Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

When Hurricane Humberto made landfall along the Texas coast last September, High Island, an important sanctuary for migratory birds, got hit hard. The April issue of TP&W Magazine follows the efforts of volunteers who brought the island back to life. Managing Editor, Louie Bond.

When you talk about damaging hurricanes, I think everybody thinks about Katrina and Rita. But actually, Hurricane Humberto was the fastest-growing hurricane in US history. And, unfortunately, the bull’s-eye hit High Island, which is a wonderful bird sanctuary. And, it’s an important stopover for neotropical birds who are coming north from Central and South America to their spring nesting places in North America. There’s marshland all around, and there’s just beautiful little secluded sanctuary where the birds can stop and rest and then continue on their way. And when Humberto came around, it uprooted centuries-old trees, tore up boardwalks, and just did incredible damage. But luckily, volunteers came on the weekends—members of the Houston Audubon Society—and they worked and worked and they cleaned up the debris and rebuilt the boardwalks. And now, I’m glad to say High Island has been totally restored and will be ready for the visiting birds this spring.

Thanks for the great news, Louie. Learn more about High Island at 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

Until recently, I did not know hummingbirds ate insects.

Well, if you think about it, an animal that’s swinging it’s arms at 72 times a second, needs something to rebuild those muscles that it’s exercising in there. And, without protein, they’re not going to build muscle.

So, if you find insects, such as bees, snacking at your hummingbird feeder, Mark Klym says, don’t panic.

People get all excited when bees get around their hummingbird feeder. And, bees are a great food for hummingbirds. I’ve watched them take bees out of the air.

Klym coordinates the Texas Hummingbird Roundup, a citizen science project where folks like you help biologists take stock of hummers.

We ask people to have a look out in the backyard once a week, about fifteen, twenty minutes a week, and give us a count of what birds [hummingbirds] you’re seeing out there. How many? What Species? What are they using? And then, if you see anything unusual—you find a nest, you see mating behavior—we ask you to record it and let us know about it. Once a year we have these forms sent back in and right now we’re reviewing the data from the 2007 season.

Download an information packet about the roundup, and find out where you can purchase a hummingbird identification wheel 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

If you’ve never seen a hummingbird in your part of Texas, it’s not because they aren’t around.

There’s not a county in Texas where you won’t see at least two species of hummingbird. In fact, there’s not a state in the United States—with the exception of Hawaii—that doesn’t have at least two hummingbird species.

Okay, maybe that is not a lot of hummers, but they are out there. Mark Klym coordinates the Texas hummingbird Roundup. He says Texas has 18 species of hummingbirds, and one region boasts the most.

Certainly the greatest variety would be in the David Mountains area. The David Mountains and the Chisos Mountains—out in West Texas.

If you want to attract hummingbirds passing through the area, you could put up feeders, but Klym says there is a better way.

That feeder, even in a good garden, is nothing more than a fast food stop. You want to provide plants that these birds can go to for nectar. But also, you want to provide plants that will attract insects, because these birds are heavy insect eaters.

At passporttotexas.org, find links to hummingbird appropriate plants, as well as information on how you can participate in the Hummingbird Roundup.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Find the top hummingbird plants as recommended by About.com: http://birding.about.com/library/weekly/aa053001a.htm

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Eleventh Annual Great Backyard Bird Count takes place February 15 through 18. It’s a citizen science project for birders of all ages, and Joshua Rose says it’s great for beginners.

And one of the reasons it was named the Backyard Bird Count is because that’s where most people start paying attention to birds. That’s where I started paying attention to birds—in my own backyard. And the interest grew and developed from there.

Rose is a natural resource specialist at Bentsen Rio Grand Valley State Park. The park is part of the World Birding Center. The four-day, national event creates a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Rose says it’s not unusual for an amateur birder who participates in this event to teach the experts a thing or two. The Audubon’s Oriole is a good example.

The Sibley Guide to Birds, http://www.sibleyguides.com/sibleyguide.htm, shows the Audubon’s Oriole as being restricted mainly to the southern tip of Texas, down here where Bentsen SP is located. This person was well north of that area, and was reporting a number of Audubon’s Orioles, but they sent me photographs of it, and I wound up determining that the range of this oriole is actually much greater, and goes further north than is shown in the field guides. So, I certainly learned something new there, and I guess the folks who write the field guides have some things to learn, too.

With field guide, and bird list in hand, you, too can participate in this event. Participants can upload their findings to a special online database.

Find a link to more information, including the data forms at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Amarillo: Panhandle Bird Club
http://www.wtamu.edu/~rmatlack/panhandlebirdclub

Birds of the Upper Texas Coast
http://www.texasbirding.net/

BirdNet, by the Ornithological Council
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/index.html

Corpus Christi: The South Texas Birding Forum
http://www.caller2.com/periodic/birdingindex.html

Galveston Island Birding Brochure
http://www.galveston.com/islandbirding/

Llano Estacado Audubon Society (LEAS)
http://www.leas.bizland.com/

Migrating Texas Animals
http://riceinfo.rice.edu/armadillo/Ftbend/texmig.html

Purple Martins in Texas
http://www.rice.edu/armadillo/Ftbend/pmartin.html

Refugio County Birding
http://www.refugiocountytx.org/Recreation/birding/

San Antonio, Birds of Texas
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/whbauer/tx_birds.htm

Texas Coast Birding Trail Map
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/wildlife_trails/coastal/upper/

Texas Gulf Coast Birding and Naturalist Web
http://texasnaturalist.net/

Texas Ornithological Society
http://www.texasbirds.org/

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Calling all bird lovers. On February 15 through 18, you have a chance to participate in The Eleventh Annual Great Backyard Bird Count.

The Great Backyard bird count is a nationwide event coordinated by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

Joshua Rose is a natural resource specialist at Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park. The park is part of the World Birding Center.

The Backyard Bird Count started as a count where people just count on their own property, in their own backyard. But over the years they’ve gradually expanded it, and encouraged people to count birds not just in their backyards, but also to count in, say, local city parks and around their neighborhoods, and wherever they happen to spend time that weekend.

The Great Backyard Bird Count, says Rose, is one of the first steps many people take when first getting involved birding. All you need is a field guide and an internet connection.

The whole count works through an online data entry. The data is entered through a website, and so when a person reports bird sightings to the Great Backyard Bird Count, the website has blanks to fill in for where and when they counted the birds and for how long.

Find a link for the data forms at passporttotexas.org.

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

Great Backyard Bird Count, Part 1 of 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download