keely – Page 34 – State of Wilderness

South Florida

On the road between Naples and Immokalee, somewhere near the Big Cypress National Preserve, the egrets reign supreme. Both the Great and the Snowy are seen flying unperturbed, perching in the trees along the roadside, or walking stilt-legged in the canals looking for food. They are often joined by the herons, both Great and Little Blue, who fish alongside them or join the egrets in dotting the sky. Tri-colored Herons and juvenile ibis in white and brown coloration also were spotted, along with several adult White Ibis. Other ducks cruised along the canal waters, irregardless of the fact that gators also shared this space. A Northern Shoveler female waddles out of the canal, while coots and moorhens glide gently inside of it. Double breasted cormorants dive for fish along the edges of the wetlands, while the hawks patrol from above.

In a trip into Everglade City, brown pelicans were seen landing on the front of air boats taking tourists out to look for manatee and see the glassy water of the “Everglades”. The pelicans were begging for food, although not all the boat operators believed in feeding them from the front of the boats. I thought it was a unique adaptation to life with humans. An osprey was seen caring for her young in a gigantic nest along a power box. Mottled ducks trolled around in quiet waters back in the mangroves, while ibis and egrets showed brilliant white plumage contrasts to the green of the trees.South Florida is actually known as a birder’s paradise, and I didn’t even think about that when I packed for a five day trip there, leaving behind the bird book and binoculars. Granted, I was working most of those days and really was not going to have time to look for birds. You really didn’t have to go looking for them, though – they were kind of right there.

Around the grounds of where I spent most of my days, a group of white ibis patrolled, somewhat close to a canal where alligators were seen gliding about. A red bellied woodpecker worked on a tree nearby, and a nuthatch climbed along a post (most likely a Brown Headed, based on range information). Wild turkeys strutted about in green fields ripe for cattle. A few pairs of Sandhill Cranes stopped their migration routes in order to just hang out here, with the back of one looking like a small emu in the distance. Rounding a corner where hedges came up along fencelines at the waters edge, a few red winged blackbirds flew about, and an Eastern Meadowlark flapped its wings, showing off a yellow breast under a white and black striped body. A Gray Kingbird flew from fence to power lines, seeming to taunt the other birds over his control of the field. Coopers Hawks perched vigilantly along power lines and “hawk poles” – large wooden posts hung at intervals to entice the hawks to patrol the grounds for vermin. Brown-headed cowbirds flocked with grackles near entrances to cow pastures, where cattle egrets greedily followed behind bovine herds. Bear scat was seen on a forest walk, and panthers were rumored to be spotted in early hours.

There was a running joke among our group about the validity of a photo one of the girls had gotten of two black animals near a rock at the front of our hotel in the wee hours of the morning. This area was a “panther crossing”, although the noise of the nearby freeway and closeness to human activity had many doubting whether this blurry picture was, in fact, a photo of two panthers. On the last night of our five days, in the field near the hotel as we pulled back in from dinner, we saw black animals with the long panther-length tails stalking about in the grass, and then saw their owner following behind them, and we all had a laugh as we realized that her two black panthers were probably these two dogs who just happened to have tails that kind of resembled the cat in question’s.

Someday I am going to come back to this area, and when I do, I am bringing the bird book. I am not going to book any business from sun up to sun down, like we were doing these days, but spend my time traipsing along the Florida Birding Trail, walk up and down the dirt roads near the center we were training at, stalking birds in the riparian zone in between the canals and the farmland. Even though I saw fifteen new species for the year there, (bringing the year total up to 66), I could have seen so much more if I had the ability to look more closely. There are even some blurry camera photos I took that have species in there that I don’t think I named or identified yet, so the birds that I saw were much, much greater than those I named. My experience with the nature world there sums up my feelings on the training I got – it was interesting, but there was so much more I wanted to get out of it that I feel like I have to go back sometime for a deeper look.

Unexpected

In August of 2006, a party was held at a house in Webster. It was this day that the two of us could look back on and say definitively that we were at the same place for the first time, although it is possible not at the same time. There could have been times in our youth that our paths criss-crossed, like maybe when he was a courier and sometimes drove out near Tomball, but our social groups, split by geographic distance, never would have mixed.

That day, that party eight years ago, I had left for an hour or two, during the part where most disperse from geocaching events to go find some local caches. I had ended up in Sylvan Rodriquez Park, pushing the stroller and fussing with my six year old who did not want to have any part of geocaching. Such was my lot back then. I remember doing a couple and then just being frustrated, and since then, that park has been staring at me from the map, reminding me of my inability to get caches crossed off the list.

So, eight years later, we find ourselves together at this park unexpectedly, after a snafu at another geocaching event nearby, and had a chance to rectify some of those caching misadventures. By this time, we were married and together for nearly four years. Here is a picture of the megaliths at the park (a special theme there) that also includes our special travel bug that we created to celebrate our union:

We still had some fussing with the older child who wanted no part of the geocaching, but now he was old enough to be left sunning himself on a park bench, listening to music from his smartphone. We grabbed those caches that had alluded me back then, and more. We also identified some new birds for our list: the Neotropic Cormorant and Lesser Yellowlegs. The first species was actually in and around the lake, diving for food, and the second was skirting the marshy areas nearby. We also watched and listened to a hawk and several other small birds as we walked (mostly yellow rumped warblers), and then on the way out, I was surprised by a large vireo who flew down into a tree near us. He really looked like Gray Vireo, but those aren’t supposed to be local to here, so I am going to have to call him a Blue-headed Vireo.

The day before, there were also some unexpected adventures, mostly regarded birds (of course, since this blog has accidentally become like a one trick pony). The kids and I were joining friends at the zoo, and walked over to the lake over there at Hermann Park while we waited. There was a large flock of ducks in the water that included American Coots, which we have been seeing a lot of, but also Ring Necked Ducks, a species we haven’t encountered before. My youngest laughed with delight and surprise when a huge flock of pigeons fluttered their wings around us, attracted by the seed that a couple of little girls brought. Their feathers tickled our faces and their coos made our hearts race as they rose up around us any time they were slightly spooked.

As we were walking through the zoo, I noticed that I was observing the birds within and around the exhibits more than I used to. We had to wait at the Duck Pond by the refreshment stand for a while for my friend, and there I pointed out the Brown Pelicans and then the rare pair of Hooded Mergansers that were in the pond, in addition to some of the usual suspects. The mergansers are highly sought out by the birding types on a forum I get emails from, which is understandably because they are quite flashy.

There was another brightly colored duck in one of the exhibits that I was trying to get a picture of, and never got one decent enough to put on here. However, I was trying to identify the duck species later. I thought it was a Woodduck, but its markings were different. I finally figured out the reason why I was having a hard time identifying it is because it was not a local species, but an imported one – the Mandarin Duck, which actually is related to the Woodduck (so I was on the right path). I am not going to count this one in our species count because it is not a native species, so that brings our species count to 50.

Edit: No, wait, 51. I forgot about another unexpected event. It was a cold evening last Tuesday (37 degrees) but I had to find a cache to fill in my dates calendar. So there I was, by a duck pond, signing a log, and I called out to my feathered friends, “hey ducks!” I almost shrieked with surprise when like fifty ducks started making a fast beeline towards me. I was not expecting them to be so hungry, and I had nothing on me to feed them, so I had to make a quick getaway. Not before noticing, though, that most of them were Mallards, a species I didn’t already have checked off this year.

We had a nice hike yesterday on the Lone Star Trail, and although I heard lots of birds, the only ones I really saw were the Red-Bellied Woodpecker and the Northern Cardinal. There have been some interesting peeps and tweets outside drawing me to nature, so I am sure I will be finding some new birds soon.

Prairie Parkway

South of the Indian Grass Prairie preserve section of the Katy Prairie Conservancy land, a steady stream of Northern Harriers fly northward, forty eight in total counted by birders within about an hour. Like the jets that were named after them, these birds now seem symbolic of war – the current war between development and conservation raging west of town over a proposed section of road called 36A, or the “Prairie Parkway” – a proposed four lane highway to run from Freeport to Hempstead at 290, cutting through land protected by the KPC that preserves habitats for local flora and fauna.

This is not a new war; it’s just one battle of the same kind that has been played out since man first took to corralling nature, certainly burning more intensely since cities starting sprawling ever further over the land. It’s not even that recent of a war. The Prairie Parkway has been on the thoroughfare plan for Waller County since 1985, and TxDot approached the commissioners in 2007 about piggy-backing the Trans-Texas Corridor along the same path. The Sierra Club was investigating the proposed parkway sites as early as April 2010. However, just two weeks ago, the turnout at the Texas Master Naturalist Coastal Prairie Chapter’s January meeting was much larger than usual, due to concerned environmentally-minded citizens coming to get some questions answered.

The biggest question on everyone’s minds regarding 36A seems to be, why? Why does it have to go through one of the sections protected by the KPC, therefore most likely interfering with the protection of species such as the Northern Harriers that were roosting in this area, or the native plants such as blooming Spider Lily, Blue-eyed grass, Spiderwort, Indian paintbrush, Lyre-leaf sage, and many other flowers that grow in this area? The environmentalists are concerned that building this highway through the area will lead to the direct destruction of hundreds of acres of prairie and agricultural land as well as important prairie pothole and riparian wetlands. The developers insist that this road will provide an important transportation shortcut from the Port of Houston to outlying areas, reducing the Fort Hood route from Port Arthur from 460 to 246 miles alone. It would provide an important evacuation route for those along the coastline to make their way north, and help Waller County rise up in quality of life and tax base.

The environmental groups ask why the route cannot instead direct traffic over the new Section E of the Grand Parkway (99), or along 362, and the planners insist that there is a need to provide a new route, and not displace those who already use those previously existing routes. Also, it would slow down the traffic moving northward from Brazoria County to have to shift over to these other roads, and just extending 36 from Waller County upwards would keep this traffic flow efficient. Some in opposition to this route suspect that the real motive is to develop infrastructure to later build houses and strip malls along this route to support the tax base.

The engineers charged with planning this route also stress that the route would be built using Low-Impact Development (LID) techniques, such as creating a large number of smaller, cascading wet ponds to better slow down rain water and create a more natural green space, paving the roads with porous asphalt to slow rain water’s progress, as well as filter out its pollutants, and planting native fauna along the thoroughfare. They could plan to divert animal traffic by thick hedges and tunnels that run under the roadway for animals like deer to cross. Utilizing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process – the seven-step process that’s required to build a public highway like 36A – the coalition wants to include environmental advocacy groups early on, so they have taken the interests of the Sierra Club and Katy Prairie Conservancy into account at a much earlier stage than what is typical.

The funding for this project is not yet complete. The Prairie Parkway Advocacy Group is advocating for the project and trying to get people organized to press for funding. They maintain that they are recognizing not just current needs, but future needs as well, placing their sights ten years or more into the future. By 2050, the Greater West Houston area (Harris-Ft Bend-Waller Counties) is projected to have over one million new residents, and transportation in and out of these areas will be imperative for quality of life.

The question is how to maintain the balance between the needs of the people and the needs of nature. If there is a formula for this, we might have forgotten it. Last week, birding reports from the suggested route counted a thousand snow geese and over three hundred cranes. Ducks, hawks, bald eagles, caracara, long-billed curlews and short eared owls all call this area home. Biologists suggested that 50,000 acres were needed to maintain habitat for the native wildlife, so the 19,000 acres obtained by KPC is less than half of this recommendation. How much will be lost to these transportation needs is not known right now.

I haven’t seen a source yet that indicates when the next open forum conversation will happen about this proposed route, or what are the next steps that will be taken. I will be watching, though, and will let readers know if there is an opportunity to share our opinions on the matter. Meanwhile, I propose we continue to develop those opinions, whether or not we have opportunity to share them. I, for one, don’t want to lose this vital wildlife resource we have practically in our own backyard.

Brazos Bend, Again

Sunday afternoon was drizzly and a bit cold, but here we were, in the truck headed south to Brazos Bend State Park anyway. We were on a mission to retrieve J’s lost binoculars lens cover, and he agreed to indulge my desire to get a few caches and look for a few birds.

We settled on the Old and New Horseshoe Lake part, because that was a trail in which we could accomplish both missions. Last time we were here, we were not near the water, so I wanted to see what the water birds were doing.

Old Horseshoe Lake is pretty much dried up right now, but there was a lot of action going on at New, as well as the larger Elm Lake to the left of the trail. We meant to be moving right along, but got distracted by a hawk flying over and then parking himself on a branch across New Horseshoe. We watched as a gator trailed an American Coot across the water. It seemed like the gator was serious, but at one point he slowed down, and the coot stopped and moved back towards him, like, “whatcha doing now?” It makes me wonder if the gators eat the coots or not, although it seems like it would be a good food source for them. There were a LOT of coots in this lake.

There were also White Ibises feeding across the lake, as well as an egret here and there. Common Moorhen also cruised the water. Our new find of the day was a pair of Blue-winged Teals who moved in and around the coots, feeding at the edge of the lake. We watched the hawk for a while, identified as a Red-shouldered, and then moved off to get those caches.

The caches were great – ammo cans just a bit off the trail, not too hard to get to or find but enough of a challenge to keep us interested. The rangers or volunteers of some sort were driving around the trail on a golf cart, stopping now and then to pick things up, and it was the only thing that interfered with the song and sound of birds. I could hear them, but I couldn’t always see them. If I am going to take this bird thing serious, I really need to learn their songs and calls to be able to identify what is out there on hearing alone.

Our best bird find along the walk was finding a pair of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. That was fun. Later, we saw a red-bellied woodpecker. We also saw and probably heard cardinals and the yellow rumped warbler. We saw another hawk, or maybe the same hawk, calling and then perching on a dead tree out on the field to the right as we made our way back. It was a red-shouldered as well, so might have been the same one.

As we passed the New Horseshoe Lake one last time, we found another bird in the lake that got us in a heated discussion trying to identify. It was a goofy looking bird – big and tall, with mostly grey-ish feathers with black markings and a white head. His feathers on his chest stuck out on all kinds of directions, and he looked like an old retired bird, long past the point of caring about what he looked like. After much discussion, combing the bird book, and looking at pictures online, we finally decided he was a Great Blue Heron, although his blue was now a bit faded.

I think we have 87 active caches left in this park that we haven’t found yet, so I am sure we will be back to find them, and more birds, soon.

Species total for year: 44