mconnally

Birds Frisco Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

The Continuing Chronicles of the Commons Cooper’s

By: John Garbutt

Watching the five Cooper’s Hawks fledge in mid-June under their mother’s watchful eyes seems like years ago. After that moment, I figured I had possibly seen the last of them, at least as a group. I also had other places to go, The Rio Grande Valley, Fort Davis, and the Bolivar Peninsula. As the calendar turned over to September, I began venturing back out to Frisco Commons on the weekends and on the way to work. The “kids” were missed.

On Sunday, September 13, 7am, I began my usual circuit at Frisco Commons. Baltimore Oriole, Blue-Headed Vireo, White-Eyed Vireo, Eastern Wood Pewee, and a life addition, a Warbling Vireo! Then a family of Downy Woodpeckers moving between a couple of trees. Then everything scattered as an immature Cooper’s Hawk flew in after one of the Downy Woodpeckers! Hello again!

A few days later I witnessed the Cooper’s battling Blue Jays. The jays and hawk swirled around the wood line going in and out of visibility. I tried to capture a few shots as I cheered on my hawk. Nearby the Red-Shouldered Hawks were having issues of their own with the crows.

On Sunday the 20^th, the hawk’s frustration seemed at a boiling point and if it was begging me for help. Luckily one of its siblings came to the rescue! The Jays versus Copper’s continued for the next couple of weeks. Occasionally I saw two of the hawks together. Based on visual sightings and sound, at least three Cooper’s Hawks were around.

As October arrived, I was still seeing two of the young hawks together and occasionally hearing calls in the riparian area. Early on the 4^th I was observing two in the back and looking for one hawk that flew to my right behind a tree. I could not locate it. Then as I turned to my left, there one was, at eye level, within 15 feet. It sat there for a few minutes as we caught up. Earlier in the year, I watched a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron regurgitate a crawfish skeleton, and the hawk looked as if it was about to have a similar issue. It did produce a pellet. Perhaps a “feather ball” and a score against the jays?

As October turned to November then December, my trips to Commons and sightings lessoned. I look forward to next year and any possible nesting. In my short time of birding, this experience with the Cooper’s Hawk family has been the most enjoyable and memorable.

John W. Garbutt
Class of 2019

Allen Birds Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Bethany Lakes Park Birding

By: Jim Dulian

Here is a list of all the water birds we have seen since the beginning of November at Bethany Lakes Park. The loons don’t winter here, but most of these should be around until spring.

* Shown in slide show below

Canada goose
Mallard
American Widgeon
Gadwall *
Lesser Scaup *
Northern Shoveler *
Less Grebe *
American Egret
Great blue heron
Belted Kingfisher
Common Loon
Double crested cormorant
Coot
Ring billed gull

Mckinney Native Grasses Plants Prairie Restoration Shaking the Trees Wildlife

Thousands of Trees and City Challenges, Oh My!

By: Deborah Canterbury

Dave Powell is constantly widening our net of experience and consulting. 2021 will bring great chapter project opportunities and chances for others to learn from Dave’s city native forbs and grasses projects…if it behaves itself and COVID invasive is brought under control.

The North Texas Municipal Water District, State Forest Service and City of McKinney have asked Dave to consult and to supervise the planting of trees along Wilson Creek within or contiguous to McKinney. They must be planted in flood plain/riparian area and not on private property. In McKinney. One thousand 5 and 10 gallon trees. The 3 zeros is not a typo, folks. All is preliminary planning right now. Dave is working with them with online maps and zoom meetings. Come 2021 things will get fun.

He is also consulting with the Elm Fork chapter about a riparian to native grass and forb transition area at Memorial Park in Flower Mound. There is a similar public project benefitting from his expertise in the Denton/Corinth area. Obviously his State presentation and the positive approaches to development he has established with McKinney and Wylie are receiving far-reaching attention.

Flora and Fauna Heard Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees Wildlife

Heard Trail Topping

By: Deborah Canterbury

It was a joint effort between the Heard animal team, the Celina based concrete company and volunteers including Blackland Prairie Master Naturalists who received emergency approval to monitor the wellness of the animals whose homes are along the trail to and around the Butterfly Garden.

Imagine a paving company whose team is so dedicated to the Heard mission that they do a major portion of prep work without power tools so not to scare Nibbles the cay, the latest raccoon acquisition, bobcats Elliott and Devon, and the deer and fox.

Michele Dudas explained to the crew and volunteers what stress signals to look for and when to quit, offer a small treat or speak to them in a calm manner and walk by as the daily visitors do. A quiet down times were expected and planned for. Her team plus volunteers were posted at each habitat. In a few cases the museum staff most familiar with a specific animal entered the enclosure to calm them with their presence. The major problem? Myopathy. Capture myopathy is also known as white muscle disease. When the muscle is used, its metabolism changes from using oxygen to using stored energy in the muscle. This leads to a buildup of lactic acid that goes into the bloodstream where it changes the pH of the body and affects the heart output. If the heart does not pump correct oxygen to the muscle, the muscle starts to die. Over the next week or so, the product produced by the muscle’s death damages the kidney and affects other organs. All but the mid trail between butterfly house and deer remains unpaved. A job well done by all.

They worked in sections, were quiet in their conversations and took time to learn about the residents. Owner said it was the hardest job of his 30 years.

Birds Blackland Prairie Raptor Center Prairie Restoration Raptor Center Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees Trees

BPRC 2020 Prairie Restoration Projects

By: Lorelei Stierlin and Dick Zartler

In 2020 the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center (BPRC) achieved major milestones in its Blackland Prairie restoration efforts. Thanks to increased participation by members of the BPTMN and community volunteers we:

-Conducted our first prescribed burn of almost 17.5 acres, changing fallowing rangeland to vigorous emerging prairies, discovering species such as prairie larkspur and ruellia which had not had an obvious presence for many years;

– In partnership with Connemara’s northern bobwhite restoration efforts, over 100 northern bobwhites were reintroduced to the BPRC. To aid the survival of these quail, a dozen brush piles were made to provide cover for nests and protection from predators;

-With the help of REI, Scouts, and community volunteers, we cut a new trail introducing new sections of our BPRC prairies to our visitors;

-Led by Rick Travis of the BPTMN, established a base line survey of the number, variety, and location of trees within the BPRC. This survey will guide our efforts to remove non-native trees and shrubs, such as privet and chinaberry, as well as help form a restoration plan for our riparian forests;

-Removed invasive plants from our four native prairie demonstration plots which took hold during the first months of their existence;

-Harvested native grass and plant seeds both within the BPRC as well as in other areas of Collin County. We are also exchanging our collected seeds with The Nature Conservancy of Texas. These seeds will be replanted in the BPRC to improve the biodiversity of our prairie.

-Our prairie education efforts were greatly reduced by Covid-19 restrictions, but early in 2020 we did conduct our regular “First Saturday” guided trail walks and, this fall, socially-distanced training for new trail guides.

In early 2021 we are planning to conduct a prescribed burn in 5-6 acres of unburned areas of the park. We have already begun cutting to the ground 5 to 10 foot fire breaks along fence lines, tree lines, trails and structures and more will be required before the burn.

As our riparian forest plans develop, we will begin thinning trees, and removing invasive trees to provide for better growth of those remaining, and to improve visitor access to our wooded areas.

We also expect to have another bobwhite release this spring and will be constructing brushy shelters for nesting and predator protection.

As the COVID-19 restrictions are reduced, we will again provide guided trail walks through our plots and prairies and will conduct trail guide training in anticipation of increasing community interests in the BPRC’s restoration and conservation efforts.

One of over a dozen brush piles providing safe havens for newly released bobwhites

Main prairie fragment just after burn February 2020

One of four demonstration plots maintained and used for seeds

Article Submitted By Greg Tonian

Birds Connemara Native Grasses Prairie Restoration Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Connemara Meadow Nature Preserve Year in Review

By: Robert Mione, Meadow Master

Northern Bobwhite Quail – Photo by – Serena Duan

In January, we co-hosted, with LLELA, a Bobwhite (BW) quail restoration workshop. The workshop was attended by about 45 people, including various local municipalities, nature areas and private land owners. The Heard graciously allowed us to use their large classroom. Other than education, one of our objectives was to add other organizations and people to the BW restoration effort and we did, with the City of Plano and the Blackland Prairie Raptor Ctr beginning their efforts in the Spring of 2020. Later in the year, we were able to add a private land owner to the mix and worked with three private land owners in the Bonham area to begin BW restoration.

In February and March, we continued our efforts to rescue native grasses from Beck’s Prairie in Richardson and move this grass to the Connemara Meadow. During this time frame, we began to work with a high school student at Plano Senior High and were able to bring native grasses from Beck’s and from the Connemara Meadow to start a native grass pocket prairie behind the softball complex at Plano Senior High.

The pandemic rolled in heavily with our volunteers in March and we lost over half of our “normal” crew. We also lost our access to the green house at Allen High School as the school grounds were locked down. This action forced us to move the native grasses we had been growing in the green house out of doors some 30 days early. The loss of volunteers, the heavy Spring rains and the early exit from the green house made it tough to get the grass seedlings into their Summer homes and we lost about half of them. Very expensive.

We were able to add two new volunteers from the 2020 BPMN class and one from the NTMN class, all three excellent volunteers and they made up for some of our COVID losses.

In April and May, we were able to take advantage of grants we received from the Seed Project Foundation and the local Audubon chapter and expand the number of irrigated native grass and wild flower plots for the 2020 growing season. We made a large commitment for a dedicated Little Bluestem plot but this proved unsuccessful and we had to start over mid-Summer, something we had not done before. We reseeded with Sideoats and were able to get a good crop going prior to the first freeze. Based on how this turned out, we will try to “double crop” in other plots in 2021. We had to largest and longest lasting crop of wild flowers ever at the Meadow in 2020. In a bonus situation, due to restoration work we completed earlier, 2015 thru 2020, we had the first multiple nestings of Painted and Indigo buntings in the Meadow. See attached photos of a male Painted and Indigo bunting taken at the Meadow in the Summer of 2020.

In early June, we had the first of our BW releases. We had hopes to duplicate or expand our successes in 2019 of having two nesting pairs, but we could find no evidence that we hit this target. We had other releases in late Summer and Fall with the objective of having the BW’s survive the Winter and be in the best possible shape for breeding season 2021.

During July and August, we began our 2020 efforts to eliminate Johnson grass in the Upper Meadow by using a selective herbicide. The results are promising and we will follow up in 2021. Our efforts to eliminate patches of Bermuda in the Upper Meadow with a selective herbicide were not as effective and we will have to find another alternative to solve that challenge.

During this same time period, we had to spend a great deal of time and effort removing “witch grass” that came with the tall grass seed in one of our new tall grass plots. Over a two week period we pulled out over 5000 clumps (you read that correctly) of witch grass from the plot. It is normal to have some witch grass in our plots, more typically a couple of hundred clumps. However, this year, the number we had to remove and the damage the witch grass did to our plot was extraordinary. We will no longer purchase seed from this vendor as we have too much to do without having to deal with “weedy” seed.

In late Summer and early Fall, we spent time getting our 2021 plots ready to go, a 15-month process dedicated to the removal of as much invasive grass as possible. In early September, Al Baume crossed the five-year mark volunteering at the Connemara Meadow. He has been a shining star!

Click Here for more information.

Fossils Geology Heard Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Heard Paleo Lab adds new display

By: Patti Tuck

2020 has at least one bright moment! A new fossil was added to the Fossil Hall at the Heard Museum.

We call it Ruby because of the red, iron oxide mudstone in which it was deposited. Ruby came from the Woodbine formation which dates to 95 million years ago. Its scientific name is: Trinitichelys maini.

This is a new aquatic turtle species, first described in December 2019. It was originally discovered at the Arlington Archosaur Site in Arlington, Texas. This site was founded by the late Dr. Derek Main, for whom the species is named. On display here is the most complete example to be discovered.

The fossil was discovered in April 2019 by Ty Leslie Goble, age 9.

The preparation from raw fossil to finished specimen was completed by volunteers in the Heard Paleontology Lab. Descendants of this turtle are with us today. They are commonly called sliders or mud turtles.

The unique display was created in the lab. By incorporating mirrors in the display, a complete view of the fossil is possible.

One of the challenges of preparing fossils for show is displaying it in the best way possible.

THIS SPECIMEN IS ON LOAN FROM AND IS THE PROPERTY OF THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.

Blackland Prairie Raptor Center Raptor Center Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

BPRC Give a Hoot Gala Summary

By: Erich Neupert

Here is some information about our Give A Hoot Gala we had in December.

We raised just over $25,000 which was our goal to match a $25K Challenge Match. So we doubled our total to more than $50K!

The gala included amazing raptor experiences like a Play Date with a Vulture, Raptor Release and Pizza Party with SweetPea (one of our education screech owls). Or a personal prairie consultation with Lorelei Stierlen to see how to convert your yard into a native prairie.

The 45 minute virtual event was our first attempt at such a fundraiser, and it went extremely well!

In fact, you can still watch the recorded version of it on YouTube at:

And the experiences are still available for people to donate towards. You can email Erich Neupert at info@bpraptorcenter.org for more information.

The only goal we did not reach was for a Blood Chemistry machine. We are looking for donors interested in helping fund the purchase of this vital piece of equipment which will allow us to check bloodwork for internal parasites, malnutrition, and other possibly lethal issues so we can give even better care to all our patients.

We received 563 patients in 2020 including a few Bald Eagles, Merlin, Burrowing Owl which put our species count for the year at 18.

Hagerman ONLINE Shaking of the Trees Post

2020: Hagerman NWR Year in Review

By Laurie Sheppard

The year started out like any other, but 2020 had plenty of challenges in store. A variety of public-facing activities are conducted throughout the year at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, including Van or Tram Tours, guide bird walks, Second Saturday nature programs, a youth program called Refuge Rocks, an active photo club, and a nature journaling club. Each of those programs involve volunteers, and volunteers also provide manpower to maintain gardens, mow grass, staff school visits, conduct butterfly walks, monitor Bluebird nest boxes, and more. In January, all of the typical activities and programs were buzzing along and planning was underway for the spring and summer seasons at the refuge.

A new tram arrived in February and a contest was held to give it a name. The winner was “Wildlife Explorer”. Each volunteer driver was trained on the maintenance and operation of the tram; they all looked forward to weekend tours throughout the remainder of the year. The nest box monitoring team met to repair and refurbish nest boxes, 20 of which were “adopted” by supporters for the ninth year in a row. Over 1400 Eastern Bluebirds have fledged from the refuge’s monitored boxes since 2010. Butterfly Garden Docents met to prepare the schedule for garden walks and educational programs.

Snow Geese Taking Flight – Laurie Sheppard

March snuck in with heavy spring rains putting refuge roads under water, but that was not the only blow to refuge programs. Covid-19 was covering the country like rain over the plains. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) regional leadership made the decision to close refuge Visitors Centers throughout the Southwest and curtail all activities and volunteerism, at least temporarily. Hagerman’s staff were directed to work from home until further notice. However, public access to all areas of the refuge remained open.

The restrictions at the refuge coincided with other limitations on recreational activities and school closures in the area. As soon as the flood water receded in early April, the refuge experienced a large influx of visitors, estimated at 16,000 vehicles in less than a month. Without onsite staff to provide regular cleaning, the refuge locked the rest rooms and added commercial portable facilities. After a few unfortunate incidents, signs were added at each end of Wildlife Road reminding visitors to remain on the roads, and speed bumps were installed on paved sections.

In the months that followed, organized public gatherings continued to be prohibited but some volunteer activities resumed, albeit with some changes. For example, because nest box monitoring is done using government vehicles, it was allowed only for same household partners. Mowing resumed with masks and precautions in place. Other limited volunteer activities were allowed only where social distancing was possible.

In July, Second Saturday and Photo Club programs resumed using Zoom technology, and remote meetings are likely to continue at least through spring 2021. The Friends of Hagerman’s monthly newsletter continues to provide information and status updates, and the USFWS has a limited maintenance staff keeping things in good repair. Wheat was planted on schedule to feed the hungry geese, but after a wet spring, summer was unusually dry and seeds were slow to germinate.

Geese, ducks, and other winter birds have arrived nonetheless, and despite the latest surge of Coronavirus, it is still possible to social distance while enjoying the wildlife. At Hagerman, we volunteers look forward to a time when we can reopen the Visitors Center and resume our tram tour and Butterfly Garden Docent schedule to share our passion for the refuge with the community. Hopefully, we will be able to gather for social events and volunteer activities in 2021.

AgriLife Extension Chapter Meetings

Rick Travis – The Junipers of Texas by Chase Brooke

Tuesday, December 8, 7pm Monthly online “Zoom” Meeting

Chase Brooke – The Junipers of Texas

Junipers are a ubiquitous sight across Texas. From the trans-Pecos to the piney woods, most ecoregions in Texas have at least one species naturally occurring within it. Chase will discuss the five most commonly occurring native juniper species in the state, their unique characteristics, how to manage them, and how to identify them.

Chase Brooke is the Agriculture and Natural Resources County Extension Agent with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension in Collin County. In this role, he provides high-impact, research-based information and educational opportunities to residents, landowners, and agricultural producers in Collin County. Chase owns both a B.S. in Spatial Science and an M.S. in Ecosystem Science and Management from Texas A&M University. Chase is a native to the DFW area, and has previously worked in forestry, research, and higher education before starting as a County Extension Agent in 2018.

President’s Slides in PDF covering new COVID-19 Guidelines.