Passport to Texas

Wildlife: Wandering Otters Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

When you find a plentiful supply of…

04—Crawfish, freshwater mussels, fish, frogs…

…in rivers and streams, you may also find otters, because that’s their preferred habitat and diet.

Texas parks and Wildlife Biologist, Gary Calkins studies otters and says the drought this past year dried up streams and stretches of river forcing the animals to venture far and wide in search of suitable habitat.

40—If we go back to normal rainfall patterns they will go back to their normal habitats, but right now they are popping up in any source of permanent water that they can find that has food in it. And so, folks that have spring fed ponds that may have never seen otters in 20 or 25 years are all of a sudden seeing them. How are they getting to these water bodies? Otters will cross land for miles to get from one spot to another, and so if they end up with no food, or no water or too much competition, they’ll just kind of pack up and go cross country and look for a new home. Somebody might actually see an otter crossing the street. A lot of the reports have been of otters crossing roads or pastures in kind of odd places.

Have you spotted an otter? Go to passporttotexas.org and tell us about it in the comments, and we’ll make sure it reaches Gary Calkins.

We receive support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program…funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

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

Wildlife: Is That an Otter in the Water? Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Every day Texas Parks and Wildlife Biologist Gary Calkins fields calls and emails about otter sightings because—he’s the otter guy.

08—Because of doing otter surveys out here, and then some other research that I was involved in I ended up with that title.

He charts the sightings on a map of the state only after he’s confident that what spotters saw really was an otter, because…

04—Otters, beavers and nutria in the water can all look somewhat similar.

Despite the reports streaming into Calkins’ office, seeing an otter remains a rare occurrence as they’re usually most active when we aren’t. Before calling in with a sighting, take extra time to verify it is an otter.

27—Otters are going to swim with most of their head up out of the water. They’re going to be more inquisitive and a little more likely to come to you; whereas beavers and nutria are going to swim away. Otter will dive, but then they’ll usually dive, but then they’ll usually immediately resurface and turn around and look at you. They also have a tendency to whistle or chirp at you as a vocalization to more or less let you know that you’re in their world. And so, the swimming behavior, whether it’s to you or away from you, and then the vocalizations are really good keys.

Post your otter sighting to passporttotexas.org, and we’ll pass it along to Gary Calkins.

We receive support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program…funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment an motorboat fuel.

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

Wildlife: Otters in Texas Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Texas Parks and Wildlife Biologist Gary Calkins—the man responsible for coordinating data collection on the state’s otter population—says it’s rare to see an otter in the wild.
When conducting surveys on the species, he and his team search for indirect signs of otter activity.

08—The surveys are done under bridges and looking for scat and tracks. We rarely get to see an otter, so we have to look for indirect sign of their presence.

Calkins had just wrapped up an otter survey the first time he was a guest on the radio show. Nobody could have predicted what happened after the program aired.

06—I started getting a lot of emails and phone calls from folks telling me that they had seen them in various places.

Surprising places, too.

11—There are a lot of sightings coming from a lot further west than I would have expected. A lot of them in the Austin area and the Colorado river drainage. And clear up to near Henrietta [near Wichita falls] was probably the most surprising.

He began plotting citizen sightings on a map.

12—It’s been a lot of fun; in some cases it’s been sort of overwhelming just because of the numbers. But it’s been really interesting and I’ve had a blast plotting them on a map and finding out where they’re showing up and visiting with folks about them.

A new survey began in February. On tomorrow’s show, learn how to distinguish otters from other furry swimming critters, before calling in your sighting.

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

This is Passport to Texas

Late February is not too early to begin planning for spring break. As spring breakers often like to experience the wild side on their week away from classes, we’d like to suggest they blaze a trail by following a special set of maps to the best spots for wildlife in Texas.

07—Through this series of maps, we now have over 950 sites, statewide, that show you the best places to see all kinds of wildlife.

You do know we’re talking about actual wildlife—not questionable behavior.

07—From bighorn sheep to monarch butterflies to migratory song birds, to nesting shorebirds on the Texas coast.

Shelly Plante oversees nature tourism for Parks and Wildlife.

30—Fifteen years ago we started with the Great Texas Coastal Birding trail, which was a series of three trails on the Texas coast: the upper, central and lower Texas coast. With the success of those, we moved on and did the Heart of Texas, and Panhandle Plains, and those were so successful we then moved on to the Prairies and Pineywoods. About two years ago, I started partnering with the Texas Mountain Trail and Texas Pecos Trail regions of the Heritage Trails of the Historical Commission to create the final map of the series. And that is the Far West Texas Wildlife Trail map.

Download any of the nine Great Texas Wildlife Trail Maps from the Texas Parks and Wildlife website…and have a wild spring break—the kind you can tell your folks about.

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

Wildlife: Quail on the Prairie Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Bobwhite quail used to be abundant in the eastern third of the state, but habitat loss sent this small game bird packing in search of hospitable environs.

05—Private landowners are the key to increasing habitat.

More than 90 percent of the state is privately owned. Jim Willis, who owns the WW Ranch, improved the habitat on his property, and rallied his neighbors to do the same; together they created the Wildlife Habitat Federation.

36—The Wildlife Habitat Federation applied [to the USDA] for a conservation innovation grant. And with this grant, we received a hundred twenty thousand dollars, which was the seed money for getting some major wildlife conservation programs off the ground. We matched that with funds that we received from the landowners that are participating. We got a lot of help from Texas Parks and Wildlife. I can tell you that we’ve been blessed with the technical and the financial help we’re getting from them. With that assistance, we’re getting landowners to sign up to put in a wildlife corridor.

At seven miles long and at least a hundred fifty feet wide, the corridor runs from the WW ranch to the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge.

Willis says he hopes their efforts reestablish wildlife in the area.

That’s our show, with support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program… providing funding for the Private Lands and Pubic Hunting Program.

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