Big Stone Lodge - Dennis Johnston Park709 Riley Fuzzel Road

September 21Social 6:30pm

PWWS meetings are held at the Big StoneLodge at the new Dennis Johnston CountyPark at 709 Riley Fuzzel Road.

The directions to get there are much the sameas to the Nature Center. Aldine-Westfield turns into Riley Fuzzel Road just northeastof Spring so there are several ways to get there.

1. Take the Rayford/Sawdust exit and go East (right) on Rayford Rd. It dead ends atRiley Fuzzel, then turn South (right) and drive to the Dennis Johnston Park pastSpring Creek and on the right. or, 2. take Spring-Cypress east to Aldine Westfieldthrough Olde Town Spring, turn left and then on to Riley Fuzzel for a short distanceand turn left; or, 3. Take Aldine Westfield north from Mercer Arboretum until it turnsinto Riley Fuzzel. Turn right and watch for the Dennis Johnston Park on the left.

September PresentationRaptors

Presented by Fred Peirce

September 2016 Vol. 36, No.6

Fred Peirce will give a presentationabout hawks at 7 PM on Sept. 21. Fredwill share his experiences with some ofthe 12 species of raptors that he hasseen that migrate into the Houston areafor the winter, including migrating broad-winged hawks. He will also discuss andillustrate some of the nesting red-tailedand red-shouldered hawks that he moni-tors year-round in a 15 square mile areaand provide valuable insights into theirbiology.

Please join us on Wednesday Septem-ber 21 at the Big Stone Lodge in Den-nis Johnston Park, 709 Riley Fuzzel Road, Spring, TX, for a won-derful evening! Social time starts at 6:30 PM and the meetingstarts at 7 PM.

Red-shouldered hawk(photo by Roy Woodward)

You Can Save Sea Turtles!

From the Website of the Padre Island NationalSeashore: “Kemp’s ridley is the most endangered spe-cies of sea turtle. The Kemp’s ridley population underwenta devastating decline in the mid-1900’s, primarily due toover-harvest of eggs and loss of juveniles and adults dueto commercial fishing. Biologists did not know the loca-tion of the main Kemp’s ridley nesting beach in Mexicountil the early 1960’s, when a film was discovered thatshowed an estimated 40,000 females nesting at RanchoNuevo on one day. Biologists did not initiate protectionefforts at Rancho Nuevo until the mid-1960s. Despite pro-tection efforts by the Mexican government, the populationcontinued to decline.

In 1978, the U.S. joinedMexico in efforts to tryto save the speciesfrom extinction and re-cover the population.Multi-agency, interna-tional programs weredeveloped, including anattempt to increasenesting by this indig-enous species at PadreIsland National Sea-

Heart Happenings

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Kemp’s ridley sea turtle at PadreIsland National Seashore (NPSphoto).

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Kleb Woods Nature Center in Tomball is holding their annualHummingbird Festival on Saturday, September 10th, from 9a.m. until 3 p.m. It is a great opportunity to see ruby-throatedhummingbirds up close and personal as local expert SumitaPrasad captures and bands hummingbirds all day at the KlebWoods Nature Center. Several interesting talks will be given

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shore to form a secondary nesting colony at a protected beachin the U.S., as a safeguard against extinction. Extensive con-servation efforts have continued for Kemp’s ridley in Mexicoand the U.S., including the Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Recov-ery Project conducted at Padre Island National Seashore. Dueto years of conservation efforts, Kemp’s ridley nesting is in-creasing in Mexico and the U.S. Nests documented andhatchlings released on the Texas coast were due to the effortsof several entities.” Piney Woods Wildlife Society andHEART (Help Endangered Animals-Ridley Turtles) are twoof these entities.

This past nesting season, 1986 Kemp’s ridley nests were foundon the Texas Coast. Hundreds of volunteers recruited andtrained by the Turtle Restoration Network patrolled the UpperTexas Coast. Although it is easy to miss a nest or tracks, thevolunteers did their best. Four nests were found at SurfsideBeach, one at Quintana Beach, two at San Jose Island, an-other two at Matagorda Peninsula and six at Mustang Island.The balance was found at the Padre Island National Seashore,some on North Padre Island, and the rest at South Padre Is-land and Boca Chica Beach. One loggerhead nest was foundon Bolivar Peninsula. At present all of the eggs that are foundare hatched out at the Padre Island National Seashore, al-though pressure is growing to retain, hatch, and releasehatchlings on the Upper Texas Coast.

More information is easy to find at https://www.nps.gov/pais/learn/nature/2016-nesting-season.htm

Kleb Woods Hummingbird FestivalBy Claire Moore

Photo courtesy Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce

throughout the day. In addition, Mary Anne Weber from theHouston Audubon will have several raptors on display that canbe photographed in a natural setting. See the poster at theend of this newsletter for all the information. Kleb Woods Na-ture Center is located at 20303 Draper Road at Mueschke Road.

Also, more hummingbird adventure! The 28th AnnualHummerBird Celebration will be in Rockport Sept 15-18,2016.The web sites for info are:http://www.rockporthummingbird.com/ and Rockport-FultonChamber of Commerce - Welcome to Rockport-Fulton! TheCharm of the Texas Coast

Watering: On St. Augustine and other lawns, water well butless often. Begin to reduce the amount of water applied asneeded with shorter days and cooler nights ahead. Also, avoidwatering in the evenings to prevent fungal diseases.

Hummingbirds: The little migrating hummingbirds can be foundat your feeders and natural nectar sources now. Keep yourfeeders clean, filled, and in a shady area and this will encour-age the tiny visitors.

Recipe for Nectar: Bring 4 cups of water to a boil, add 1 cupof granulated sugar and stir until dissolved. Allow liquid to cool,and then fill feeders. Keep excess liquid sealed in refrigerator.(Do not add red food coloring)

Natural nectar sources for hummingbirds: Turk’s cap,hamellia or hummingbird plant, shrimp plant, firespike, salvia,lobelia (cardinal flower), Mexican oregano, pride of Barbados,and cigar plants. These are all hummer magnets.

Mulch, Mulch, Mulch: Mulching keeps plant roots cooler, weedseeds at bay and conserves water. Apply 3" deep around treesand shrubs. Add compost around annuals, herbs, and veg-etables. Do not mound mulch against the base of a plant asthis only invites insect and fungus to come in contact with thecrown of plants.

Pests: Blast off sucking insects, such as aphids, mealybugs,

September MNW Horticulture NewsletterBy Kathy Dodge

Broad-tailed Hummingbird at a Trumpet Honeysuckle.Photo: Roger Levien/Audubon Photography Awards.

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etc., with water and/or spray with insecticidal soap. Leaf min-ers are active on citrus. They will not kill your citrus, so leavealone or alternate treatments of spinosad and neem to keepthem at bay.

Lawn Fungus: Insects such as chinch bugs and fungal dis-eases on lawns are two things to watch out for. For BrownPatch fungal disease, which is symmetrical brown circles inthe grass, use a systemic lawn fungicide with Bayleton,Terrachlor, Banner or Benomyl, September - October. Forgray leaf spot, which is a blotchy spot on the grass bladeleafs, use fungicides with active ingredients like Daconil,Consan or Banner, July - September.

Recently, I was working in Canada and had dinner with twofriends who are conducting owl research. Chuck Priestley isan expert on northern saw-whet owls and has conducted anest box study near Edmonton for almost 10 years (Chuck’swife, Lisa, is also a biologist and they run Strix EcologicalConsulting in Alberta). Bruce Colvin is an expert on barn owlsand has been conducting nest box surveys in Ohio, and morerecently New Jersey, for over 30 years. They had many amus-ing stories about checking their nest boxes, most regardingpolice officers and farmers who wonder what they’re up to,and owls who refuse to cooperate when they annually checkthe boxes for eggs/young. Barn owls in particular will defendtheir box and Bruce has the scars to prove it; he testifies theowls can fly silently and has been whacked in the back of thehead many times without warning.

I asked them why the owls use nest boxes instead of avail-able natural nest cavities, such as hollow trees. They havefound that even in areas with suitable nesting spots the owlswill persistently use nest boxes because, when placed cor-rectly and maintained, the boxes offer the very best housingavailable. Nest box programs have been very successful toincrease breeding success for several bird species (blue bird,martin, and wood duck boxes are known to almost everyone).Incidentally, populations of northern saw-whet owls and com-mon barn owls are generally not limited by lack of nestinglocations, but by lack (and loss) of foraging habitat (a pair ofbarn owls and their young will consume over a 1,000 miceduring a nesting season). Also of interest, barn owls are arare species in Canada because, like most Texans, they don’tlike the cold.

However, an interesting dilemma exists with nest boxes. Someareas are saturated with nest boxes because local youth orconservation groups in search of service projects can easilyconstruct and install the boxes; we’ve all seen rural areaswith a nest box hung on every other fencepost. What is oftenneeded more than more boxes is care and maintenance forthe boxes that exist. The boxes need to be cleaned, ideallyafter every nesting season, or else they will become unus-able or unhealthy for nesting. Also, wasps or other animals

Owls in a BoxBy Roy Woodward

may move into nest boxes and the birds can’t force them out.Wooden boxes out in the open will only last a few years withoutrepairs and rehanging. So, the next time you or your group arelooking for a useful conservation project consider maintainingnest boxes; it’s worthwhile and can be an adventure every timeyou open the lid on a box!

Common barn owl (photo courtesy The Barn Owl Center)

Northern saw-whet owl(Chuck Priestley photo)

Barn owl nest box(courtesy TheHungry Owl Project)

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President.....................................................KathyCoward1st Vice President..................................................Roy Woodward2nd Vice President......................................................Claire Moore3rd Vice President.................................Carlos HernandezSecretary................................................Carole FrascellaTreasurer............................................................Jim LaceyDirector..............................................................Terry WilsonDirector .....................................................Judy SpringerDirector ....................................................Farrar StocktonPast President.........................................................Al Barr

Heart Hotline............................1 866 TURTLE5 (887-8535)

Board of Directors

Numbers of Interest Visit: http://pineywoodswildlifesociety.org

The Pine Warbler is published monthly, September throughMay, by The Piney Woods Wildlife Society, Inc. and Cop-perhead Publishing.

For membership information write to us at P.O. Box 189,Spring Texas 77383-0189. Annual Dues: $15.00 per house-hold.

Publisher: Copperhead PublishingPublish1@copperheadfarms.net or jdfagm@swbell.net.P.O. Box 131776, The Woodlands, TX 77393

Please send all new address changes and anycorrections to cdmoore3@gmail.com (Claire Moore)and add PWWS to the subject line. Thank you.

Rat Snake - Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Please submit any articles you’d like considered forthe PWWS Newsletter, The Pine Warbler, to RoyWoodward (rawoodwa@bechtel.com).