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It's HOT

We are still in a drought even though we have had 1-2 inches of rain this year. The Pond is still low and the oxygen is low. We have started a new project using a mat material made of recycled plastic bottles from Environmental Solutions in Baton Rouge La. You plant bog plants and then float it out in the pond. We placed ours right after planting it and before we set the anchor dragonflies were perching on the plants and the fish followed the shade it provided.

Juan Pablo pointing to the first male Black-capped Vireo we found this year.

Our first floating island from Environmental Solutions La.

Endangered Species

We have had a busy spring and many new species. The updated species list will be posted by the end of June.

The big news is our Black-capped Vireo population that has been monitored since 2005 more than doubled from the 4 pairs (last year we only had 3 pairs) to over 15 pairs. During the TOS tour at the end of April a nest was found by some of the birders, but two days later when Juan Pablo Assmus and I looked for it we found it had been destroyed by a preditor. The parents were still there and we will go bake in two weeks and see if they rebuilt it near by since it still early in the season.

We have the pleasure of working with visiting Colombia researcher Juan Pablo Assmus, with Texas A&M. He is working on Black-capped Vireo management and looking for last years banded birds on the preserve and adjoining Balcones Canyonlands NWR.

We did have a decline in our Golden-cheeked Warbler pairs this year. We don't know why but have only had 3 pairs this year. The only thing we had was that bad hail storm on the 25th of March as they were arriving in the hill country.

We also had a porcupine, and the new bird's this past three months are the Common Yellow Throat and Swainsons Warbler.

Quarterly Newsletter

This page will become our quarterly newsletter in the next few months look for the changes. If you have been a visitor and would like to submit a small story on your visit we would love to post it along with photos.