Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

For twenty-two years the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series has aired on PBS stations statewide. This month, series producer, Don Cash helps us kick off the new season.

First week of October we start off with actually a show about becoming a game warden. We followed a game warden class the entire six months; and it’s a really interesting and entertaining look at what goes into becoming a game warden.

Coming in with thirty-four other strangers…it’s just, I mean, overwhelming. C’mon Caroline! Push it…push it…push it…push it. Whoever just groaned is going to love this. One…two… three. Good Job!

The second week of October, Abe Moore has got a really fantastic story on the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, which is extinct – maybe. The third week in October, we have story called fishing the late shift. And, it’s about night fishing, and people who fish at night.

It’s just easier for me to catch fish at night. It’s just fun. I catch some catfish and bass, mainly.

We end the month of October with a story on the Spring Trackers. It follows a couple of biologists with the department as they travel the state and study and monitor and count the springs that are in Texas and try and learn a little more about these wonderful resources that we have.

Thanks, Don. Visit passporttotexas.org for a complete listing of stations airing 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.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Fragmentation of old growth forests in the southeastern US and Texas, prime ivory billed woodpecker habitat, may have contributed to the species’ “extinction.” Yet, reports in 2005 said that after nearly 60 years in oblivion, the woodpecker had been rediscovered in Arkansas.

We’ve been getting a lot of calls since that announcement in oh-five, from people in east Texas that are wondering why there’s all this hoopla over ivory bills, because they’ve had them in their yard for years.

Cliff Shackelford is a non-game ornithologist with Parks and Wildlife. While the ivory billed woodpecker is the largest woodpecker north of Mexico…

We didn’t do a very good job telling people there are two big woodpeckers. And the other one is a common bird in the eastern third of Texas, and that is the pileated Woodpecker.

That’s the bird people have spotted, said Shackleford. It’s an easy mistake to make, too, as the woodpeckers are similar in size and appearance.

They’re black, white and they have some red on them. But the big difference between the two, when they’re perched on the tree, the ivory billed has a white backpack. So, the folded wings give it the look like it’s carrying a white backpack. Whereas in the pileated, there’s no white. It’s just continuously dark on the back.

Log onto passporttotexas.org for links to more information about the ivory billed woodpecker, and what to do if you think you’ve seen one.

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

Woodpeckers: Pileated Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Back in April 2005 a national announcement proclaimed the Ivory-billed woodpecker, considered extinct, had been re-discovered in an area in Arkansas known as the Big Woods.

And it was definitely the most exciting news that anyone can remember in the birding circles.

Cliff Shackelford is a non-game ornithologist with Parks and Wildlife.

There have been a lot of skeptics that have seen the documentation – it’s a little fuzzy – but there have been lots of people going back to the site, and have had glimpses. But no one’s been able to secure that really golden shot of the bird.

A team from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Ivory-Billed Woodpecker research project has a team on the ground in Arkansas looking for this elusive bird.

The exciting thing is that this bird possibly has survived after sixty years of not being detected in the US; and the last sighting of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker in Texas was in November 1904. So, it’s been a long time since that bird has been in Texas. It occurred in the eastern third of the state, roughly, in mature river-bottom habitat.

Many east Texans claim to have seen Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers, but tomorrow we discuss a case of mistaken identity.

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

Woodpeckers: Ivory Billed Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Boys and girl with an interest in hunting who don’t have a family member who hunts, can participate in Texas’ youth hunting program.

We offer a Texas youth hunting program through Parks and Wildlife and the Texas Wildlife Association.

Heidi Rao is a hunter education coordinator from Dickenson.

This is a program that offers youth hunting opportunities to those of the ages between nine and seventeen. They go through the hunter education course, and then they have opportunities to go on a variety of youth hunts that are guided by trained hunt masters.

With the proper training, even young hunters can become volunteer hunter education instructors.

We have an assistant hunter education instructor program for those who are between the ages fifteen and twenty. They have to go through the same requirements as a full instructor, such as the student course, the game warden interview, and the instructor course. The only other requirement that we have is that our assistant instructors has to team teach with a full instructor, who’s at least twenty-one years of age. When that assistant turns twenty-one, if they are still active, we will roll them over, and they will become a full instructor.
Learn more at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…supported by a grant from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to increase shooting, hunting, fishing and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

Teaching Youth to Hunt Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

There’s really nothing like carving out time that’s just for you. It’s when you can sit back and relax in your favorite chair, with the beverage of your choice, and take in the interesting and informative stories you find on the pages of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine.

This month, Managing Editor, Louie Bond, tells us about two articles in the October issue that are sure to please.

Well, in our October issue, John Jefferson is going to focus on the Texas Big Game Awards. For the past sixteen years, Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Texas Wildlife Association have teamed up, and they’re recognizing the top deer and antelope taken each region. But, what’s really unique about these awards is that they honor the rancher, not the hunter. So, they encourage proper habitat management. And this benefits not only white-tailed deer, but all the wildlife in Texas.

But, I have to confess, my curiosity was most piqued by Dan Klepper’s story I the October issue, “How to Milk a Porcupine.” I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll just say – don’t try this at home, kids.

The October issue of the award-winning Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine is on newsstands now.

That’s our show for today… with support from the sport fish and wildlife restoration program…working to increase shooting, hunting, fishing and boating opportunities in Texas…

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

October Magazine Preview Play Now | Play in Popup | Download