Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

There are more than 600-million cats worldwide; 100-million live in America. And while most are “house cats” that don’t venture outside their owner’s home, an increasing number are free-ranging felines…or feral cats…

06—A feral cat is not under the direct care of humans…they are the ones out roaming around.

Kelly Bender is an Urban Wildlife Biologist for Texas Parks and Wildlife. Because cats are natural predators, feral cats are competing with wildlife predators for the same food sources…

10—They outnumber them and they out-compete them. So they are using the same kinds of prey animals that our native predators are using, like hawks and exerting an amount of pressure on them.

While small mammals such as mice make up about 70 percent of a feral cats’ prey, birds make up another 20 percent—at least. It’s said a single cat can kill up to 1,000 animals (including 200 birds) a year, for an estimated death toll of 39 million birds annually.

11—They can even cause the endangerment of some species, especially those species that are already under pressure from habitat loss or habitat degradation.

Coming up on tomorrow’s show…

06—From a wildlife management standpoint, we really should be keeping our cats indoors.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

Texas Nature Trackers is a citizen science program whereby Texans monitor species that biologists don’t commonly scrutinize.

05—So, we don’t have a lot of information on these species and we need to know what’s going on.

Biologist, Marsha May, oversees the program, which includes monitoring amphibians and freshwater mussels.

13—Many of these species are indicators of the health of our environment. And if we have a healthy frog population [for example] in a body of water within our community, then that’s a clean body of water.

Sound interesting? Consider attending the training on May 19 & 20 at Lake Livingston State Park, in Livingston in East Texas.

17—We’re actually doing a combination. Where, on one evening, we will do amphibian watch, because the best time to hear frog calls are at night. And then the following day—during the daytime—we’ll do mussel watch. So, people can either do both workshops, or they can do one or the other.

Complete this training and earn a scientific permit to handle either amphibians or mussels.

15—After that, they pick a site where they want to monitor, and they monitor on a regular basis, and then send us the data. If they need information, or if they need support, we are always there for them.

Find workshop details on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and helps 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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This is Passport to Texas

This month the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series follows a self-proclaimed foodie as he learns how to hunt. Producer, Alan Fisher was with him every step of the way.

Coming up the week of April 17th we have a story called Will Hunt for Food, in which we follow a person interested in hunting for the first time through his interest in local foods. People are really more interested in organic and natural food, free range food, and of course wild game has always been all of those things.

I think definitely the story will show that where there are perceived hurdles, there are many resources out there, and a lot of people who would like to help you get started hunting. For more information, folks can visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

Thanks, Alan.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

Millions of Mexican Free-tailed bats have begun their springtime return to Texas where they will bear their young and eat tons of pesky insects.

05—The Mexican free-tailed bat in particular is really valuable for agricultural purposes.

Meg Goodman served as Parks and Wildlife’s bat biologist.

13—Current research has shown that these bats can save farmers up to two sprays of pesticides per year because of all the insect pests that they’re eating. They’re eating things like the corn earworm moth and the cotton boll worm moth, among other crop pest species.

In addition to eating their weight in insects pests each evening, their nightly flights from inside caves and under bridges has become tourist attractions statewide.

14—Just their numbers and nightly emergences bring in a lot of tourist dollars to a lot of small communities and big communities like Austin. It’s one of our top tourist destinations right here in Austin. But they do provide a lot of dollars through nature tourism through a lot of our smaller communities throughout the state.

Certain bridges are favorite roosts of this flying mammal. And tomorrow we meet a man who builds bridges with bats in mind.

07—I would say that they type of bridges we build that would accommodate bats, we probably build about 30 of those statewide every year.

That’s our show for today…thank you for joining us…for Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

Texas Parks and Wildlife recently completed the ninth and final map in its Great Texas Wildlife Trails map series.

05—And that is the Far West Texas Wildlife Trail map, which just launched in December of 2010.

Shelly Plante oversees nature tourism for Parks and Wildlife. The latest map, divided into 10 loops, features 57 sites.

21—It stretches from Midland-Odessa down to Sanderson, Big Bend, and up all the way to El Paso. So, we go over two different time zones in this trail. In other trails, we’ve tried to keep sites within a half hour of other sites; in West Texas we’ve had to make that within a couple hours within the closest sites, but in West Texas standards—that’s close.

You’ll find the GPS coordinates for each site on the map, as well as relevant information. Some of the wildlife viewing sites included on this map may surprise you.

18—A golf course is involved… RV parks…and things that you wouldn’t necessarily think of as wildlife viewing sites—but they are. They’re protected habitat, and they’re these green oases, in the middle of Far West Texas, so they really do make good wildlife viewing site. But they aren’t necessarily what you would think of as a visitor. So, they’re perfect sites for a map like this.

Download any of the nine maps of the Great Texas Wildlife Trails from the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, and experience the wild(life) side of nature.

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

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