Passport to Texas

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

Edited by Dr. Leonard Brennan, Endowed Chair for Quail Research at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, the book Texas Quails: Ecology and Management is for anyone who wants to understand and manage this prized game bird.

And he approached myself, and about twenty-three others, to contribute to this book, which is pretty much everything that’s ever been studied, and ever been worked on — on quail in Texas.

Robert Perez is Texas Parks and Wildlife’s state quail biologist. Quail once ranged across thirty-six states, but are now only common in few states, including Texas.

The quail is a species that’s been surrounded by myth. Everyone’s got a reason why they’ve declined, or an old an wives’ tale about why they’re gone – because turkey are eating them, or because of fire ants, or because of some other reason. We as biologists understand that most any species, when it disappears, or gets drastically reduced on the landscape, it’s because of habitat.

Perez says, habitat loss is the main thrust of this volume.

Every chapter, fundamentally, is referring to habitat. And that’s something that we can’t repeat enough to folks. It’s human nature just to find an easy way, or a silver bullet, or a one-shot way to fix a problem. Put them out of a box – pen reared quail. There is no easy solution; we’ve got to work on repairing the habitat. And that’s, I think, a message throughout the text.

Find the book on Amazon.com.

That’s our show… made possible by the Wildlife Restoration Program… helping to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Did you know Texas is home to forty-four different species of frogs, as well as myriad other amphibians?

Scott Kiester, Texas Amphibian Watch volunteer, says you don’t have to travel far to find a homegrown frog or toad. In fact, he says they may be closer than you think.

The Gulf Coast Toad you’ll find anywhere where he’s got a moist place he can hide in the daytime and come out at night and hunt bugs. The Rio Grande Chirping Frog is endemic to the southern valley. They’re about as big as the joint on your little finger and they hang out in plants. They like particularly Bromeliads.

Not only can we identify these creatures by their habitats, we can also identify them by their distinctive calls.

Different frogs and toads call at different times of the year. There are some that are year-round: the Bullfrog, the Southern Leopard Frog, and the Northern Cricket Frog. They may not breed year-round, but you can hear them. There are other species, like the Spring Peeper, and the Upland and Spotted Chorus Frogs; you will only hear when the weather is cool. Their idea of a perfect day is fifties and rainy. Frogs mostly call to attract mates. In fact, only really male frogs call.

Learn more about frogs and toads on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show for today…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger.

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

The March issue of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine is on newsstands now. And in it you’ll find an article by Jim Blackburn – an environmental attorney and planner from Houston — who writes about one of his more memorable kayaking experiences along the Texas coast.

We were out on Bolivar flats in our kayaks, and there were literally thousands of avocets, which are gorgeous black and white birds with sort of a brownish neck and sort of an upturned bill. They’re wading birds, probably about fourteen-sixteen inches in height. There were literally thousands of them, and they would sort of just rise and fall in a mass. Just the patterns that threes birds made, were just incredible to see. And I’ve just never seen that many avocets in one place.

When you’re on a kayak, says Blackburn, you can get closer to nature than you ever thought possible.

I oftentimes take my kayak to the rookery islands to see the large fish-eating birds – the herons…the egrets… going through their breeding rituals… and then later in the spring raising their young. And those are really, really nice experiences.

Download a Canoing and Kayaking resource guide.

That’s our show… made possible by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… helping to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Texas Amphibian Watch is a statewide volunteer program in which citizen scientists monitor frogs and toads in an effort to fend off the extinction of species currently in decline. Here’s how it’s done:

There are different levels of monitoring. The easiest of which is whenever you see an amphibian, you write down the time of day, the weather, the rough location, and then once a year you send that in to Parks and Wildlife and they’ll add that into one database.

Scott Kiester, Texas Amphibian Watch volunteer. If you prefer listening to amphibians as opposed to looking at them, there’s a way you can make a contribution.

There’s a program called Adopt-a-Frog-Pond, where you agree to go and listen and record the species you hear at a specific location. Once a month, sometimes more often than that, I’ll take 15 minutes and go out in the evening and listen to who’s out in the neighborhood croaking away. Frogs are a lot more active and do a lot more calling in that period of time after a rain, particularly if you can do it the day after a rain or if you get a rain in the afternoon go out and do it that evening. They just croak away.

Hop on over to the calendar section of the Texas Parks & Wildlife website to find upcoming Amphibian Watch workshops.

That’s our show for today…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger…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

The Texas coast draws anglers from near and far. And Texas Parks and Wildlife Television series producer, Don Cash, says a segment this month addresses an issue caused by its popularity.

One of the problems with so many people going to the coast to fish is protecting the fragile seagrasses on the coast. The seagrasses are a very important nursery area for all the kind of things we like to eat and like to catch, and are necessary down on the coast. And over the years, more people have gone fishing in these shallow areas along the coast…they’ve taken their boats and have really done quite a bit of damage to the sea grasses.

Run deep. Fish shallow. That’s the way the people fished here fifty years ago. They would run in the deep sloughs and get out and wade the shallow flats. And everybody respected the shallow flats until flats boats came in…

Not only do we address the importance of the seagrasses, and the importance of the entire coastal ecosystem, there is some explanation on how to operate your boat properly in this water. And, one of the interviews is with a boat dealer, who talks about, “Well, everybody goes and buys the boat without really learning how to operate the boat in the most responsible manner.”

Check local listings to see when the show airs in your town.

That’s our show…supported by 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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