Posts Tagged ‘Birds’

Apr
21

Shorebirds are a ‘Shore’ Thing!

Posted by in Birds

Written by April Zimpel, Houston Zoo Bird Keeper and Member of the Jiminy Frigates.

Right now, during the Great Texas Birding Classic, we are  searching for shorebirds at Bolivard Flats, Rollover Pass and Cameron County Beach! This is our last chance to increase our count numbers significantly!

Keep watching the Houston Zoo blogs, Twitter feed and Facebook to see how the Jiminy Frigates is doing in their quest to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours for the Great Texas Birding Classic! Join in on the fun and cheer for us online!

American Avocets in breeding plumage.

Because Houstonians live so close to the shore, we sometimes take for granted the fact that we are able to see a wonderful variety of shorebirds year-round. The beaches of Galveston are teaming with avocets, plovers, terns, sandpipers and oystercatchers, while the marshy areas of the coast are filled with herons, ibis and even spoonbills. This area is also an important stopover for many species of shorebirds that migrate from South America hundreds of miles to breeding grounds that can reach up to Alaska.

Willet

Most shorebirds are characterized by long legs, toes and bills, built for wading into water or marsh to probe for food. They usually eat a variety of insects, mollusks and other invertebrates and most shorebirds actually time when they lay their eggs so the chicks hatching coincides with the hatching of insect species that the chick will need to grow up healthy! Shorebirds also tend to be more neutral, earth-tone colors to help them blend into their surrounding while sitting on their nest.

 

Unfortunately, because of their dependence on coastal estuaries and marshland, many species of shorebird are declining. Although habitat loss is the most serious issue these birds face today, they are also affected by oil spills and other forms of pollution. As beach-goers, we can all do our part to make sure these birds don’t have further pollutants in their environment by making sure to dispose of trash properly while visiting the beach. Shorebirds also nest on the ground, so unless it’s necessary, avoid driving on the beach to prevent disturbing nesting birds and crushing eggs. If you’re interesting in learning more about shorebirds please visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Shorebird Fact Sheet .

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Apr
21

What’s Up with Woodpeckers?

Posted by in Birds

We’re currently searching for woodpeckers at The Great Texas Birding Classic…let’s hope we rack up some serious woodpecker sightings…we’re in the Big Thicket right now, which (we hope) is the perfect spot..

Keep watching the Houston Zoo blogs, Twitter feed and Facebook to see how team Jiminy Frigates is doing in their quest to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours for the Great Texas Birding Classic! Join in on the fun and cheer for us online, or head to High Island later today today to give your support in person!

Well, actually, there’s a lot up with woodpeckers…check out these cool facts!

There are 180 species of woodpeckers in the world found everywhere but Australia, Madagascar, and New Zealand. In Texas there are thirteen different species: nine have been found in Houston.

Most of the woodpeckers found in our area have black and white feathers and some amount of red on their heads. They also have very interesting feet. Most birds have three toes up front and one toe in the back of the foot, but woodpeckers have zygodactyl feet. This means two toes up front and two toes in the back for gripping onto the bark of trees.

But the coolest thing about woodpeckers has to be their heads. They have long chisel-like beaks for drumming on, building nest holes and extracting food from trees. A woodpecker’s tongue is up to 4 inches long depending on the species, and it wraps around their entire skull.

Many woodpeckers have barbed tongues that help them extract bugs from trees and holes. A woodpecker can tap 20 times per second (8,000-12,000 times per day!) without getting a headache. They have reinforced skulls made to spread the impact force, and their brains are tightly cushioned and protected.

Not only do woodpeckers look cool, but they are also very beneficial to our environment. They eat thousands of wood-boring insects and other garden pests like crickets, ants, grasshoppers, flies, spiders, wasps, beetles, and grubs. A single flicker (a type of woodpecker) can eat thousands of carpenter ants in one day!

Having mature deciduous and coniferous trees can attract woodpeckers to your yard to take care of some of those pests. You can also attract them by hanging feeders that hold homemade or store bought suet. You can also leave dead trees, snags and stumps for foraging.  Or when planning bird-friendly landscaping, choose trees for birds that will produce the nuts and berries that are important food sources for woodpeckers.

So to summarize, woodpeckers are awesome! Follow the Houston Zoo twitter feed all day on Sunday for the Great Texas Birding Classic and see how many Woodpeckers we spot.

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Apr
21

Stalking Rockstars and Other Celebrities: The Jiminy Frigates Search for Warblers

Posted by in Birds

Dawn is always a great time to find birds, and The Great Texas Birding Classic‘s the Jiminy Frigates are currently in Sabine Woods, hoping to find at least 20 warbler species!

Keep watching the Houston Zoo blogs, Twitter feed and Facebook to see how the Jiminy Frigates are doing in their quest to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours for the Great Texas Birding Classic! Join in on the fun and cheer for us online, or head to High Island later today today to give your support in person!

Several weeks ago, I stopped to fill up my car’s tank at a gas station on Westheimer after work.  At other pumps, several Houstonians were doing the same; it was just another day and another tank of gas, until a man wearing a tuxedo and top hat climbed out of his car.  Like the rest of us, he was running a typical errand, but he didn’t stare into the distance with a blank look on his face and a sense of a mundane routine.  This guy had places to go, obviously. His movements were quick, his purpose evident. He darted in and out of that gas station, and while he filled up his tank as quickly as possible, everyone stared.Where was this man going in his fancy tux? What would he be doing when he got there? Seriously, who wears a top hat anymore?

Cerulean Warbler

While the man in the tux and hat was an interesting sight, I’ve never found people to be as interesting as animals, and currently, the Houston area is playing host to a huge gala of birds in their most extravagant dress. Top hats and tails have nothing on these guys.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Warblers are tiny birds, weighing in at a negligible 10 grams or less (about as heavy as 4 pennies), but don’t underestimate these songbirds for one second! Not only do these birds provide you with coffee  and kill and eat pesky mosquitoes with a proficiency that would put even the most ruthless bug-zapper to shame,  but they are breathtakingly gorgeous.

 

Houston is just a short drive to world famous birding sites for Spring migration, such as High Island on Bolivar Peninsula and Sabine Woods. Both serve as a ‘gas station’ stop-over for exhausted birds flying from as far away as South America to their northern breeding grounds.  Over 35 species of warblers can be seen in this area during the spring madness, attracting thousands of bird paparazzi–professional photographers, amateurs and bird enthusiasts all looking for the exhilaration of  spotting these winged rockstars  in their most impressive plumage during their layover in Texas. Often, the number of migrating birds finding water and food in these areas can be so high, that the trees and ground seem covered with brightly covered jewels.

Bay-breasted Warbler

 

 

All photos captured by Cody Conway on the Upper Texas Coast and used with permission.

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Apr
15

It’s about to Get Wild: The Great Texas Birding Classic

Posted by in Birds

For those of you that are already birders, you know what’s coming: ’tis the season to see unique, remarkable, and incredible birds as they migrate through the Texas Gulf Coast! If you’re not yet a birder, you can be…learn all about it – all you need is a field guide to get started!

During this exciting time of year, Texas Parks and Wildlife puts together a birdwatching tournament called the Great Texas Birding Classic from April 15 to May 15. Are we getting involved? You know it.

Bird keepers from the Houston Zoo (team Jiminy Frigates) are getting together for 24 hours starting at midnight on Sunday, April 21 for a birding marathon: the goal is to identify as many birds as possible in the wild in 24 hours. And that means we can’t cheat and just go to the Zoo and name all our birds! I’ll follow along and bring you updates as they happen, from crazy mishaps to amazing birds to gorgeous scenery.

The Texas Birding Classic isn’t just 24 hours, though…there are lots of different
categories depending on your interest, age, ability, and time constraints. You can be beginner or advanced, a team of one or 5, and you can participate in a tournament for a morning, 24 hours or six consecutive days. You can even do the “Big Sit!” This is where have to identify birds in 24 hours, with all team members sitting or standing within a stationary 17-foot diameter circle!

So what’s our plan? If we told you we’d have to…well, you know. But we can give you some clues on where we’re going, because you might be interested in checking them out sometime. We’ll be searching for owls at the Big Thicket, enjoying the views and birds along the coast, and heading to famous High Island to see what we can see.

It’s going to be a fun adventure, and we hope you’ll join us on the blog for the big day. And while registration’s almost over, it may not be too late for you to jump in and have your own team!

Photos by Megan Neal, Houston Zoo Bird Keeper and Member of Team Jiminy Frigates

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Apr
09

The Great Flamingo Adventure

Posted by in Animal News & Updates,Birds

It was 6:45 a.m. on a chilly Friday morning in April. Standing around by the vet clinic in a spacious, grassy yard were 42 flamingos, and they knew something was up. Probably because there were 20 zookeepers looking suspiciously in their direction. There was a good reason, though: it was time to move them into their sparkling, newly-renovated habitat – and moving that many large birds with long necks and legs is no small feat!

As the flamingos curiously peered over at the zookeepers filing into their yard with arms spread wide to direct the flamingos where they needed to go, the group of birds moved in tandem, almost like a cascading wave. As the keepers got closer, one by one they set their sights on a single flamingo, and each bird was carefully swept up into the arms of a skilled handler.

The hardest part was next, though. How do you get a flamingo from one end of the Zoo to the other, as quickly as possible, to make sure it doesn’t get stressed? You use a golf cart. Luckily, a fleet of solar-powered carts was at the disposal of the bird department that morning, and each keeper, with a flamingo in tow, piled into one of the carts. We were ready to roll.

As we cruised through the back of the Zoo, through a big wooden gate, and past the hoofed animals, we were met with the confused looks and excited waves of several staff members getting the Zoo ready to open – it’s not often you see a cart full of flamingos fly by on a Friday morning! We rounded the corner and finally made it to drop the birds off in their lush new surroundings.

As the keepers entered the exhibit, they took great care to set the flamingos down slowly and gently so they could unfold their spindly, long legs and get proper footing before dancing straight toward their new pool. Several golf cart trips later, all 42 birds were safe and comfortable in their new surroundings, swimming in the “deep end” of their pool and exploring the new nesting island.

What’s next for the flamingos? We’re hoping for some chicks this summer, so stay tuned.

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Apr
08

Get Started Birding on the Texas Gulf Coast

Posted by in Birds

Enjoy nature, but looking for something fun to do to get you out in it a bit more? Interested in exploring places around your hometown that you never knew existed? Up for an adventure? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, birding might just be the thing you’re looking for to jazz up your weekends and create some new memories.

So what on earth is birding? Also known as birdwatching, birding means observing wild birds in their natural habitats – by sight and by sound. To start, walk outside your home and just look around. You may see scavenging grackles, head-bobbing pigeons, bright red cardinals, or maybe a mockingbird or two.  If you’ve done this, seen at least one bird, and identified it, congratulations! You’re on your way to being a birder.

Why birding? Here are just a few good reasons:

  1. It’s cheap. If you’ve ever needed to find an inexpensive activity for the whole family, this is it. You don’t have to spend any money, or you can spend just $20 and get a great field guide, or spend a bit more on a state or national park entry fee and make some incredible memories for just a few bucks.
  2. It’s a great family activity. Kids, parents, and grandparents can work together to spot and identify birds, and it teaches some great life lessons like patience, too!
  3. It’s a community. Birders help each other – it’s like one big giant family. As you start birding, you’ll run into folks that will tell you what they saw that was really amazing and where you can see it too – what’s better than that?

You may think birding requires expensive equipment like fancy binoculars, but there’s really just one thing you need to get started: a field guide listing the different types of birds you might see. That way, you can spot a bird and use the book to identify what you see. Here are some of our favorites:

Another thing that’s really helpful so you know where to see birds is a map of the areas where you can see the most birds. Texas Parks and Wildlife has a great set of maps that will help you figure out the best spot to go.

The mobile phone has been the next best thing that’s happened to birding since binoculars…there are tons of great resources that you can find in the way of apps and websites to enhance your birding experience. Some of the best include:

  • Field Guide Apps: All of the guides we listed above have apps (the Peterson’s one isn’t just for Texas, though…it is more general), so you can identify birds, listen to bird calls, update your checklist, and do lots of other cool stuff with the flick of a finger. Other great ones include Audubon and iBird Pro. (FYI – these are expensive…it’s like buying a book)
  • E-Bird: An incredible online resource from Cornell where you can record your sightings and share them with an entire online community that’s working together to find and ID birds all over the world. (free!)

Luckily, if you live in or around Houston, or anywhere on the Texas Gulf Coast for that matter, you’re right smack in the middle of one of the best places for birding in the entire world. The reason for that is in the winter, when it gets cold in the northern US and Canada, birds migrate south to go where it’s warm. Many of them cruise right through the Texas Gulf Coast and then head over to Mexico, Central America, or South America. And right now, it’s prime time for seeing these birds pass through. Mid-April to mid-May is quite possibly the best time of the year!

Some specific places to go and visit to see incredible birds include High Island, a famous part of Bolivar Peninsula for birding that even has a Tropical Birding Information Center; the Big Thicket Natural Preserve, where you can even get a special checklist of birds from the visitor center, and Anhuac National Wildlife Refuge, where you’ll see birds, and probably even some alligators!

When to go? The best time to see the most birds is in the early morning, so get ready to rise and shine before the sun rises (don’t forget to set the coffee pot the night before!). If you’re more of a night owl, never fear – at night you can see a whole slew of interesting birds…like owls! And if you’d rather be a beach bum during the day, you can saddle up to a sand dune and enjoy a whole host of shore birds.

And just remember – where birds are, probably so are the mosquitoes we’re so famous for. Don’t forget your mosquito repellent, and sunscreen is probably a good idea too.

Ready to take the next step? Get yourself a field guide and get out there. Happy birding!

Photos by Megan Neal, Houston Zoo Birds Keeper

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Mar
30

Easter Egg Hunt at the Houston Zoo

Posted by in Birds

Written by bird keeper Danny Keel

It’s the time of the year for the Houston Zoo’s endangered Easter egg hunt egg-stravaganza! This year’s contributors are eighteen proud Attwater’s Prairie Chicken females. They represent the most endangered species of bird in Texas with less than one hundred in the wild. The zoo houses these wonderful birds at the Johnson Space Center, giving the birds enough peace and quiet to be comfortable.

Each hen has a feisty male on her side to ensure that each egg is fertilized. The males have a most unique appearance during the breeding season. Bold orange eyebrows are accentuated by bilateral air sacs that the males inflate during a breeding display. The display starts with the male stomping both feet on the ground quickly, and it is punctuated by a loud booming sound.

You aren’t on the guest list.

 

Now to the egg hunt! The hens have a lush playing field giving them plenty of great hiding spots for their nests. It’s possible to walk right by a nest and never know it’s there! The hens are very good at hide and seek.

Not where you want to drop your keys.

 

Each female loves to nest usually under some overhanging grass or shrubbery. The nest is usually lined with grass, but they will use leaves or it could even just be on dirt. Hens can lay up to thirty eggs in a breeding season, leading to a prolonged Easter egg hunt! Sometimes, the hens will even lay eggs outside their nest, adding a touch of excitement to the hunt (we step carefully when checking for eggs - since we really don’t want any suprises).

The zoo has twenty-two flights for the hens to lay eggs in. When I woke up this morning, I knew they would make this Easter egg hunt special. I searched and searched, looking from pen to pen. The hens did a really good job hiding this year! After a spell, I finally was able to locate a nest.

I’m really glad they put all theirs in one basket.

 

Jackpot! I must have walked past this nest six times. The game isn’t finished now though, I had to get the eggs back to the zoo. I use a nice cooler with padding to carefully drive the eggs the 26 miles back to the zoo.

We have a separate cooler for the ham and cheese sandwiches.

 

At that point, the eggs are incubated at the zoo, then seasoned staff cares for the young and prepare them for release in the summer!

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Nov
16

Cold Weather – Then and Now

Posted by in Zoo History: Memories, Looking Back

Houston winters rarely approach the category of water-pipe-busting hard freezes.  Yes, it’s happened but thankfully not that often.

Still, when you’re caring for 6,000 exotic animals, some of whom find 50 degrees uncomfortable, winter preparations are essential.

The Houston Zoo begins winter weather preparations early. Tropical birds are particularly sensitive to cold weather so some bird habitats are wrapped in heavy plastic and others get  wind breaks and keepers make sure gas heaters and heat lamps are all in working order.

But in the Houston Zoo’s early days, keeping animals warm and comfortable during the winter involved rather low tech  methodology – lots of hay for some animals, wood burning stoves for others – as this Houston Press clipping from November 1936 indicates.

 

Yes, that is a monkey sitting on a box in front of a pot bellied stove.  The raccoons seen at the top of the photo are being housed in the warm second floor of the Museum of Natural History which was on Zoo grounds at that time.   The Galapagos tortoise in the photo bottom left is nestled in a bed of hay having been removed from his outdoor exhibit at the first hint of cold weather and held over the winter indoors.  Although tropical birds were not included in the Houston Press’ photo montage, zookeepers in the mid 1930s employed a similar tactic to today’s Zoo to keep the macaws warm, wrapping heavy fabric curtains around the bird’s containment fencing instead of the thick fiber reinforced plastic tarps we use today.

The  photo montage was accompanied by a bit of poetry, written by Houston Press photographer Francis Miller. He had been working for the Press for 9 years when this article was published, filling mutiple roles as photographer, reporter, and even layout artist.  Miller went on to garner no small amount of fame as a LIFE magazine photographer, working in LIFE’s Washington, D. C. and Atlanta bureaus.  It was Miller who photographed President Lyndon Johnson’s beagles on the White House lawn in 1964, employing rubber bones, dog treats and a harmonica to capture their expressive faces. Miller retired from LIFE magazine in 1968 and passed away on November 5, 1973 at the age of 67, leaving behind a body of work that is still revered and sought after today.

 

 

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