Christmas Bird Count

I took part in the annual Christmas bird count last Wednesday (12/21) on the refuge. Even for 6 in the morning we had a very large turnout. There must have been around 30 volunteer birders. For some, this was their 4th or 5th bird count in a row that week (marathoners- I called them). My group and I was assigned to the north part of the refuge about 5,000 acres to cover. It was a very frigid morning, the temperature hovered around the upper 40s to low 50s all day but the 3 other birders in my group did not seem to mind. These guys were pros and could identify different sparrows by their behavior and calls. They were very knowledgeable and taught me a lot about identifying birds. We parked our cars and walked during most of the count- identifying species and them estimating the number of individuals present. We were out in the field from around 6:30am, stopped for a brief lunch and continued until 6 in the evening (12hrs of birding!). By the end of the day I was completely beat. My group and I saw a total of 66 different species of birds (I added about 11 new species to my list). We saw Harris' sparrows, Green-tailed towhees, Lark Buntings, Blue-headed Vireos, Short-eared Owls, Cooper's Hawks, a couple of odd looking juvenile White-tailed Hawks. My favorite were the prairie chickens, of course  We saw a flock of about 18 prairie chickens fly to their night roosts (I haven't seen any since i stopped feeding them, I was glad to see them doing well). After the surveying was done we went to a local restaurant in Eagle Lake and had the countdown. All together, we had a grand total of 138 species of birds- which was much better than anyone had expected with the drought- including a group who saw some bald eagles! It was my first Christmas Bird count ever and a great experience that I can easily see doing again next year.

Happy Thanksgivings!

Prairie Chicken Party

photoshopped by A. Phelps

adventures on the prairie

I found several dried up gars on the dry creek bed

alligator gar

skin

a Gar-ave yard

crayfish skeleton in the middle of the prairie 

hard working leaf cutter ants

A rat snake

Happy Halloween!

luchador-lantern!
It took two hours to carve but it was well worth it!

I love carving jack-o-lanterns for Halloween.

 

The day after Halloween we started our White-fronted Goose (locally called the "Specklebelly" goose) survey. It is one of the longest geese survey 

in the state. Fish and Wildlife staff from all around the TX coast came to Eagle Lake to participate. Eagle Lake is a great stopping point for the geese because its abundant rice fields. The town boasts itself as the "goose hunting capital of the world" and now I can finally see why. Early Wednesday morning we saw thousands of geese fly into cut fields. Our task was to identify and count juvenile and adult WFG. Adults can be easily identified by the black barring on its belly, juveniles do not have this. Its best to count them as they land. We counted 969 adults and juveniles within a 2 hr span at our area. There were probably 10,000(!) in our area alone. Thousands of ibises and blackbirds filled the skies as well. It was the first large avian migration that I've witnessed and it was awesome!

In the memory of my cousin, Kevin
October 26, 2011

Late October, my large family lost a very important member. My cousin passed away early Wednesday morning, he would have turned 19 this December. As one of my 18 cousins, Kevin was the quietest one and often lost in the commotion of family gatherings. He didn't mind, and enjoyed doing his own thing-whether it was watching one of his many VHS movies, reading his books or taking naps. I will always remember his beautiful smile, how he always loved getting his back rubbed and the excitement he would get when he got a chance to blow out anyone's birthday candles. Kevin was there for all of our family trips-camping out in Colorado, hiking Tallulah Gorge in Georgia and even visiting the White House. He overcame tremendous adversity and achieved more than anyone thought he could- he walked the stage and got his high school diploma last May. He fought his disease like a champ, enriched our lives and made a strong impression on the person that I am today. Family reunions on Saturdays will never be the same without Kevin there. 
Love you Kev. "Tee you"

Remembrance video for Kevin made by his sisters

Trick-o-treat

Hello blogosphere!
Its almost the end of October and we are still feeding prairie chickens! We've been feeding these endangered birds lettuce and frozen veggies twice-a-day, 7days a week for almost 4 months now. Numbers of prairie chickens released this year remain fairly constant despite of the awful drought that Texas has experienced this year. But things have been looking better, we received a bit of rain over the past month and some of the wildflowers here have started to bloom. Some of the chickens that have previously relied on the shredded lettuce that we've fed them are eating some of the new grasses and flowers popping up around the prairie. This is good news and could eventually mean the end of us interns feeding chickens everyday.

On another note, I recently enrolled in and completed a week long firefighting course at the Texas Interagency Wildfire Academy at Camp Swift-Bastrop and am now a certified wildland firefighter! It was a great experience and I learned a lot about wildfire behavior and firefighting techniques. I can now help perform prescribed burns here on the refuge in the winter with the fire crew from Balcones Canyonland NWR.

The end of October also means that my internship here at Attwaters is coming to an end. I have officially started looking for jobs. I have used USAJOBS and the A&M job board. I am not looking for any specific positions although I would like a job with lots of field and wildlife components. So if anyone out there would like to look at my CV and credentials-please let me know :)

Other than that, with the rain the prairie is still as beautiful as ever as plants take advantage of the rain and start blooming. I make a point to go on a bike ride or run every afternoon to watch the sunset.

I recently purchased a bike from a volunteer master naturalist.
I've named it "Bandit" and take it out riding almost every afternoon.

"Boomer" is still hopped up on testosterone and still displaying.
This is probably my favorite pic of him yet!

Beautiful clouds and fog in the morning

A hen hangs out on top of the acclimation pen in the morning
and watches us fill up her food tray with veggies

I saved 3 dragonflies from the acclimation pen mesh,
this one thanked me by landing on my face.

Boomer tries to impress the females-still a bit early for mating season

My favorite chicken in the refuge. I'm already planning on taking him
with me when I leave.

More pictures from acclimation pen feeding (photo credit goes to Amber Williams). We have been feeding these released chickens for almost two and a half months. Unless we can get more rain to quench this record setting drought I fear that we will continue feeding throughout the month of October and be trick-or-treating with our prairie chickens.

Dinnertime!

Cyclops, the one-eyed hen

Boomer

Boomer booms

Because the daylight photoperiod in the fall is the similar to that of the springtime some of our males here have started booming. This juvenile that I've named "Boomer" has been frequently doing his courtship display near one of the acclimation pens. The females haven't given him much attention though but at least he's practicing for next year!

Fossil Rim Wildlife Center

We went on an overnight trip last Wednesday to Glen Rose to collect 26 captive prairie chickens from the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. On the way into the facility we saw lots of exotic animals including antelope, emus, deer and a rhino. Tagging, measuring, banding and radio collaring the chickens didn't take long- we finished up and left at around 1030am. From there it was a 5hr trip to our release site in Goliad county. It was a long day (13hrs!), we did not get back to the refuge until 8pm. The chickens all made it through the car ride and were divided into 3 acclimation pens on site. They will be fed and taken care of by our partners at the Nature Conservancy and be released next Thursday. This was the last batch of chickens to be released this year. All together we have released about 119 chickens into the wild. Most of the released chickens on the refuge have been doing well. There are fewer moralities this year than in previous years. The prairie chickens are still sticking around the pens in super broods (~10) and fed twice a day by us interns. One of my favorite part of the day is going out to the pens for afternoon feeding and throwing soybeans their directions. They are fairly habituated with us and will walk up and eat their veggies next to us.

A morning stretch

breakfast of champions

emus at FRWC

Baby chicks in pillowcases!

The cuteness cannot be contained!

life update

Its been a very busy couple of months here at the refuge. Together with the other interns here I have been shredding lettuce and feeding prairie chickens in the mornings and evenings. This leaves few chances to go home to Austin on weekends and see family and friends. What do I do here on the refuge? I have been playing my guitar, jogging around the marsh after work, watching lots of moviesand going to trivia nights on Wedsnesday in Katy. My favorite activity is reading on my rocking chair. I recently updated my bird life list. I am up to 161(!) species including a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher I saw outside my window, a juvenile White Ibis, an American Avocet (one of my favorite birds) and a juvenile White-tailed Hawk that we banded earlier this year. I am also trying to sign up for a wildfire and emergency management training class in the fall. If I complete this I can receive my Red card and potentially join a fire crew and respond to wildfires across Texas.

Unfortunately with all of the chicken care and feeding, I have had my hands full and have been unable to carry my SLR camera around to take pictures. Luckily though with the power of technology there is a camera on my phone which I have used to take random pictures of some things that catch my eye. The photos are low quality and taken from this spring to the present.

A very large moth I found near the office

Zombie cow

another beautiful sunset

Moth at Houston Zoo

Houston Zoo butterfly exhibit

old pic of the WTH chicks

sun shadow on the prairie

common snapping turtle

Lola!

herbicide tank

sunset on Matagorda Island