pictures

beautiful clouds in the morning

yucca flower and a small yucca moth

showdown- prairie chicken hen and jack rabbit

one of my favorite birds: red-wing blackbird

black tailed jack rabbit

When we were out fixing a predator fence this morning we found this sneaky rat snake inside the fence along with the nesting female prairie chicken. Luckily the hen was unharmed. We quickly caught and relocated this 5ft rat snake across the river.

texas rat snake

young White-tailed hawk chicks.
(notice the snake on the right side of the nest)
I used my zoom lens to capture this picture-the mother hawk saw me coming and was soaring right above her nest.

I have a short week this week. I am leaving work early on Thursday to go to a rehearsal dinner in Austin after Katherine's going-away lunch. Katherine has been a volunteer here at the refuge since September of last year. She has helped with bird tracking, fence building and other small projects around the prairie. She will be missed. I will be in Austin this weekend for Joe's and Raquel's wedding where I will be Joe's best man and one of the couple's unofficial photographer. I have been looking forward to this and I know it'll be great. Look forward to more pictures of the prairie (and maybe some of the wedding) in the coming week!

pictures (4/15/11)

plants and animals around the prairie

Sensitive briar flowers

ex-moo

snake skeleton

Passion flowers are in bloom!

fragrant

silver lining

green snake

white morph of the purple iris-rare!

eggs

I went out with Mike the other day to measure and weight the eggs. First when we reach the nest site we had to wait for the hen to leave her nest in the morning to feed. After we heard that her signal is away from the nest we moved in and collected her eggs from the nest. A typical hen usually lays around 10-13 eggs. Using a caliper Mike calls out the length and width while I input the data into a computer program. We weighed the eggs and compared it to the measurements to determine its estimated hatch time. It is scientifically proven that a grouse (chicken-like bird) egg will lose about 15% of its mass everyday-it is developing and converting yolk into body mass-by using a formula we can estimate when the eggs will hatch. The first batch of eggs (a clutch of 13 eggs in the Duncan pasture) are estimated to hatch on April 21st or 22nd. We filmed, took pictures of the vegetation, spread fire ant poison and took a GPS point of the nest site. The hen will remain on her nest all day except in the morning and afternoon to feed. A couple of days before the estimated hatch date we will visit the nest site to monitor the status of the eggs. When we find out that the eggs are hatched, depending whether if it is a good year for insects or not, we will go out at night and place a brood box (kinda like a mesh cage) on top of the hen and her new chicks. The brood box is used to keep the females and chicks in a single location for protection- the hen and her chicks will be fed caught insects in the brood box during the daytime every 2 hours until they are mature. When they are ready we will capture and place radio collars on the chicks.

*new pictures and update!* (4/15/11)
It was my turn again this morning to go out with Mike and measure eggs. We went to a double nest site (two nests in one fence area) in the Duncan pasture. We waited for about an hour before the first hen left her nest in search of food, a couple of minutes later the second one flew off. Both nests had 10 eggs each (20 total eggs), although one was dented (probably from when the hen flushed from her nest)- we collected the damaged egg and will use it for nutrient analysis. The other eggs are good and the estimated hatch dates are for April 29th and 30th. Here are some pictures.

The nest! (I was unable to focus on the eggs)

Dr. Morrow measuring the eggs (not pictured- Tam inputting the data-not as interesting...)

eggs in the carton- hope for the future

predator deterrent fence + nest site

pictures (4/12/11)

planting native grass seeds at the old railroad bed
and other random pics

native grass seeds

 

                                

black widow! attack pose!

APC festival

Luckily for excited birders everywhere the government did not shut down this weekend and the 17TH annual Attwater prairie chicken festival was open to the public. I got up at Saturday morning to undo a large chain fence erected at the entrance of the refuge and was surprised to find a couple of cars waiting patiently outside at 6am and by 7am  there was a line of about 40 people with expensive cameras (thousands of $) and large scopes waiting to get on the refuge vans. I was in charge of the important task of greeting, counting visitors and parking. Final count was 110 visitors on saturday and 68 on sunday. The average age of the birders there was probably around 65. Enthusiastic birders from across the country (NJ, LA, AZ, NY, etc.), and some from as far away as England and Germany flocked to the refuge for a rare glimpse of the prairie chickens displaying on their booming grounds. I talked to a guy who drove all night from Baton Rouge, LA to come to the APCNWR and see a prairie chicken. These people were serious. Overall it was a great weekend, people were very excited to see one of their life list birds (birds to see before they die, sorta like a bucket list for birders). It was good to know that there are people who appreciate these rare, beautiful birds and the job that I do.

fog and the prairie in the morning

patiently waiting in line

botany expedition and more

collecting new plants for our herbarium. 

late night frog/toad listening

pleated iris

bullfrog

sissor-tail flycatcher

our injured red-tailed hawk friend. she broke her wing and cant fly

black vultures hanging out in the sun

our april fools joke

leopard frog

wasp on a Wright's lily

fence building

Nesting season is here! After weeks of listening to males boom and display, the females have made their choice and have copulated with the dominant males. Starting last week the first of the females have started building nests and laying eggs. It is our job now to start constructing predator proof fencing around the nest sites. Using telemetry the bird interns determine if the females have started incubating eggs. Dr. Mike Morrow, the senior biologist uses a handheld antenna (that he waves around and listens to strength of the beeps) to pinpoint these nests sites. Females usually prefer to nest in tall grassy areas, usually flattening the nearby grass to lay their eggs on. They become virtually invisible when sitting on their eggs. We bring rolls of chicken wire, rebar, zip ties and stakes to construct a square perimeter around the female and her egg clutch. I have cuts and scrapes from carrying the wire mesh and rebar and have destroyed several shirts and pairs of pants. So far we've built 3 fences. The ground has been rock hard due to the lack of rain and the clay soil, staking the bottom of the fences has been nearly impossible. It takes us about an hour and a half to construct 1 fenced area. Its been exhausting but it is worth it, Mike says that the fences has increased the hatching percentage and survival rate of prairie chicks by more than 90%, (historically this number has been around 30% without the fences). The fences deter coyotes, snakes and egg eaters such as possums, skunks and raccoons from interfering with the hens and her young chicks. It is still the beginning of nesting season and there are expected to be about 20+ more nesting females and fences to be built.

The bottom of the mesh fence is staked down at 1ft intervals to ensure that there are no gaps at the bottoms for snakes and critters to sneak in. After a couple of days, when the hens are used to flying over fence, the rebar and fence are stood upright from a 45 degree to a 90 degree angle and the top of the fence is bent down to prevent snakes from climbing over.

First

Hi all, thanks for visiting my new blog! I started this in order to write more about some of the stuff that i do here as well as post pictures of some of my adventures. As some of you might already know I am currently serving a yearlong internship at the attwater's prairie chicken national wildlife refuge near a small town of Eagle Lake. I work as an invasive species intern and live here at the refuge. If you would like to see some pictures of my experiences here so far you can find them on facebook. of course, I encourage everyone checking this out to comment- I would like to hear about what ya'll think. I will try to post new pictures often. thanks and enjoy