Passport to Texas

Snowy Owl

State Parks: Birding Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Birding is one of the fastest growing outdoor hobbies in the United States, and Texas and its parks are major birding hot spots. Our State Park Guide Bryan Frazier tells us more.

51 – You have hundreds of different bird species, and incredibly rich and diverse birding habitats. From the lower Rio Grande Valley, all the way up to the panhandle and east Texas. You have this vast array of colors of birds. Now is the time to get out and enjoy them. You have the great Texas Birding Festival [Classic]; the 17th year it’s going on. It’s tournaments, it’s sit ins. You can do birding checklists, you can help parks do birding counts. There’s lots of different way to get involved in a public way. Or you can just sit in your backyard by your bird feeder and watch the vas array of birds that will come there. But birding, identifying the species…take your binoculars, take your camera, take your kids. And show them just how enjoyable that can be to see those creatures that live here year round or just seasonally.

Thanks, Bryan.

Find additional information at texasstateparks.org.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

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

Blue Mockingbird

Birding: Vagrant Species, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Vagrant birds are those who stray from far outside their expected range. But why do these birds end up so far from home?

04— There are various reasons why a bird might show up in an odd place.

Noreen Damude, wrote an article about vagrant bird sightings for the May issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

31— Weather has definitely a lot to do with it. Storms, hurricanes – things like that. Or, extended droughts in certain areas. There was one in Northern Mexico that drove many birds up across the border that we usually don’t see, like white throated robins and masked tyras, and things like that.

But Noreen says Mother Nature can’t take all the credit. Birding is one of the fasted growing hobbies in the US, and more eyes in the sky mean more surprises.

23— There are more birders. And the technology that’s been developed: computers and camcorders, and internet, and there are sites like eBird…. Let’s say you’re going to take a trip to Washington, DC, you can right away find out what’s been seen (besides politicians) in Washington that might be worth looking at.

You’ll find Noreen Damude’s article on vagrant bird sightings in the May issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

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

TPW Magazine May 2013 Issue

Birding: Vagrant Species, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Sometimes, for reasons we cannot explain, birds end up in Texas that don’t belong here. They’re called vagrants.

16— Basically a vagrant is defined as a bird that strays far outside its expected breeding, or wintering, or migrating range. In other words, it’s a bird that shows up unexpectedly because it’s not supposed to be here.

Noreen Damude, retired from Texas Parks and Wildlife, is a birder, and wrote an article about vagrant bird sightings, called Unexpected Guests, for the May issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

31— One of the ones that struck me is the Stygian Owl. It has a very large range in Central and South America, but it’s very hard to see even where it’s supposed to be. And it was seen in Benson Rio Grande State Park in 1996; this young boy and his parents were just going through the park, and he saw this little ‘fuffing’ in a mesquite tree. And he discovered it. He was a kid! That was very exciting.

We’ll have more with Noreen Damude on vagrant bird sightings in Texas tomorrow.

Support provided by Ram Trucks. Doing what’s right and good regardless of the degree of difficulty — takes guts. Those are the people who build Ram trucks. RAM.

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

Bighorn Sheep © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Conservation: Bighorn Sheep Restoration, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Texas Parks and Wildlife, and we’re looking back at major milestones, including the success of our Desert Bighorn Sheep restoration program.

11— We have sheep in about eight mountain ranges right now. State numbers are up about 13-hundred or so – we’re halfway there. Our goal being about 25-hundred to 3-thousand animals in all of their historic range.

That included 15 mountain ranges in the Trans Pecos. Froylan Hernandez, Desert Bighorn Sheep Program Leader, says over the decades, TPW, with the support of landowners and other conservation partners, relocated sheep from other states to Texas.

06 — Essentially they’re still the same sheep, however, they have real subtle differences in sub-species that occur out here.

Texas Parks and Wildlife keeps a close watch on the animals to better understand what they require to live fully. One way they do that is by fitting certain sheep with radio tracking collars, from which he gathers data.

17— Research is a huge component of any restoration program, because that is how we learn; it helps us understand the biology of the animal, and it helps us better manage for the animals. It’s very unnatural for them to be running around in the wild with a collar around their neck. But, that’s exactly how we learn, and we better manage for them.

Learn more about Desert Bighorn Sheep Restoration on the Texas parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and funds Desert Bighorn Sheep Restoration in Texas.

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

Bighorn Sheep © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Conservation: Bighorn Sheep Restoration, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In the late 19th century, upwards of 3-thousand native desert big horned sheep roamed the Trans Pecos region of Texas. By the mid-20th century, they were gone.

07— It’s commonly agreed that the introduction of domestic sheep and goats, [with their] diseases, net wire fencing, and unregulated hunting played a big part [in their demise].

Froylan Hernandez is the Desert Bighorn Sheep Program Leader for Texas Parks and Wildlife. He is quick to say, there’s no ill will toward the domestic livestock industry.

06— I’m just merely stating the facts of the Bighorn’s demise. We need to live in harmony with the domestic livestock industry.

Native Texas Bighorn Sheep no longer exist despite active restoration efforts of the species that began in the late 1940s and early 50s.

09— So we started introducing sheep from other states; primarily Nevada, Utah, Arizona, some from Baja California, Mexico. So the efforts started way back when.

Restoration of Desert Bighorn Sheep involves relocation, monitoring, data collection and analysis. The sheep historically appeared in 15 mountain ranges in the Trans Pecos.

07— Our goal is to get them back to the critical habitat – to those mountain ranges, and for them to number about 25-hundred. So, we’re kind of halfway there.

More on Desert Bighorn Sheep Restoration tomorrow.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and funds Desert Bighorn Sheep Restoration in Texas.

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