Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

[chorus of frogs] Have you ever been frogging?

It’s what we call when you just get out at night and you start listening for frogs and see what’s living out there around you.

Lee Ann Linam coordinates the Texas Amphibian Watch program in which volunteers go frogging at night to collect information on amphibian species they hear. These citizen scientists follow rules while “on duty.”

When we suggest that folks do something kind of unusual like that, we like to give them some guidelines to keep them safe, and to keep the frogs safe, and to respect the rules around them. So, that’s what the rules of frogging are for.

Some rules include bringing a buddy along, and knowing the terrain and wildlife species in your monitoring area. Volunteers must also obtain permission before accessing privately owned land. Finally, consider the safety of the amphibians.

Amphibians are sensitive to things like insect repellents that contain Deet, which many of them do. Things like sunscreen and other chemicals that might be on your hands. And so we always say to people, before handling frogs, make sure that you wash your hands, keep your hands moist. And then the other thing we say is to go ahead and wash up afterwards because some frogs have compounds on their skin that protect them from being eaten.

And those compounds can be irritants. We have a link to the complete rules of frogging at passporttotexas.org.

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

Rules of Frogging Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Texas Chapter of the Audubon Society unveiled its quail and grassland bird program in 2003.

Audubon became interested in getting involved in quail and quail management at the state level due to [the fact] grassland birds on the whole have been declining at an alarming rate range wide.

Kyle Brazil is leader of the Audubon Texas quail and grassland bird program, which helps landowners develop plans to manage quail habitat.

Quail like a mixture of woody, herbaceous, or grass cover—also mixed with forbs, or weeds, and bare ground. And they like that interspersed over the landscape. They like to have every component of their habitat within a stone’s throw.

For a long-term, sustainable quail population, Brazil says quail need 3 to 5thousand acres of quality habitat.

That being said, you have to work with what you have. And so managing as much area as possible for quail habitat is what you need to do. Specifically managing for nesting habitat, which is the major limiting factor across the range. Nesting habitat is made up of native bunch grasses. Here in Texas we typically think of little bluestem.

Landowners are vital to quail’s survival, and the reasons landowners have for preserving quail habitat varies.

The economic element is part of it. The other part being that quail, in Texas, are also very culturally important—it’s part of our history. And Texans, as you know, like to maintain their history.

Learn about quail management at passporttotexas.org.

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

Audubon Texas Quail Initiative, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

[Bobwhite quail call] The bobwhite quail population in Texas is decreasing due in part to habitat fragmentation caused by development.

What happens in habitat fragmentation is that you take large pieces of habitat and you cut them up into smaller and smaller pieces of habitat that are farther and farther apart.

Kyle Brazil, leader of the Audubon Texas quail and grassland bird program, helps us understand the issue of habitat fragmentation as it pertains to quail.

They don’t fly well, and they don’t move very far, in general. So, if you have one piece of habitat that is five miles away from the next nearest piece of habitat, there’s not going to be any movement between those piece of habitat. So, if you do have a quail population that goes extinct in one of those, it’s not going to be repopulated by birds from the other. In general, habitat fragmentation makes it harder for quail to persist.

Audubon Texas works with landowners to develop management strategies to preserve quail habitat in their care. Because, says Brazil, that habitat supports more than quail.

If you manage for quail, you’re also benefiting the whole suite of grassland birds and other grassland wildlife obligate species.

Learn about quail and Texas Audubon at passporttotexas.org.

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

Audubon Texas Quail Initiative, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Mark White, founder of Austin based Luna Kayak School, never thought his neoprene booties would serve as a tasty meal while camping on Matagorda Island.

A couple of years ago I paddled from Goose Island State Park out through Cedar Bayou into the Gulf and camped on the Southern end of Matagorda Island.

I was at a real nice campsite in the sand by myself when I heard a little rustling in the night, but I didn’t think anything of it. I got up in the morning and there were coyote tracks all around my camp and my shoes were gone. The coyote decided that my smelly, neoprene booties were something that he or she was interested in and went off with them.

So I ahead and packed up, got in my boat barefooted and paddled back through the surf to Cedar Bayou. I was surfing in back through the cut in between the islands and I looked to my right and there were two dolphins surfing the wave along with me back into Cedar Bayou.

Seeing coyotes and dolphin on the same trip–priceless. So what’s your story? Go to passporttotexas.org and submit your outdoor memory, and if we use it, we’ll send you a Life’s Better Outside t-shirt.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Alanna Jones… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Outdoor Story: Mark White Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Camping is a great way to spend time outdoors [Crackling Flames from a Campfire] and building a campfire adds a little ‘spark’ to the experience. But before you light a match, you need a proper site and materials.

When you want to build a fire you certainly have to find a location to build it. You have to gather the material and make sure that it’s not wet. You want the ground or the level where you’re going to build the fire to be dry. You clear the leaves away and if possible, gather some rocks to make a fire ring that will contain that fire.

Terry Erwin is Hunter Education Coordinator, and says there’s a certain order to building a good campfire.

Start with a bird’s nest of material so if you put your spark in there, gather some cedar bowls or cedar bark and when you spark it, you can blow on the spark and that will enhance the fire. Start with little sticks and graduate to bigger sticks until you add twigs, grass and bark shavings and things like that on the fire to get it started. Then you can add the larger sticks and get it going at that point.

Extinguish your campfire by drenching it with water, repeating this step until all embers are dead. If an ample supply of water is not available, cover the embers with a thick layer of soil.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Alanna Jones… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Camping 101: Building a Campfire Play Now | Play in Popup | Download