Summer is Here! Now Get Inside!

Well, it’s officially the start of summer so that means it’s time to stay inside and avoid the heat!  Where I grew up it was during the wintertime that you had to get used to being inside.  We’d get our first big snowstorm at the end of October and it wasn't too unusual to get our last measureable snow sometime in late March or early April with the potential of being snowed in for a few of those days.  I remember going from the house to the car and the car to the house, limiting my outside time to just a few minutes because it was too cold.  It’s taken a few years but I now practice my “winter” during the summer down here.  Instead of avoiding the cold, I’m avoiding the heat!  Now, doesn’t seem as bad as previous summers but unless you plan early morning activities it’s just not that fun to be outside.   So… what to do if you still want to experience the outside?

Webcams!

Webcams are a great way to visit other places and learn about different areas without ever leaving your house.  I’ve listed some interesting nature related webcams below.  There are literally thousands of webcams from all over the world.  There’s even a camera to view people trying to cross Abbey Road, Beatles-style.  

The nature cams show nature at it’s finest, unedited and live.  It is a little glimpse of some area you may never have thought about physically visiting or even knew existed.  But someone knew about it… and thought the world needed to know about it, too.

 My favorite cams from below are the Sea Otter cam from Vancouver and the Barn Owl cam from Texas.  If have a favorite nature webcam post it in the comments!

Enjoy the webcams and stay cool!

Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial (!) Webcams:

NASA!  Streaming the International Space Station:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/iss_ustream.html#.U2FD6q1dVuB

National Park Service webcam looking into Upper Geyser Basin (with Old Faithful!) at Yellowstone National Park:

http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html

Critter Webcams!

Giant Panda Cam!  He eats a lot of bamboo…

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/webcams/giant-panda.cfm?cam=panda03

The Vancouver Aquarium has a Sea Otter cam:

http://www.vanaqua.org/learn/see-and-learn/live-cams/sea-otter-cam

Student led aquatic cams from mostly Florida:

http://teens4oceans.org/index.php/gallery/webcams/

National Park Service Brown Bear Cam from Katmai National Park in Alaska.  The cam is not active just yet but they’re showing a great video of the bears catching fish on the river:

http://www.nps.gov/katm/photosmultimedia/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls.htm

The Georgia Aquarium has a Beluga Whale cam:

http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/explore-the-aquarium/interact/web-cam-belugas.aspx

The Florida Museum of Natural History has three butterfly and two bat cams!:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/discover/life-on-earth/live-critter-cams/

Bird Webcams… because putting a camera in a nest box or near a nest is easy!:

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a Barn Owl cam located somewhere in Texas:

http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/42/Barn_Owls/

Rio Grande Valley Chapter TMN has a feeder cam:

http://sabalpalmsanctuary.org/feedercam/

Hummingbird cam from Maryland:

http://www.hummingbirdwebcam.com/

Frogs in the Yard… Well, Mostly the Neighbor’s Yard

Rick and I have had several frogs visit the yard over the past year or so.  With all the rain we’ve had in the area I’ve been hearing frogs calling at night in the pond a few yards away.  Wanting to know who was out there I used the TPWD website listed below and just tried matching the calls.  So far I’ve identified calls from the Sheep Frog, (call), Northern Cricket Frog (call), and Green Frog (call).  That’s a lot of variety!  The TPWD site is great for identfying calls.  Most of the time (at least for me) I'll hear a frog and never actually see it.

One little guy that we have seen in the yard is the Gray Tree Frog (call).  We found him camped out on the septic system box.  He hung around for a few days and left us to find a better septic system box somewhere else. 

 

Gray Tree Frog

Another notable frog in the area is the Rio Grande ChirpingFrog (call).  I’ve heard this sound ever since I moved to Texas a few years ago.   Story time: back in our old house near Houston, Rick and I heard this weird noise from outside only to find a Southern Flying Squirrel in a tree.  I was convinced they made this strange little chirping sound… until I started to hear that sound all over.  Coming to the realization that Houston is not overrun with Southern Flying Squirrels the critter that made the little chirps remained elusive until recently when members of Rio Brazos Audubon were having the same problem identifying the sound.  One of our own, Mark McDermott, suggested the frog might be making the chirp.   We finally got the answer!   Thanks, Mark!

Toad Adobe!

Going a little bit off topic but still a fun project for the summer…. You can build your own toad abode in your backyard or garden!  Rick and I went to McKinney Roughs Nature Park in Bastrop and there was one in the demonstration garden.  It’s a great way to encourage those wonderful insect-eating critters.  You can buy one or they’re easy enough to make.  All you need is an old flowerpot and some rocks (see the picture below). Also, it’s a great kids project where they can paint or glue stuff to decorate. 

Currently, my toad abode remains empty… I even recently put in a pool to make the place more attractive but so far no tenants have dropped in.  But it’s there and hopefully one day we’ll have a resident toad.

Left: Toad abode from McKinney Roughs Nature Park.  Right: My toad abode with newly installed toad pool.

ID Help!

Any idea what this frog is?  I’ve tried the websites listed below but nothing really fits.  I'm leaning towards a Cricket Frog (Acris sp.) even though I can’t see the characteristic dark triangle on the head (although, from some of the pictures I’ve looked at online it’s sometimes hard to see).  This little guy was seen at Lick Creek Park crossing Raccoon Run trail near one of the pools of water. 

Cricket Frog?  Seen at Lick Creek Park this week.

Interested in Helping Out?

If you're interested in frogs and toads, Texas Parks and Wildlife has a program called Texas Amphibian Watch where you can be a citizen scientist can collect population data.  The website has a short video (about 9 minutes) covering the importance of frogs and the basics of the program.

What frogs can you hear at night?  Ever had toad visitors to your yard?  Share your stories in the comments section below!

Resources!

TPWD Frog calls:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/texas_nature_trackers/amphibian_watch/amphibian_species/

Frogs of Texas listing:

http://www.herpsoftexas.org/view/frogs

Toad Abode Information:

http://www.nwf.org/news-and-magazines/national-wildlife/gardening/archives/2006/backyard-houses-for-toads.aspx

TPWD Amphibian Identification Resource List:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/texas_nature_trackers/amphibian_watch/references/

All About A Turtle!

Earlier this week I noticed a red-eared slider crawling across the yard at a pretty brisk pace.  Rick had rescued one from the road a few days before and considering it was the same size, we assumed it was the same one coming back across the yard.  When it got to where the ground slopes up to the driveway, it stopped.  It kicked up some leaves for a bit and quieted down.  Rick and I named the turtle “Gary” and joked that if we fed it maybe it would hang around the house for a time.  Every once in a while we get a turtle.  The people two doors down have a small pond that usually dries up early in the summer but with the amount of rain this spring the little depression still had water.

I decided to go out and see what Gary was up to and noticed that he had dug a shallow pit and lowered himself down into it.  Having some suspicions I googled “red-eared slider” and found a surprisingly similar photo of what I had just seen on the turtle’s Wikipedia page.  It seems that we needed to come up with a new name for Gary!  We picked "Geraldine." 

Geraldine digging a shallow hole to lay her eggs.

Red-eared sliders are native to Texas but can be found globally where they are considered an invasive species.  Nesting occurs from April to July so Geraldine seems to be right on target.  Female red-eared sliders can lay anywhere from 2-30 eggs in a single clutch.  We stayed away from her during the laying process so we didn’t actually see any eggs.  So in 59-112 days (the incubation period) we’ll have our answer!

The whole process took a little over three hours.  Geraldine hurriedly covered the nest site moving leaves and mud.  After, she crawled away heading back towards the little pond two yards over.  Upon inspection, the nest site is remarkable hidden and well covered.  No trace of disturbed soil remained.  Leaves were pushed over the site and the only way I could tell the location of the nest was looking for a piece of spinach I had left out earlier (thinking the turtle was hungry, not getting ready for egg laying!).

After covering the nest site.  Nest is located in the shade behind Geraldine.

Leaving the nest site.  Nest is located in the shady front left corner of the photo.

We’ve marked the nest with a ring of small stones so we can keep track of the location.   And on our calendar July 18^th is marked as “turtle birthday”!  Actually it could be anywhere from July 18^th to September 19^th for the 59-112 day incubation period.  That’s a long time to wait!  Hopefully we won’t have any hungry predators around the yard so Geraldine's offspring can make it to the little pond down the road, too.

Turtle nest covered with leaves.  Right photo shows approximate location with white dashed line.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-eared_slider

 and included websites….

What To Do Now That The Spring Rush Is Done?

Another April has gone and with it all the TMN weekend activities like Earth Day, BioBlitz, and the Hazardous Waste Clean Up.  You might be asking, what can I do to still be active?  Why, you can become a Citizen Scientist!

Who are Citizen Scientists?

Citizen scientists are regular, normal people that contribute to scientific research projects.  Volunteers from all over the world make observations and enter the data online.  These reports can be from dedicated trips to local natural areas or just documenting what’s crawling through the backyard.  Depending on the project, it can be as easy as taking a picture of an insect and recording the location where you found it.

Ironclad Beetle from Lick Creek Park that I documented using iNaturalist. 

Why Participate?

Citizen scientists help the scientific community in two ways.  They collect data that would take the researcher years to gather and at a much lower price… for free (in most cases)!  Need to collect data from all 50 states and you only have a year to do it?  Call out the citizen scientists!  The data that is gathered can be used to look at trends showing the behavior of a species over a large geographic area.  The Lost Ladybug Project, for example, seeks to study the recent decline of native species in North America.  The particular researcher in charge may have spent his or her lifetime amassing data for this project and thousands of dollars for traveling from place to place to make observations. But with an army of citizen scientists, the data collection phase of the research is quicker leaving the scientist more time for analysis. 

Now, becoming a citizen scientist is easier than ever!  All you have to do is find a project that interests you and sign up online.  There might be some initial training but beyond that, when you make your observations is up to you.  For most projects data collection is not a structured event (with the exception of some birding events) but it’s something you can do on your own time that best fits your own schedule.

Rick viewing the fields at the Texas A&M Rangeland Ecology grounds for the
College Station Christmas Bird Count, December 14, 2013.

Think you need to be a specialist to be a citizen scientist?  Nope!  You don’t have to be an expert in the field, just someone with a desire to learn more about the topic.  Most projects have experts that will check your entries to verify your record.  Some even have help sites to identify your unknown species.  Researchers that rely on citizen scientist observations know there is a learning curve and everyone needs help and practice.  These researchers want citizen scientists to participate so they can get their data!  More participation means more data, which will give the researcher a more complete answer to their scientific question.

Become a Citizen Scientist!  Websites to Get Involved:

These are really just a FEW of the citizen scientist projects out there!  Some will count for TMN volunteer credit and others will not.  But really, participation in a project should be about learning more about the topic or wanting to be a part of something big.  

Several sites are included with the Texas Nature Tracker Program from Texas Parks and Wildlife.  Projects include: the Biological Inventory Team Project, Box Turtle Survey Project, Texas Amphibian Watch, Texas Black-tailed Prairie Dog Watch, Texas Horned Lizard Watch, Texas Hummingbird Roundup, Texas Mussel Watch, Texas Whooper Watch:

          http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/texas_nature_trackers/

Harris's Sparrow seen on the Gibbons Creek Christmas Bird Count, December 30, 2013.

eBird: to report bird sightings: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

***eBird can be used for yearly bird counts like Project Feeder Watch, the Great Backyard Bird Count, and the Christmas Bird Count… these count for Volunteer Hours!

Lost Ladybug Project, from the website: “The Lost Ladybug Project is seeking citizen scientists and naturalists to take photos of ladybugs to help understand the recent decline of native species. Please help us build a North American map of ladybug species”  

          http://www.lostladybug.org/

          *** This has been approved for Volunteer Hours!

Texas Invasive Plants: Report locations and species of invasive plants here in Texas.  Pick your “favorite” invasive species and track it around the country:

          http://www.texasinvasives.org/invaders/

Want to report sightings but yours don’t seem to fit the sites above?  These are general sites to post any wildlife and plant observations:

          http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Citizen-Science/Wildlife-Watch.aspx

       
          http://www.inaturalist.org/

Participating in the Gibbons Creek Christmas Bird Count, December 30, 2013.  

Are you participating in a project that’s not on this list?  Want to share any experiences?  Please leave your comments below!