Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Nobody thinks twice about collecting shells from the beach. But I started to wonder if it’s really okay since beaches are public land.

It’s okay to collect shells. The ones that are broken and come apart, they create the sand that’s out there, but there is no law against it [collecting].

Paul Hammerschmidt, with coastal fisheries, is a lifelong shell collector. He says collect responsibly to avoid creating problems for the environment or marine animals.

I highly recommend that you only take shells that are from dead animals—not live animals.

How can you determine if something is still alive? In the case of the popular sand dollar, small spines cover the shells of living animals…so look for smooth, spineless shells. If, like me, you’ve never found a sand dollar on the beach—there’s good reason for it.

I think it’s because everybody wants to get a sand dollar. And, too, they’re another very fragile shell. And when the waves are strong, they’ll get broken up, and you’ll just see fragments of them. A lot of times, the best time to find a sand dollar, is after a storm—and then very early in the morning—before anybody else gets out on the beach.

More tips on when and where to go shelling tomorrow. Continue this story online at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show for today….remember: Life’s Better Outside…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

We pick up magazines as much to look at the pictures as to read the articles. The January issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine let’s you embrace this guilty pleasure. Editor Louie Bond is here to tell us about the second annual photography issue.

Oh, I think our readers really loved it last year. Except that one reader who called and asked if we’d run out of stories to tell. And I can assure our reader that we haven’t, but we do like to take a month and display some of the best photography in Texas, And this year’s theme is forces of nature, which , of course, ties into everything we do here at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Our photographers have a job that we often envy, but I think sometimes we don’t always think it all the way through. They get up well before dawn to catch that marvelous first light. When a hurricane comes, instead of heading the other direction, they run right towards it, and hunker down with the game wardens, and go out and document all the devastation afterward. So it’s equal parts of charm and luck and courage. I think, that keep our photographers going. And this year we’re going to have a special emphasis on our own photographers. Our chief photographer Earl Nottingham, our assistant art director, Brandon Jakobeit, and our great parks and Wildlife photographer Chase Fountain, as well as a few of our wonderful freelancers. And I know our readers love to take their own pictures, and share them, and we’d love to see theirs on our website as well and on our Facebook page.

Thanks, Louie.

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

TPW Magazine: Photography Issue Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Fall hummingbird migration peaked in mid September, and spring migration won’t peak until February. Until then what’s a hummingbird lover to do—just wait?

08—Not at all. A lot of people will take their feeders down in October, and that’s really one of the worst things you can do, because we get hummingbirds here in Texas all year round.

Mark Klym coordinates the Hummingbird Roundup, an ongoing citizen survey of backyard hummers. Some birds, he says, arrive in late summer and stay until spring.

09—They’re not going to go down into Mexico. And so, we can keep them fed and keep them sheltered, and if we have the right habitat, we can enjoy hummingbirds 365 days a year.

You may see ruby-throats and black-chins in winter, but the Rufus and Buff bellies are more numerous in the colder months, and if your landscape has plenty of trees and shrubs, you may see some this winter. Just remember to keep your feeders refreshed and thawed.

20—During the winter, it’s a good idea to increase the number of feeders that you have. Continue with that typical, one part sugar, four parts water solution—no red food coloring, please; that’s not good for the birds. If we get a snow, which has happened a few times—yeah, you have to go out there and brush that snow off and get those feeders opened up. The birds need them; as soon as they wake up that’s where they’re going to head—for those feeders.

There’s more hummingbird information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Birding: Winter Hummers Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

[SFX—bobwhite quail]

That’s a sound that stirs quail hunters’ souls. The season for the small bird with the lonesome song runs through February 27th.

09—This past winter we finally got some moisture. We got a spring, which sometimes we miss in Texas. We also had cool summer temperatures, When I say cool I mean less than a hundred degrees.

Robert Perez, upland game bird program leader at Texas Parks and Wildlife, says weather conditions affect success during quail season. Better weather means more food and better habitat.

19—We do a survey every year the first two weeks in August, which is called a roadside count. And out biologists across the state run surveys counting the number of birds they encounter. And these give us an average that we indicate whether or not you’re above or below that long term mean. And pretty much this year all areas are below their low term mean, but they’ve made a good comeback from where numbers were last year which was very low.

With that in mind, Perez is cautiously optimistic hunters will have a good season.

16—Be looking for places where you find quail food, the seeds that are available, whether it be dove weed, or sunflower, or ragweed. And go places where you’ve seen quail in the past. Consider the moisture. If you’re using bird dogs, it does help them to have scenting conditions. Those scenting conditions are important for them to be able to find those birds.

Find hunting information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Habitat: What Quail Require Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

If you’re a waterfowler, wetlands and riparian areas are your hunting destinations…if you’re a bird hunter who prefers dry land, you’ll want to stick to the uplands.

04—The uplands are the grassland or savannah habitats that aren’t prone to being flooded.

Robert Perez is the upland game bird program leader at parks and wildlife.

06—The uplands are where you typically find some game birds like grouse, pheasant, quail—those sorts of species.

Among the birds just mentioned, quail attract the most attention in our state. Quail season started October 30th and runs through February 27th.

06—Texas is one of the few states where people flock to come and hunt quail, because we’ve got some of the last strongholds in our state.

Strongholds are areas where sufficient habitat with an abundance of bunch grasses exists.

20—So, the bunch grasses of south Texas and the rolling plains—typically blue stems, or Indian, or switch grass—what they call the big grasses of the great plains, and southern great plains from many years ago. Much of the habitat’s been replaced over time; we’ve lost a lot of the prairies and a lot of the savannahs, but where it still exists, and land use is compatible with that habitat type, we still have good numbers of quail.

Perez is cautiously optimistic about this quail season and we’ll talk about that tomorrow.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Hunting: Quail Forecast Play Now | Play in Popup | Download