Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Did a Phoenix rise from the ashes? This month a segment airing on Texas Parks and Wildlife Television chases a ghost. Producer, Abe Moore, explains.

Well, a couple of years ago, the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was thought to have been seen in Arkansas. It was an incredible frenzy.

The whole ornithological community was just electrified by this. The bird had been thought extinct for sixty years.

And now there’s a team here in Texas that spent six months looking for it out in the Big Thicket area in east Texas. So we followed them for six months – went out with them –to look for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.

What was it like for you to see these people in action?

Well, I was amazed at the technology.

Turn the volume [knocks]. Double knocks. [knocks] We use playback to call Ivory-Bills. The idea being the bird will hear its own species call and want to come and check it out.

Well, it’s also a profile on more than just the Ivory-Billed – it’s some of woodpeckers that you find in Texas. The common pileated, which people think is an Ivory Billed Woodpecker because they look similar.

Do you have a new appreciation for this bird?

Absolutely! I love the woodpeckers, and now when I hear them in my neighborhood, I’m like – oh, I know that call.

Will you be teaching your kids about these birds?

I already am. Absolutely. She knows the calls of the Red-bellied in our neighborhood.

Thanks Abe. Visit us online at passporttotexas.org to find a complete listing of stations that air the series.

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

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Texas Parks and Wildlife on PBS and Cable
Stations and Air Times
Times and dates are subject to change, especially during PBS membership drives.

• Amarillo, KACV-TV, Channel 2: October–March, Saturday 6 p.m.
• Austin, KLRU-TV, Channel 18: Monday, 12:30 p.m.; Friday 5:30 a.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. KLRU2, Cable 20: Tuesday, 11 p.m.
• Bryan-College Station, KAMU-TV, Channel 15: Sunday, 5 p.m.; Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Corpus Christi, KEDT-TV, Channel 16: Sunday, 12 p.m.; Friday, 2 p.m.
• Dallas-Fort Worth, KERA-TV, Channel 13: October–March, Saturday, 6 p.m. Also serving Abilene, Denton, Longview, Marshall, San Angelo, Texarkana, Tyler, Wichita Falls and Sherman.
• El Paso, KCOS-TV, Channel 13: Saturday, 3 p.m.
• Harlingen, KMBH-TV, Channel 60: Sunday, 5 p.m. Also serving McAllen, Mission and Brownsville.
• Houston, KUHT-TV, Channel 8: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.; Friday 1:30 p.m. Also serving Beaumont, Port Arthur, Galveston, Texas City and Victoria.
• Killeen, KNCT-TV, Channel 46: Sunday, 5 p.m. Also serving Temple.
• Lubbock, KTXT-TV, Channel 5: Saturday, 10 a.m.
• Odessa-Midland, KPBT-TV, Channel 36: Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
• San Antonio and Laredo, KLRN-TV, Channel 9: Sunday, 1 p.m.
• Waco, KWBU-TV, Channel 34: Saturday, 3 p.m.
• Portales, New Mexico, KENW-TV, Channel 3: Sunday, 2:30 p.m.
• The New York Network, NYN, Thursday 8:30 p.m.; Saturday 2:30 p.m. Serving the Albany area.

Cable

Texas Parks & Wildlife can also be seen on a variety of government, educational and access cable channels in the following communities: Abilene, Allen, Atlanta, Boerne, Collin County Community College, Coppell, Del Mar College, Denton, Flower Mound, Frisco, Garland, Irving, McKinney, North Richland Hills, Plano, Rogers State University, Texarkana College, The Colony, Tyler, Waco and Wichita Falls. Check your local listings for days and times.

TPWD TV -- Chasing a Ghost Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Country Music Star, Kevin Fowler, served as spokesperson for the Nobody’s Waterproof boating safety campaign this summer. And Sunday, the “Wildman” makes an appearance at Parks and Wildlife Expo.

We’re delighted to have Country star, Kevin Fowler, at the Expo this year.

Expo Director, Ernie Gammage.

Well, the reason that Kevin was chosen and agreed to become the spokesperson for Nobody’s Waterproof is that this is a message that needs to reach that younger demographic; folks that are really out partying hardy on the water. And those tend to be his fans, too.

And Kevin Fowler is also among Parks and Wildlife’s demographic.

Kevin is an avid outdoorsman; he hunts, he fishes, he boats, and he’ll be at Expo on Sunday afternoon from eleven to one, signing autographs, talking to his fans. And, he’s got a great new poster featuring him and the Nobody’s Waterproof tag, and you can leave Expo with an autographed one.

Find links to Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo, and see the Kevin Fowler poster online at passpottotexas.org.

Bring the family, but leave your doggies at home.

That’s our show for today… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program…working to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program

Whooping cranes are coming back to Texas.

Whooping cranes generally start arriving in Texas around mid-October or so; and by mid-November, most of them have reached the Texas coast. In the area in and around the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, just north of Rockport.

Lee Ann Linam is a biologist with Parks and Wildlife.

In the 1940s, the Texas population of whooping cranes was about fifteen or sixteen birds. Last winter we had two hundred and thirty six in the population that came down to Texas. So it’s been a slow but sure success story for whooping cranes.

Linam says they hope to see that number jump to two hundred fifty this season. Texans between Dallas-Fort Worth and the edge of the Panhandle through Central Texas are asked to keep an eye to the sky beginning mid-October for whoopers in migration.

Because we’re very interested in learning what habitat areas they use in migration, and understand more about those, and the rate of their migration.

But don’t look for a huge flock.

Usually it’s family groups – two or three, or maybe groups of sub-adults that might number about five or six – but just small groups of very large white birds.

Find links to more whooper information at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Wildlife restoration Program… providing funding for the Private Lands and Habitat Enhancement Program.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Ask invertebrate biologist Mike Quinn how he spent his summer and he’ll tell you…

Since July twenty-fourth it has been living and breathing spiders.

For weeks after a giant spider web was discovered at Lake Tawakoni State Park, east of Dallas, the media, public and scientific curiosity worldwide was insatiable. Quinn collected spider samples and took them to Texas A&M for identification.

I turned them over to Alan Dean and John Jackman, resident spider experts. Alan identified the spiders that I had collected as falling into twelve families. The most common spider with the scientific name Tetragnatha guatemalensis, or the Guatemalan Long-jawed spider.

Typically, spiders aren’t social. So what would make nearly a million spiders put aside their differences to build several acres of web at Tawakoni?

They usually don’t get in that kind of density unless there’s a whole lot of food available to them.

Thanks to rains at the park, there was plenty to eat. A nearby pond served as an all-you-can eat buffet.

The web buzzed with the sound of all these insects in there. And my understanding is that [available food] probably induced the spiders to congregate in high density.

Find more information about the giant web on the web, at passporttotexas.org.

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

A Big Web at Lake Tawakoni State Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

You are days away from the best outdoor festival around – Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo, at Parks and Wildlife headquarters in Austin.

Expo is held the first weekend in October, held from nine to five and it’s free.

Expo Director, Ernie Gammage, says attendees are bound to find an outdoor activity to capture their imaginations.

The idea is to come to Expo, and find your passion: What are those things that really seem to be fun to you, and then go out and explore them.

Your outdoor adventures needn’t end with Expo.

At almost every activity, a visitor can pick up what we call the 101 Guides, which is a very basic little brochure about that next step. Are there fishing clubs? Are there magazines? Where can I find information on the web or in the library? Where are places to go? And you can pick all of that up at Expo.

Bring the family, but leave skateboards, bikes, Rollerblades and your pet at home. Expo is best experienced on foot, and without Fido.

If you and your family are looking for something to do that can open a whole new world of the outdoors and togetherness for you – come on down to the Expo.

Find links to Expo information at passporttotexas.org.

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

TPWD Expo: Finding Your Passion Play Now | Play in Popup | Download