Wood Duck Whistler East Texas Chapter Master Naturalists December 2019 Volume 19, Issue 12

Getting Ready for the New Year

As we move forward for the next year, it is maybe a good time to look back at this last one first. And it’s been a mighty fine one at that. Classes were going strong then and the new members became busy beavers in finding ways to help out in the group and in our mission. Bodes well for the new class which as

now is packed up with more potential members. Members have been active in numerous projects from trail clearing at Faulkner Park, educating seniors, to community outreach, and not least of all helping Caddo Mounds recover from tornado damage. It has been a busy year.

Take advantage of the warm weather while you can because winter might still happen. It’s certainly good for work outside if not fun. Be prepared for another year of busy new members. And have a Happy New

Year.

Our next chapter meeting will be held on Thursday, January 23rd at the Discovery Science Place Annex building at 308 N Broadway in Tyler. Our speaker will be Julie Mattox on Purple Martins—Natural History and tips for attracting and being a good landlord to them. Come see the latest in colony management and housing. The first

2020 class starts January 21. Coming up: Native Plant Society meeting, January 6 at . The Discovery Science Place Annex Bldg at 308 N Broadway in Tyler will be the new location. Ron Loper will give a presentation on the Fabaceae Family (delayed earlier due to technical difficulties with equipment).

Tyler Audubon Society meeting January 14 at 6:30 PM. TAS will meet at Pollard United Methodist Church. Doug Ghrist will give a presentation about warblers. Known often enough as colorful flitty little birds that pause for no binoculars.

Contents

December Events 2

The President’s Message 3

December Book Reviews 3

Cleanup Project 5

About Vultures 6

Birds of a Feather 7

ETCMN Information 10

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y

Christmas Party by Tamara Kratzer

Clint Perkins and a Big Check

On Tuesday, December 10th at 9:30 AM a number of Master Naturalists showed up at the County Commissioners Court to support our Agrilife Extension sponsor Clint Perkins as he

showcased the work we as ETCMNs do. Clint presented a symbolic check to Smith County to show what the Extension’s Master Volunteer work is worth in dollars and raise

awareness of our presence. (Photo from Clint Perkins)

Wow, what a party. I believe it was bigger and better than I can remember. And it has always been great and fun. Thanks to Kathy Riffe and everyone who helped pull it off, not least of who were all the good cooks out there who brought the food (even if you didn’t). A lot of new faces at the party. Still learning all the last class members. A little sad not to see more members that have been around longer. We are a lot like an extended family having a big Christmas get together. Heck, maybe we just are. All the fun parts and the food, too. Which leaves it down to the festivities. Lots of cookies were present; a must for Christmas. After we had stuffed ourselves pretty well, we picked numbers and then presents, even if

someone else had already opened them. At least we had enough to go around.

Jan Barth liked Cindy Smith’s present.

Karen Rueb-Hall up to no good at Lindsey Smith’s spot. So whether you were there or not I hope you had a Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, or whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year. And have a

Happy New Year coming up.

Joe’s package, and ultimately a happy

reunion.

Hue Adams as the first

Possum Whisperer (All photos by Wanda Rauscher)

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The President’s Message by Lance Homeniuk

December Book Reviews by Lance Homeniuk

.

Happy holidays! Whether you travel, have the family come to you, spend outrageously, decorate, say “Bah! Humbug!”, cook & bake, party, sing, attend the Nutcracker, watch It’s a Wonderful Life, or Grinch (any of them), shoot fireworks, worship – wherever you do that, or just “chill”, do so with

peace and joy.

This is my last monthly note to you as president, and I have lost count how

many that is, so instead of looking back let us look ahead to the upcoming opportunities and relationships. The new year will find us with an almost new executive board, a new curriculum class, and a slew of new outreach projects. I am happy to see so many of our almost-new members set up with ideas, proposals, and action. The growing numbers and vitality of our membership promises good things

for the East Texas Chapter and the partners we work with. I am committed to participating in as much of the activities as I can and look forward to getting to fellowship and work beside each one of you (even if I hem and haw over names – thank you Beverly for the photo class

rolls!}

I hope to see you at the January board meeting, first class, or monthly meeting or all three!

Falter by Bill

McKibbin, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2019. The subtitle is “Has the Human Game begun to Play Itself Out?”, referring to human induced environmental catastrophes and gross ecosocial inequalities. The author has written 17 books, listed in the front papers, including “The End of Nature” and “Fight Global Warming Now”. He is credited in a blurb to sounding the first alarm, in

1989, of the threat of

global warming.

The book is a hard back, 6 ¼ X 9 ½ inches and 257 pages of text, 10 of Notes, and an index. To me, it seemed to be in two parts, the first being gloom and doom, we have known we been destroying the planet since the 1970s and now we are at the point of no return, even if we had the will and power to turn things around. Many anecdotes, examples from around the world, quotes from experts, and data

projections are provided to drive the theme home. I kept reading but had to take breaks to go outside and reassure myself the sun was still shining and the wind was blowing and birds were singing. (Totally random insert here, but worrying – there have been many fewer birds at my feeders and at my bird counts than ever before).

The second part of the book focused on the economic-social-political situation. (continued next page)

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December Book Reviews (cont.) by Lance Homeniuk

McKibbin shines the spotlight on the extreme range of wealth and power and how the divide has been growing exponentially. Fewer and fewer individuals are amassing most of the wealth and power, using it to manipulate the growing masses of desperate and powerless. The story is familiar to students of history and the epilogue is, too— revolution or fall. McKibbin reckons the fall won’t be of an empire but of life on Earth. I will not fault the author’s premise or his predictions as I have not educated myself enough to pass judgement on either. But I do notice a partisan bias in his blame finding. While he has been sounding the alarm for more than 30 years, he holds the person most responsible and blameworthy for the state humankind finds itself to be the leader of a single nation who has been in office for less than a full term.

Everybody else, prior or present, foreign or domestic, gets a bye. And the malevolent, selfish uber-rich who are profiting from the catastrophe seem to be of all political persuasions and ideologies, only sharing two factors–their net worth and their slavish devotion to Ayn Rand and her philosophy of selfishness. That being said, do I recommend this read to the “gentle reader”? Only if you want to be shaken up a bit, possibly to examine your own assumptions and consider motivations and future that the movers and shakers may be leading us to. Or, you can look for support and reaffirmation of the views you hold. Will either lead to constructive action? I’m still pondering that. PS, I borrowed the book from someone who paid $28.00. Not sure if that is some form of irony or if it is worth its weight in gold and twenty-eight

bucks is a steal. I will give it back. The Grail Bird by

Tim Gallagher, Houghton-Mifflin, Boston, 2005. The subtitle is “Hot on the trail of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker” and the cover has two printed medallions containing the captions: “The ONLY firsthand account” and “The True Story of the Rediscovery”. Well, that about wraps it up, eh? This book is a 5 ¼ X 8 ½ inch hardback, 272 pages, including acknowledgements, sources and index. It contains eight pages of B&W and color photos. My copy sold for $25 originally, marked down to $8.60 used, and I picked it up for $1.99 at a thrift store. And it is in very good condition – talk about a rare find worth publicizing… The author is the former editor in chief of Living Bird magazine of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. He is a wildlife photographer, (continued on page

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Garland P. Ferguson Cleanup Project by Greg Marshall

I recently went through the process of starting my own project as a Master Naturalist over the past several months. The process within our chapter was pretty clear cut, but dealing with city officials required quite a bit of leg work. For my first project, I decided to tackle a cleanup of Garland P. Ferguson Park. The city council has left the management of the park on Lake Gladewater up to city employees and the Gladewater Lake advisory board. After several phone calls, I was able to meet both the city employees and lake board members at one of their bimonthly meetings. Once I explained what I wanted to do, they were very enthusiastic to let me know that I had their approval to move ahead. Lake Gladewater, and specifically Garland P. Ferguson Park, has been a place I have utilized regularly for recreation since

moving to Gladewater. The park is operated by the City of Gladewater, Texas. It offers many amenities, including playgrounds, tennis and basketball courts, a large covered pavilion, several picnic areas with many of them covered, a volleyball net with a sand court, 2 boat ramps, a recently expanded fishing pier, and a sandy beach swimming area. The park is rather large and has a lot to offer for a family outing. The area of the park I have utilized the most has always been the area beyond the spillway where Glade Creek spreads out and flows over bedrock into several pools. There are over 1,670 feet of well-worn paths and trails through the wooded area, when coupled with those along the banks makes for roughly a half mile of walking. The down side is that the city does not maintain any of this area, and trash has begun to build up as of late, and the

project I have put forward would be a cleanup of this area. The first large pool after the dam holds some small bass and lots of bluegill. I have also observed carp and buffalo feeding along the concrete at the dam and the adjoining spillway. There are almost always ducks and herons to observe along with myriad song birds. Due to fluctuating water levels, the first pool can sometimes be more difficult to reach as the easy path can become submerged. The second pool down Glade Creek is very quiet. The north shore of the pool is on public land. I have caught bluegill in this pool, and observed many crappie, white bass, and yellow bass being taken by other anglers. Access is limited to north eastern shore of the second pool. Glade Creek is prone to high water and crossing can be slick and challenging. The glade is utilized by (continued on page 9)

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Damn! Thump-thump. That squirrel ran right out in front of me. Unfortunately, he was no match for my 3 tons of truck. I hate that, but, it happens. On my return within 30-minutes that poor little squirrel corpse was overridden with vultures. I honked and they hopped to the side, but were otherwise unbothered. By the next day, only bones and a bit of hide remained. As a native Texan I want to say that the buzzards cleaned up that road kill real well. Fact is, those were not buzzards. Buzzards are actually buteos, a type of hawk. We are familiar with the Red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and

Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus). Early

settlers in America, used to seeing large

winged hawks soaring overhead back in Europe, mistook vultures for buzzards, thus the misnomer. There are two common types of vultures in Texas, the Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) and

the Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus).

Contrary to the myth vultures do not spread disease. Turkey vultures breed throughout Texas. Although one may find usually two eggs on the ground in leaf litter and small twigs, they do not build a nest. Within 40 days of incubation downy white fledgelings with black heads emerge. The young are cared for by both adults, feeding them through regurgitation. At around 75 days, the immature, differentiated by a dark head and bill, take flight. The head gradually turns grey,

Who Knew About Vultures

by R. Dale Wade

Photo by Sally King

then the bright red of adults. As they soar one can distinguish them by their two-toned wing pattern with a lighter trailing edge. Although turkey vultures find food by sighting a carcass, they seem to have a heightened sense of smell as well. Overall, their population is healthy, and perhaps growing. The major dangers are lead poisoning from ingesting buck shot, mishaps with vehicles, trapping, and being shot. Resources: Texas Breeding Bird Atlas; All About Birds; Audubon

Nor do black vultures build a nest. They prefer thickets as opposed to hollow trees or brush piles. The mating pair is monogamous and may return to the same nesting site repeatedly. Black vultures are distinguishable by a smaller, more compact body and a greyish black head.

Photo by Murray Foubister

Without a heightened sense of smell finding food is more challenging. Although they ride high thermals in search of carrion, they often rely on the turkey vulture to locate food. Once a carcass is located they become very aggressive, often taking over the food from the turkey vulture. Most notable as dumpster divers, one may find them around garbage dumps and park trash bins. Resources: Texas Breeding Bird Atlas; All About Birds; Audubon

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Birds of a Feather Flock Together or What’s the Buzz, Cuz? by Lance Homeniuk

Since early in November Kilgore, in Gregg County, has had visitors of the avian persuasion. Not the usual migrating songbirds that delight the naturalist and homeowner alike, these were common residents, but aggregating in uncommon numbers. They roosted in a very public place: on the oil derrick in front of the city hall and police department in the middle of downtown. The phenomenon drew social media comment, newspaper articles, and alarm from some residents. A few folks wanted “something done about it” and at an extreme, use of firearms was mentioned. But officials took a more realistic view of the situation and issued calm and reasoned statements. Police warned people not to take matters into their own hands and reassured them that no harm to the public was imminent. The birds at the eye of this storm are not Alfred Hitchcock’s birds, innocuous looking but deadly aggressive. These are large and of intimidating appearance. Our subject avians belong to family Cathartidae, “the cleaners”, a New World group commonly known as vultures, specifically the American black vulture (Coragyps atratus), a near relative of the larger and more widespread

turkey vulture. Neither are related to the Eurasian black vulture, which is an accipiter, a genus that includes eagles and many hawks. Surprisingly, they are more closely related to storks! Another genus of old world hawks, Buteo, includes many birds known as buzzards. So when people referred to the roosting black vultures as buzzards, and most who made their negative views public did, they were off on two counts – wrong genus of birds entirely, and wrong hemisphere. But it is not wise to dispute the common knowledge unless you are willing to be looked upon as a pedantic bore. You may as well try to convince someone there is no such critter as a chicken hawk, nor a chicken snake (but there is a chicken turtle – as in “tastes like chicken”, not “eats my chickens”). Whether calling this maligned bird a buzzard or a vulture what is the problem people have with them? Filling an essential niche in the environment, black vultures feed on carrion, decaying plant matter, and when in close association with humans, garbage. Along with other scavengers and decomposers they rid the environment of rotting, diseased organic matter and recycle it into basic chemical building blocks. On their negative side, they have been known to prey on eggs of other birds, newborn or incapacitated mammals, including livestock. Three of their reported habits lead to their bad reputation: 1. Regurgitation when startled and fleeing (to lighten their take-off weight), defecating and urinating on their own legs (to lower body temperature), and killing plants under their roost due to the uric acid in their feces. OK, I can see why one may not want them roosting overhead. Smaller than turkey vultures, black vultures are more aggressive and hunt in larger flocks. As they have a weaker sense of smell, they often watch turkey vultures and follow them to carrion. They can drive the larger birds off a food source. They beat their wings more often and wobble more when soaring than the turkey vultures. But both species are excellent soarers – fanning out their wing feathers and riding even weak thermal air currents with ease. As the base of the primary feathers are white when the wings are open white patches are visible from underneath. The median size of an adult black vulture is about 2 feet tall with a wingspan of about 5 feet. They weigh between 4.5 and 6.5 pounds. Feathers are glossy black, skin of the featherless head and neck is grey and wrinkled. They have a short, hooked beak, with nostrils you can see right through as they lack a septum. Their eyes have brown irises and long lashes. (I wonder if they wink?) Their tail is short, scarcely showing behind folded wings when the bird is roosting. The feet are flat, with blunt talons of little use for capturing live prey. (Continued next page)

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Birds of a Feather Flock Together or What’s the Buzz, Cuz? by Lance Homeniuk (continued from last page)

Black vultures are reported to be monogamous breeders, maintaining a long term pair bond, and are attentive parents. Their homemaking skills are rudimentary. Rather than build a nest they search for a large, dark cavity, say in a cave, a hollow tree, dense underbrush of a thicket, or an old abandoned building. The female lays usually two grey-green, bluish or white eggs on the ground, each being about 2’ by 3’ speckled on the larger end. Both parents will then incubate the eggs for 4 to 7 weeks. Hatchlings are a buff color (turkey vultures are white) and are fed regurgitated food by mother and father alike. Fledglings will continue to be fed as long as they stay nearby, for up to 8 months! I have not known of a captive or pet black vulture but at a recent presentation of rescued raptors the keeper brought out a turkey vulture which acted nonchalant, and more impressively, had no odor or bad habits. I assume C. atratus would “clean up for company” just as well. But, they are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and may be kept only if injured and unable to be rehabilitated. They are also protected from harm by the threat of a steep fine ($15,000) and imprisonment, as are other migratory birds. I have not found any citation in the literature of black vultures migrating seasonally though they are quite capable of vacating an area when weather conditions become unfavorable. As the northern limit of their range is barely over the Oklahoma border, and they do not extend into the panhandle or west Texas, I reckon they do not have to fly far to over winter. Listed as “species of least concern”, vulture numbers have been steadily climbing since the 1960s, when they were covered by the MBTA and killing was curtailed. Photos: close up of a captive, rehabbed vulture displayed at Avalon Fair in 2018.

Approximately 100 American black vultures roosting on an ornamental oil derrick in January, 2019 (about twice that many are roosting now and have taken to other derricks and comm towers nearby). Two feathers from a black vulture found under an oil derrick. No mess or odor was observed at the location. NOTE- I was not brave enough to stand underneath head back, eyes & mouth open in wonder.

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December Book Reviews by Lance Homeniuk

(continued)

author, expert birder, and world traveler. There is a lead-in to the “rediscovery” charting the recent history of the demise and extirpation of the awesome bird from American forests. Interviews and research conducted by the author are documented. Foreshadowing occurs frequently – a respected and knowledgeable person claims to have seen or been given photos of the woodpecker, only to be derided by their peers and have their reputation tarnished. The bird has been the victim of habitat destruction due to logging and draining the hardwood bottomlands in decades past and the second growth woods that have succeeded are too late to bring it back. Misplaced sound recordings are found in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s own archives, reports from the Texas Big Thicket dated as late as 1960 are uncovered. Just when you think the ivory bill is to be relegated to history and its obsessed fans to the ranks of Sasquatch and Nessie cranks, fleeting glimpses of a not-pileated woodpecker are reported. Gallagher is off to the swamp again. AND – in the 2004-2005 winter season a task force of Cornell Labs and local enthusiasts did make video and audio recordings of at least two of the elusive woodpeckers in a flooded forest in Arkansas. On a positive aside – Cornell Lab has published trends from the Feeder watch data that show Pileated Woodpeckers are making a resurgence in the southeastern US states! I have not looked up further information nor seen any recent books, articles, or news reports, but now I want to find out what has been discovered and concluded in the past 15 years. OBTW – Gallagher has since written about his search for the Ivory-bill’s larger cousin, the Imperial Woodpecker of Mexico.

Garland P. Ferguson Cleanup Project by Greg Marshall

anglers, hikers, nature watchers and photographers regularly. I also think that the clearing just west of the creek would make for a good wildlife viewing area, as I have personally observed deer, rabbits, squirrels, and many birds along the edge of that clearing. In fact, as I was taking pictures Sunday December 15, 2019, I observed deer tracks on top of the boot prints I had left as I had walked down to the second pool. Recently, the city let go of the lake warden and have not replaced him. The city really didn’t ever maintain the area by the spillway, but since the previous warden was let go, there has been no supervision at all. As a result, trash has begun to build up along the trail and creek bottom. The area flows wide into an impressive glade that is cut down to the iron ore bedrock. I personally have not observed water features of the sort I have seen here anywhere else in our ten county area. I am not stating that they don’t exist, but I know of no others. I look forward to cleaning the area up for others to enjoy, and hope to see others out there as this would be something that would need to be done at least bi-monthly, and I hope that the project could be expanded to include other improvements, such as maintaining the walking trails, and providing benches for wildlife viewing. My first cleanup will be scheduled for a Saturday in January, so be watching for the date in our monthly email notifications.

Monthly Programs

Directions and Dues

East Texas Chapter Master Naturalists Meeting Facility:

Discovery Science Place Annex Bldg

308 N Broadway Ave Tyler, Texas 75702

Directions: On Broadway Ave on the left from the south

or right from the north in downtown Tyler near

Line Street (N of Locust)

Please send $20.00 individual ($35.00

couple) Annual Chapter dues

to: ETCMN Attn: Treasurer

Box 131184

Tyler, TX 75713-1184

We meet the Fourth

Thursday

At the Discovery

Science Place Annex

Bldg at 308 N

Broadway in Tyler

Join us at 6:30 PM

for socializing and

let's get to know each

other before our

meeting.

Bring a friend, invite

a guest.

Everyone is

welcomed.

2019 Officers & Committee Chairs

Lance Homeniuk –President Kathy Riffe – Vice President Wanda Rauscher – Secretary Phil Guthrie – Treasurer Mike Price – Membership Officer Helen Mar Parkin – Membership Committee Lance Homeniuk – VHS Approval VHS Committee: Logan Long, Mike Price, Paul Wick Beverly Guthrie - AT Approval AT Committee: Cindy Smith, Lindsey Smith Beverly Guthrie –Education Officer Curriculum Committee: Hue Adams, Ilene Getzone, Ray Rottman, Charlotte Sanders, Lindsey Smith, Paul Wick Jan Barth – Historian Charlotte Sanders – History Committee Vickie Betts – Library Dale Wade – Webmaster Carl Strange – VMS Database Manager Greg Marshall – Social Media Logan Long – Social Media Kathy Riffe – Publicity Tamara Kratzer - Newsletter Editor Kevin Herriman - TPWD Advisor Clint Perkins – Agrilife Extension Svc Advisor

TEXAS A & M TPWD

Your news, stories, comments, photos, and ideas are needed. Tell us about where you volunteer and what youʼre doing,

Deadline is 15th of every month! Please send items to Tamara Kratzer.

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