Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

After spending the summer indoors in self-imposed air-conditioned exile, the promise of cooler fall temperatures is sure to call you outside again.

Hiking in a state park is a simple and enjoyable way to reengage the great outdoors, and experience our state’s abundant natural resources.

Many parks have more than one trail, offering varying levels of difficulty.

A hike is not a race. So, slow down and take time to appreciate your surroundings. Trails are as varied as the parks they’re in. Some follow streams or take you into the woods, or onto rocky ledges; they can be shaded or sun-drenched. And wildlife viewing opportunities while hiking are abundant.

When hiking, dress for the weather. Always wear comfortable close toed shoes. Use a hat and sunscreen to save your skin. Insect repellent is always a good call when hiking in heavily wooded and wet areas. And don’t forget to bring water.

Experts recommend you have eight ounces of water with you for every hour you plan to be on the trail.

Remember, whatever you pack in—pack it out. Leave no trace.

Find trail information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet…building dependable, reliable trucks for more than 90 years. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

[woodpecker pecking]

As a rule, woodpeckers excavate cavities in dead trees, called snags, which they then live in. The exception to the rule occurs when in their home building zeal, they mistake dark colored, or cedar house siding, for a snag. When they do—homeowners have problems.

And it looks like cannon balls have been shot through the house. Maybe two or three; and we’ve seen some with fifteen, sixteen holes.

Cliff Shackelford is a non-game ornithologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife. He says woodpecker damage occurs most often in urban and suburban areas where homeowners removed dead wood from their property.

What we recommend people to do with problems with woodpeckers is to put a nest box. If you’re familiar with a bluebird box, it’s just a larger version of that custom made for woodpeckers.

Visit passporttotexas.org for a link to information and free blueprints to make your own woodpecker nest box.

People can build this in a couple of hours on the weekend, and put it up on the side of the house, and in all cases that we’ve done this – it’s worked. And the woodpecker stops chiseling on the home, and goes to this next box, and is very content.

[woodpecker pecking]

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

If you live in East Texas, and have noticed strange holes in the wood siding of your home… don’t call the police; call an ornithologist.

08—There are fifteen species of woodpeckers in Texas, eight of which are in the eastern third of Texas. And that’s where we get most of our calls of woodpecker damage.

Non-game ornithologist, Cliff Shackelford, says the pileated and red bellied woodpeckers are among the culprits inflicting the damage to these homes.

15—What happens a lot of time is that they see these houses that might be painted brown, they might have cedar siding, and this is very attractive to the birds to try to excavate a cavity. So, they’re not looking for food when they’re doing this; they’re looking to make a cavity to call home.

The pileated woodpecker, about the size of a crow, can excavate holes as big as a man’s fist — and not just in the outside walls of your home, either.

11—That’s right. We’ve documented pileateds going through into the sheet rock and into the room of the house. Of course, they’re very lost when they do that, they quickly go out. They’re not looking to make a mess of the house.

Keeping woodpeckers from damaging your home… [Woodpeckers pecking]…that’s tomorrow.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet…building dependable, reliable trucks for more than 90 years. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

It’s a hog! It’s a dog! No! It’s a black bear?

[Bear calling]

Black bears are slowly coming back to East Texas from Louisiana, but Texas Parks and Wildlife Regional Director Nathan Garner says they might not be as easy to spot as you think.

We have so many things in East Texas that look exactly like black bears. For example black feral hogs at a distance can be easily misidentified as a black bear. We have black angus cattle, we have black dogs…

Well, you get the point. People may be so excited about the bears that they think they see them everywhere. In reality, there are only a handful of bears in East Texas forests at any given time. But Texas wildlife biologists investigate every sighting.

We go through a very rigorous process of following up those investigations with interviews and sight inspections.

Biologists can then collect physical evidence such as bear tracks, a piece of fur, or a picture taken by a motion-sensitive camera.

So even if you aren’t 100 percent certain you saw a bear, call Texas Parks and Wildlife, because, your call gives biologists a better idea of where the bears might exist. And, after all, you might just be right.

You can find more information at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… we had research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan…the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

People have been eating freshwater turtles for years.

Now, research suggests turtle populations have declined in Texas and the legal practice of harvesting turtles as food is the likely culprit.

In one of the regions which had the highest harvest in the state, there are far fewer turtles than in adjacent counties.

Texas State University professor Dr. Michael Forstner leads the research that is tracking the change in turtle populations over the past thirty years.

He says researchers can’t tell if current harvesting is contributing to the decline, but many people put the blame on the high number of turtle exports ten years ago.

If the data they are relying on for how much is harvested is correct, then the differences we are seeing in the turtle populations is still present ten years after the harvest. So it’s not a short term effect on the populations, but one that has changed those populations fundamentally.

Forstner was also surprised that even common species like the red-eared slider have been affected.

We have demonstrated that in a really short time, thirty years, we can significantly decrease the number of red-eared sliders. I wouldn’t have predicted that to be possible.

He says turtle harvesting isn’t bad as long as healthy populations can be maintained.

That’s our show… we had research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan…the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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