Passport to Texas

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

Once widespread across North America, the Whooping crane, the tallest bird in the US, nearly became extinct in the mid twentieth century due in part to habitat loss and unregulated hunting.

By the time people started paying attention in the 1930s and 40s, the whooping cranes were restricted to occurring in the United States only in a small population in Louisiana, and along the Texas coast in the winter.

Wildlife Biologist, Lee Ann Linam, says Whooping cranes landed on the endangered species list in 1967… with no time to spare.

And those numbers were unbelievably low at some point. That Texas population got down to 15 or 16 birds one winter.

Collaborative efforts between pubic and private organizations and landowners in the US and Canada, helped the species to rebound. Biologists expect more than 280 birds to winter at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge this year.

It’s so neat to be able to tell a come back story for endangered species. You know, so many times we are constantly fighting the threats that are hard to off-set, and species continue to languish somewhat, or at least struggle for recovery. [bird calls] And it’s nice to show that, in this case, the endangered species act and the other efforts that went on to protect migratory waterfowl were able to bring a species back from the brink.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
http://www.fws.gov/southwest/REFUGES/texas/aransas/

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

You don’t have to be a birder to appreciate Resaca de la Palma State Park, north of Brownsville. Pablo De Yturbe is park superintendent.

We are part of the World Birding Center, so birds are important to us. But, not only that, when you get birds, you have butterflies, you have dragonflies, and five hundred and so different plant species, which some of them are very rare.

You also get a variety of mammals, reptiles and amphibians. The 12-hundred acre park is the largest tract of native habitat in the World Birding Center network.

It also offers viewing decks overlooking the resaca, thus affording visitors a bird’s eye view of wildlife that uses the wetland.

Experience it for yourself on Saturday, December 6, when Resaca de la Palma State Park celebrates its grand opening with Family Day.

Our aim is to have not only bird watchers and nature lovers, but the whole family come and spend the day at the park. We’re going to have different activities. We’re going to have vendors, food, interpretive tours, hawk shows, and the buffalo soldiers.

Entrance is free for the grand opening. Resaca de la Palma State Park is possible thanks to increased park funding provided last session by the Texas Legislature.

Find information about the park at passporttotexas.org. That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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

Dense Tamaulipan thorn scrub and other habitats make up Resaca de la Palma State Park, near Brownsville.

We have four different observation decks where they [visitors] can view the wildlife that uses the resaca. And each deck is a little bit different both in terms of the amount of sunlight that it gets during different times of the day, and also—to a degree—the vegetation that’s in that area where the resaca curves through it.

Katherine Miller is a natural resource specialist at the site. Once a dry riverbed, park staff flooded the resaca this summer, and control water levels to support a wide variety of wildlife, including more than 277 bird species.

It just amazes me how I can go outside in the park and walk around and find a new butterfly species that I’ve never seen here, or a bird species that’s just migrating in. Being able to get into all these different habitats and seeing the variety of birds, and knowing that we’re providing a place for them. I think that’s the most important thing—we’re doing something for the environment and protecting those species.

The 12-hundred acre park, part of the World Birding Center, is open for day use only. It has eight miles of trails in addition to the observation decks.

It’s mostly a park for people to get out and experience nature by walking or biking. We also will have a tram, and the tram will allow visitors into the park.

The Grand Opening celebration for Resaca de la Palma—details tomorrow.

That’s our show… with support form the Wildlife Restoration program… providing funding for wetland conservation through the Private Lands Enhancement Program.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Setting out backyard feeders is a great way to get birds to gather in places where you can easily enjoy them.

Feeders should be a supplement to a garden. That’s what you should concentrate on, is creating a garden that is going to provide some of the materials, and then use your feeders to put the birds where you can easily see them.

Mark Klym, an avid birder, coordinates the Wildscaping Program for Parks and Wildlife. The kinds of feeders and food you put out will determine the kinds of birds you attract for up close viewing.

Black oil sunflower seed is your best. I certainly do not recommend using the mixes that have a lot of red millet or milo in them because they tend to attract a lot of house sparrows. Use different types of feeders. Not all of our birds can easily feed on a column that is hanging with a very short perch. Put out a platform feeder and you’ll get some of your traditionally ground-feeding birds that will go to the platform. Put out some peanut feeders for some of our bigger jays. You might want to look at putting out a sock feeder, which is just a sock that has thistle seed in it, for the finches. And they’ll actually pull it out of the cloth sock.

There you have it: creating a stunning and educational experience in your own backyard can be as easy as hanging a sock with the proper seed. Just be sure to keep those binoculars handy.

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

Learn more about Texas birds and ways to bring them to your home by visiting our website: passporttotexas.org

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

[SFX: winter wind]
With winter on the way, you may be tempted to set out bird feeders for your feathered visitors.

There are people that maintain that feeders are unnatural, that they crowd the birds into a smaller area. Birds are like us, if there’s food available, they’re going to come to it.

Wildscape program coordinator, Mark Klym, says the crowding situation is fleeting, and should not be a factor when deciding whether to provide birds with supplemental feeding. Since we’re myth-busting, Klym adds that a dirty feeder—while unpleasant—will not cause disease birds that eat from them.

If they’re not kept clean, they can enhance disease situations, but they can’t—by themselves—cause disease.

Another unfounded feeder fear is that easy access to food will encourage migratory species to stay put.

Birds migrate for a much more powerful trigger than just whether there’s just food available. And if you look at it, in a lot of areas, when the birds start to move, there’s some of the biggest supplies of [natural] food that there have been all year.

Finally, there is no evidence that a bird feeder will cause species not usually found in your area to book a visit.

Your feeder is not going to bring a bird that wouldn’t otherwise have been in the area. It’s going to be a situation where that bird happened to be in the area already, saw your feeder, and came to it.

So, this winter, if you want to put out a feeder to supplement the diet of visiting birds, do so without guilt.

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

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