Robins aren’t a harbinger of a Texas spring. No way!

American Robin

 

            Unlike up north, robins are here all year. There have been several reports lately of large flocks of robins all over Denton County, several even in adjoining counties. They are generally feeding on the ground, hopefully finding worms and grubs near the soil’s surface. Often they pick a berry bush clean. Very occasionally, robins visit feeders to sample seed, fruit and suet, according to Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology.

They’ve been around here all winter, but are a little easier to spot now since they’re gradually getting more orange. The robins from up north spend the winter around here too, but their ranks will thin out as some of them head back north with the spring warmth. The ones that stay around here are just easier to spot due to their springtime activity such as flock feeding.

 

Bats are coming too!         Not ‘til early spring, which gives you time to get ready for their arrival. They weigh just about half-an-once, but eat lots and lots of mosquitoes (about 3000 to 5000 a night) – and they’re returning. They rid the nights of pesky bugs and avoid humans as much as possible. They do both through “echo-location”, which is like radar, except faster.

 

Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. His design office is at northwestern68@yahoo.com

“But north Texas chickadees have a black cap”

 

Carolina Chickadee

Yes…but they aren’t called ‘black-capped chickadees”. The species of chickadee in this area is the almost identical ‘Carolina chickadee’. Even though it has a black cap it’s not what some people think. Actually, there are seven separate chickadee species in North America in all, and not one of them cares at all if you call it by the wrong name.

WHY HOLLOW?

Almost all birds have hollow bones. It helps enable flight by reducing their weight.   An exception is Penguins – who don’t fly anyway (and would have difficulty swimming with hollow bones).

 

Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. His design office is at northwestern68@yahoo.com

BIG AND DIVERSE!

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Dark-eyed Junco

Cedar Waxwing

The Lone Star state is home to more kinds of birds than any other state in the union. Over 600 species live here!  That includes the beautiful Cedar Waxwing, whose first-of-season local sighting was east of Denton. It also includes the Golden-crowned Kinglet, sighted by friends near Northlakes Park. And an American Woodcock, in a friend’s yard south of here. This is mainly because Texas takes in so many ecological zones. Many of these birds can be seen around Denton County, because this area includes several of these zones. We even have cold & snow – when the birds are exceptionally active, fighting through the weather and trying to get warm. At these times, birds are especially grateful for the high-energy seeds (and such) you provide.



Great-crested Flycatcher

 

A Real Pane.    Research has proven what I strongly suspected – it’s OK for you to put feeders directly on or near windows. In the study feeders directly on, or within 3 ft., of a window resulted in NO bird deaths from flying into a window. It seems that the real “danger zone” is when feeders are 3 to 5 ft. from a window, especially a reflective one.

 

 Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. His design office is at northwestern68@yahoo.com

What our birds eat hints at what species they are

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·       Birds are always busy finding food and eating. Particularly in cooler

weather.   Birds burn energy very quickly – in fact, the smaller the bird, the faster

they burn it. Thus smaller birds need to eat much more often. Each type of bird

has a particular way of locating and taking their food.

 

Mother Nature solves the overwhelming demand, and possible competition, for

food within the avian kingdom by having different species eat at unique times of

the day and night, at different depths of water, at varying heights in the

trees, and even at different places within trees and shrubs.

      Some birds will feed on their own. Most hawks and eagles are solitary hunters.

Other birds of the same species or even different species will group together

to seek out a meal. Think of the large groups of robins, grackles, and

sparrows you may easily spy, dining on the insects and seeds in neighborhoods.

Some birds learn that it pays to get help from other kinds of animals. If you live near farmland,

look for Cattle Egrets near grazing cattle who will gobble up multitudes of insects

stirred up by the cows. Other birds will eat off insects from other animals, such as

deer, who are relieved to be rid of the bugs.

    Sometimes birds will band together for safety since there are more eyes looking

for predators.  Flocks of terns can be

seen diving and confusing the school of fish, thus allowing the flock to catch

more fish! Other species, such as stilts and avocets, may form huge formations

and beat the water with their beaks, causing the very confused fish and even

bugs to come to the surface, allowing all of the birds to more easily catch a meal

and fill their stomachs. Groups of White Pelicans will drive fish into more shallow

water by beating their wings in the water while swimming.

 

      Birders often identify bird species by their beaks, which dictate what and where they eat. 



  

Northern Cardinal's heavy/strong beak tells you it's a seed eater

The Red-breasted Nuthatch (with a narrow beak) eats insects while going DOWN a tree trunk

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·       Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. His design office is at northwestern68@yahoo.com

Don't blame woodpeckers if your tree's in bad shape.



woodpecker hole in diseased tree



Red Bellied Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Let’s get real! Woodpeckers may put a few tiny holes in your trees, but they certainly don’t kill them. The woodpeckers in north Texas (including flickers and sapsuckers) are actually looking for bugs and for the sweet sap flowing in a tree’s cambium layer. Bugs are more apt to be in dead or unhealthy trees, and sap in an unhealthy tree is sweeter and thicker than in a healthy tree. So woodpeckers prize unhealthy, diseased trees. Hence, please don’t blame the woodpeckers (who come on the scene after the fact) if your tree isn’t doing well.



Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

 

 Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. His design office is at northwestern68@yahoo;.com

You can’t buy ”Cross Timbers” heritage anywhere, but you can preserve it

 

This natural north Texas area is called “Cross Timbers” by ecologists. Also, Cross

Timbers Park is a 70-acre park in the south of Denton. As yet it hasn’t been deluged by soccer fields and joggers, but it’s going that way.

It seems that many people think the term “Cross Timbers” is merely a made-up name.

Actually, Denton is mostly in the Eastern Cross Timbers –the popular name for this area in “pioneer-speak”. Unfortunately, there is hardly any real “Cross Timbers” left today, having been plowed under and paved over to accommodate subdivisions, shopping malls, highways and the like. Which makes Cross Timbers Park very special.

The origin of the name can be traced down several paths, depending on who’s talking. The most popular, however, has its roots in the natural geography and vegetation of this area. Most forests here run in north-south bands.  Rivers, on the other hand, run roughly east-west. The result was that pioneers (who  avoided dangerous river crossings) had to cross bands of forest as they traveled between the rivers, heading west. Thus the name: 

”Cross Timbers”.

In academic, ecological terms, this area was a “savannah” which is defined as a grassland prairie spotted with trees. (Mostly post oaks and blackjack oaks in this instance). In many areas the characteristic trees were so thick that they were forests. In the 18th and 19^th centuries in fact, the Cross Timbers was a well-known geographic feature marking the eastern edge of the American grasslands.

Nowadays, however, there are embarrassingly few remnants of the Cross Timbers left. Much of the original soil has been “urbanized” by extensive construction, farming and introduction of non-natural soil. Descriptions of this region’s forest abound in the historic literature and the Cross Timbers was often THE most prominent feature on historic maps of the period 1830 – 1880. 

Even though 19th-century naturalists generally put the range of the Cross Timbers region over a large stretch of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas – the native ecosystem is now found in only a few large parks, preserves and isolated patches of countryside and floodplains.

Many kinds of plants thrived in the Cross Timbers, but almost all the natural canopy trees were species of oaks. Among them were millions of tough smilax vines (those pesky, thorny vines also called catclaw vine or greenbrier).  But vegetation would not exist at all in this type of soil if “traffic” were not limited in some way. The Cross Timbers soil is sandy, porous, unstable and nutrient-poor. Consequently, the natural vegetation is fragile and easily killed.

The Cross Timbers is tied to the sandstone geology, and is limited by the local climate; rainfall being the biggest factor. This area (which includes Denton) gets between 23 inches and 43 inches per year. Coupled with high summer temperatures and frequent droughts, this area is ideal for the native oaks. When artificial irrigation is introduced, many other plants will survive here, although vegetative life and wildlife is still very fragile.

Despite a growing awareness of the Cross Timbers’ heritage , what little remains is being demolished at an alarming rate.  The opportunities for tourism revenue are still huge however. Few regions present better opportunities to integrate heritage tourism with

conservation than the Cross Timbers. 

So, as you look around Cross Timbers Park, glimpse an Eastern Bluebird perched on a limb, hear a hidden Woodpecker or Chickadee, and teach your child about real-life nature, think of all that came before us, and all that Cross Timbers used to be and it’s immense educational opportunity, without a flood of things like picnic tables and swing sets.

 

 

Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. His design office is at northwestern68@yahoo.com

 

Why birds' feet won't freeze to perches

 Some folks still believe that birds’ feet will freeze onto metal perches in cold weather. Hogwash! According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, birds’ feet (as with the rest of their bodies) contain no sweat glands; therefore there’s no bodily moisture to freeze.

 

Similarly, birds' feet are not made of living tissue (much like our fingernails or hair), allowing them to perch safely on electric wires.

I wish you a very happy holiday season. (there are 33 religions that celebrate a holiday between Dec. 1 and Jan 1; some more than one holiday).  No religion is more credible or important than the others. So when I wish you all a happy holiday season, please don't take it as an insult.

Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. 

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