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The mouth of the San Bernard River is again totally clogged.
Please visit Dr. Richard Watson's aerial photos at:
http://texascoastgeology.com/passes/sanbernard.html for
pictures showing this latest total closure.
A Post For the Birds
Jennifer
Sanchez
Project Leader
Texas Mid-Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex
Everyone interested in a bird banding experience at the San
Bernard National Wildlife Refuge, here is your chance! Below
is a message from Dr. Jennifer Wilson about the bird banding
Monday, March 17.
Here’s the details of the sparrow banding for Monday, March
17, meeting time, 9 a.m. … thank you very much for passing
them on! We have one net lane to flush, so it shouldn’t take
very long. It is located on the main refuge at San Bernard.
To
meet, folks can come to the beginning of the auto tour area,
just across the cattle guards. The small section of prairie
on the left after you turn onto the refuge road, across from
the kiosk on Cocklebur Slough, is where we’ll band. It is
that small field that has a heavy cover of bushy bluestem.
If
folks don’t mind pulling over on the shoulder on the left
side of the road, and keeping their tires off the gravel, I
think we will have plenty of parking on site.
The area we will be working in will be challenging – it has
lots of dewberry on the ground (good sparrow cover), and
when it’s warmer, there’s poison ivy present. Good sized
clumps of Gulf Cordgrass are intersperced with Bluestem.
Good, high top boots to protect the ankles from dewberry are
probably in order. This is a neat little prairie with
lots of Le Conte’s Sparrows present every winter. It
normally gets shredded or burned every year… this is the
first year in a while we couldn’t do it.
We
have an interest in documenting species present and the
condition of the birds to provide management input.
Thanks again for passing this on.
Jennifer
Le Conte's
Sparrow
From Wikipedia, the free
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The Le Conte's
Sparrow, Ammodramus leconteii, is a small
sparrow.
Adults have streaked
dark and light brown upperparts with a light brown breast
and white belly with fine streaks on the side. They have a
large flat head with a light crown stripe on a dark crown,
an orange face with a grey cheek patch. The large bill is
dark and they have a short tail.
Their breeding habitat
is moist grassland across central
Canada to
Quebec and
central northern
United States.
The nest is an open cup attached to dead grass, sometimes on
the ground.
These birds
migrate to
the
southeastern United States.
They forage on the
ground usually in dense grass, mainly eating insects and
seeds.
The male sings from a
concealed location. The song is a sharp tik followed
by a hiss similar to the song of
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow.
John James Audubon
named this bird after a friend, Doctor
Le Conte.
It is generally believed that he meant
John Lawrence Le Conte,
although some feel that he was referring to another
John Le Conte,
also a doctor, and John Lawrence's cousin.
One of F.O.R.'s
primary functions is to educate the public
regarding the issues concerning the San Bernard
River and it's Communities. Contact Pat Webb
pat@sanbernardriver.com to schedule a
guest speaker for your group or special event.
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