of flowering plants available. The do require shelter, so they’re going to be around evergreen or well-leaved trees – depending on the season. And they’re also going to be found where there’s water. Water is a critical element of their environment, and they’re going to be found where there’s water.

We have a link to more information about hummingbirds, and hummingbird festivals in Texas at passportotexas.org.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Diversity, your name is Texas. And on the Texas parks and Wildlife TV series in July, viewers will go rock climbing and follow a flock or Sandhill cranes. Producer Abe Moore.

On the show in July, we do some rock climbing and tell people about how to do it and where to go. And a couple of places we go are Enchanted Rock and Hueco Tanks.

Okay guys, today we’re going to be climbing on the back of the main dome of Enchanted Rock. This back area faces North, and the climbing heights range from a hundred foot tall, where we are, down to three hundred feet tall on further down the dome.

Also in July, we’re doing a story on Sandhill cranes. Sandhill cranes are an amazing bird; they’re the oldest surviving bird species in the world. And they come through Texas on their winter migration. And one place you can find them is at Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge NW of Lubbock.

We have significant amount of water that allows the cranes to roost, and the local farming areas around, provide feeding areas for them during the day.

For me, just the sandhill cranes are just an iconic bird, I guess. It’s truly a migrating wonder.

Thanks, Abe.

Find stations airing the series at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… sponsored with a grant from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Twice a year you may find yourself face-to-face with some ugly ducks…

A duck will undergo two times during the year what we call a molt where they lose and replace all the feathers on their body.

Kevin Kraai is a waterfowl specialist. The first of the twice yearly molts leaves the birds vulnerable.

They molt every feather on their body, including their wing feathers, or their primaries. That takes place in late summer. And there is a period when they’re replacing their wing feathers that they are flightless, and it is a vulnerable time in their lifecycle.

However, these creatures are programmed to survive, and plan for their safety.

It just so happens that they will migrate to places that are conducive to their survival where they aren’t close to land bearing predators – and they’ll be out on the middle of large wetlands – away from predation.

Waterfowl molt because feathers don’t last forever. Drakes molt first, and hens molt once their ducklings are a little older. The reason waterfowl go through a second…partial molt… in winter …is strictly personal.

And this molt is the replacement of feathers – putting on their
breeding plumage.

That’s our show…sponsored with a grant from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

I’ve seen some pigeons up close before, but that’s the only bird that I’ve seen up close.

That’s San Antonio resident Marisa Harris, before participating in the program Bird in the Hand at Guadalupe River State Park.

It’s a bird banding program. We catch the birds at a bird feeding station we set up, and bring people and the birds together in a very hands-on, kind of personal way.

Craig Hensley, a certified bird bander, oversees the program. He routinely catches, tags, and releases birds for research and monitoring purposes, and wants others to have the same opportunity to see birds up close.

They learn to identify them, and once they learn how I go about aging and determining whether it’s a male or female, I can actually hold up the bird and go, “OK, what do ya’ll think?” You see how these feathers right here have a tannish edge? And you see how their rounded, not flat? So what does that tell me? Is that an adult bird or a baby bird? An adult? An adult bird? Exactly! I try to bring the science together with the kids so that not only are they learning some scientific methodologies that are really used in terms of birds, once I band a bird and we’ve recorded all the data one of our volunteers will take that bird out with the child and the child will help let that bird go. On your hand, alright? Now let it go. [flutters] there it goes!

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Sarah Loden…we produce our show with a grant from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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