Kenneth Seyffert Interview, Part 1 of 2

DT: My name is David Todd. I'm here for the Conservation History Association of Texas. It's October 4th, 2002, and we're in Amarillo, Texas in the home of Kenneth Seyffert. And I wanted to thank Mr. Seyffert for spending some time with us today to discuss his work in bird study and monitoring and in producing a wonderful book called The Birds of the Texas Panhandle. And with that, thank you very much, Mr. Seyffert, for your time.

00:01:45 - 2217 KS: Well, you're certainly welcome. Glad to have you here.

DT: Thank you. I thought we might start this interview like we do many others where we ask you about any childhood experiences you might've had or parents, friends, who might have first introduced you to the out of doors and wildlife.

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KS: Well, I can best answer your question as to how I became interested in birds by stating that I have been aware of bird life since I was a very young child. I can't say that anyone introduced me formally to the observation of birds. I was-I was born in east Texas, but I left east Texas when I was quite young and moved to Pampa, Texas. And as most people consider it the panhandle-there is a-a paucity of bird life in the panhandle and I was-I did not become interested until I moved back to east Texas when I was about ten years old. And when I did so, we moved into the country, we lived in the country, and I thought I'd entered paradise with all those woods, all that greenery. And

00:03:21 - 2217 I-I just spent a lot of time roaming the woods and at that time, became interested in the bird life. And I became conversant with many of the species just in the natural course of events, I guess.

But I learned most about birds from the end of a BB gun. I guess many people who become interested in wildlife do so through hunting. And I hunted birds with a BB gun and I learned a lot-a lot of-a lot about them in-in that manner. I'm sorry to say, but nevertheless, I did roam the woods with a BB gun.

DT: And when you did shoot them; would you ever skin it, stuff it?

00:04:20 - 2217 KS: I did after high-oh, I would say I was in my teens, I took a course from the Northwestern School of Taxidermy and learned to stuff birds. And I did a pretty good job of it. I-I stuffed a Sharp-shinned Hawk and a Lesser Scaup, I remember, and a Common Grackle, I had at one time. And then I graduated to the mammals and I-I stuffed a mouse. But, when I got through with it, he kind of looked like Arnold

00:04:56 - 2217 Schwarzenegger, you know, it had these bulge-bulges in all these strange places, so I gave that up, I thought I didn't want to pursue that angle any farther. But I did do some taxidermy work.

But I-I can remember, I was-the first bird book I ever received from my parents was in 1937. It was Mabel Osgood Wright's Bird Craft. I still have the-have the book, but I-I-I was-I think that-I think that impressed me a lot or opened up a lot of more species than I was aware of and

I became aware of John James Audubon and his-his book and I think they-I always admired his painting so much and I think that influenced me.

But as for the natural world as a whole, I think the-the most

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influence any book ever had on me was Thoreau's Walden. I had read it when I was a teenager. I think it was the only book I had ever read that I wanted to reread imme-immediately after I finished it. I could've just read the whole thing all over again. I just-it felt like this is-I felt such an affinity to what he was doing and saying, it's just so natural that I-I felt like this guy and I-he and I are on the same track, we-and I've often thought that, in later years, I did take the panhandle as a whole, as an area of study. But I often thought I would-what I would have really have liked to have done was to

00:07:08 - 2217 have followed his example in some ways in that taking a smaller area, and not concentrating necessarily on birds but the whole natural wor-world, the whole ball of wax and study it for-you could study that for a lifetime and never come anywhere near of understanding what was going on, but that would be-that would be very satisfying, I think, pursuit to do something like that. So.

DT: You said how you learned how to identify birds by sight, I guess.

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KS: Yes.

DT: ...through Miss Osgood's book. Did you also learn to identify birds by sound, by song?

00:07:53 - 2217 KS: Absolutely.

DT: How did you do that?

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KS: Well, that's just associating the-the sound of the bird making it. Many people buy tapes, you know, these days, they buy tapes to listen to birds-bird songs and try to learn them that way, but I never did. I do have some recordings of bird calls that if I hear one that I'm unfamiliar with or uncertain about I-by listening to the tape, it-it-it helps me out. But then, I never did learn bird calls by listening to tapes. It's been strictly being out in the field and associating the sound with the bird making it. And over a period of time, you do that enough you learn to-learn your bird sounds. And, in fact, the sound is one of the big keys to identification because I do these breeding birds

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surveys and I tell people if you take away my binocular, I will do a far poorer job of recording the birds around me than I would if you took away my eye-my sound-my hearing. Because I identify so many of-of them just by sound, never see them. Yeah.

DT: Was there a guide or anybody who showed you birds or do you consider yourself mostly self-taught?

00:09:23 - 2217 KS: Pretty well self-self-taught, yeah. I-when I started out birding systematically, when I-when I left-left home, went to college and then went to work, I was not en-engaged in birding at all. It wasn't until, oh, I was 36 years old that I began going afield and recording birds systemically. I was fishing at the time, I was a fisherman, but I got to the point where I was more interested in trying to identify the birds around me than I was in trying to catch a fish so I-I g-I gave up that and just started going afield.

And first trip I made was to the Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge and that was on October 27th, 1963. And that day, I recorded, as you saw in my-can see in my journals, the-

00:10:27 - 2217 every bird I recorded and the number seen, and I just continued doing that. And I was unaware of-of-I didn't even know of the term birding, I never heard of the term birding, didn't know there was anyone around doing any such thing. And I continued going afield for several years before I encountered any of the other birders in the field.

DT: What made you decide to bird systemically rather than just doing it as rather a less regular avocation?

00:11:07 - 2217 KS: I don't-I really don't know, I just-I just-I just did it that very first day. I came home and I recorded every bird that I had seen in the journal and continued doing it. It wasn't until a number of years after that that I was aware that other people were also keeping records and I learned of a better method of keeping them than I had been pursuing. But, it just something that I just seemed to have done automatically or naturally and it-no-no one instructed me to do it, no. It was-I'd been doing-I did it for a number of years.

I became associated with the Panhandle Audubon Society and the-in the course of events,

I went on field trips and I went on a field trip to the Oklahoma Panhandle that was led by Dr. George Sutton, University of Oklahoma, who

00:12:23 - 2217 was a leading ornithologist and certainly one of the leading bird artists of the nation at that time.

He became interested in what I was doing and encouraged me to submit articles to the bulletin of the Or-Oklahoma Ornithologic Society, which I did and he was the-he was one of the guiding, or instrumental, figures in-in my taking up writing about birds. He encouraged me to pursue what I was doing, he encouraged me to submit articles to the journal, he taught me how to write up a scientific article and I think that was one of the key factor in my pursuing the-the writing about birds.

DT: Were there other people besides Dr. Sutton that you often birded with?

00:13:34 - 2217 KS: When I-when I became associated with the Panhandle Audubon Society, one of the-one of the leading birders was a-a fellow by the name of Leo Galloway. He was a Professor of Biology at the Amarillo College. And we began going afield together quite often, he and-along with his wife, Ruth. And it was one of those situations where we just seemed to gel, you know, together. We were comfortable afield. I dislike birding in gangs or groups, and a lot of people don't understand that, you know, they consider birding a social event or a group affair and it never has been for me. It's been very private. And there are not many people that I like to be afield with for very long but he-he-he was one that did-I did. And he was the type of birder that he might decide this

00:14:51 - 2217 weekend I've got three days off, say, I might rush out to the East Coast and see what birds I can find out there or if there's a rarity five hundred miles from here, I may go chase it down, but I never-I never did do that. But he did, he did introduce me, widen my horizon as far as the-the birding was concerned.

DT: Well, your story about him makes me think about two things. One is, when you were birding together would you work together and split up different tasks, or take different routes and meet up? How would one of your outings work?

00:15:37 - 2217 KS: No, we would remain together and-but he was not a great talker and neither am I, and some people, you know, jabber their heads off when they're out in the field, it's very disturbing, distracting, especially if you're trying to listen. And we just-it just seemed to be, you know, some people are compatible and others are not, but that-he was a good influence on me, I think. He was an experienced birder and he helped me a lot in-in learning identifications.

Prior to-prior to-I-I never-and-and I tell people, you know, they want to go to-attend a class, learn birds through being taught in a class or having someone show them a bird, take them on a tour which I've never wanted to do. One of the greatest, most delightful, rewarding experiences to me in learning to identify

00:16:46 - 2217 birds is to do it yourself. I used to-I would go out in the field with cards and write down everything I could note about that bird-species of bird and then come home and with the aid of a field guide, I'd try to work out and identify it myself. Always felt like I had achieved something if I i-identified it on my own rather than to have someone come along and say, look, there's such and such a species of bird.

DT: If you can describe what one of these cards would look like and what you would fill in?

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KS: Well, the little card-the little card, I would have categories, I would have eye stripe, eye ring, wing bars, length of tail, length of beak, color, color of throat, color of breast. All these categories I would fill out and then I would match them up-match them up against the illustration in the field guide. In that way, hopefully, I would arrive at a correct identification.

DT: In the way your mind works, would you narrow it down by color and form or by how the bird behaved?

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KS: Mostly by color and form, I would say. Of course, you would have obvious water birds, raptors; you could immediately, you know, identify, or narrow the-the possibilities down and you could concentrate on the different families of birds that way.

But I-I've-I've never wanted to go on one of these tours with a bunch of people and have someone guide me by the hand and tell me, this is such and such a birdie. Oh, many, if not most, birders try to build up big bird lists, you know, how many-how many species of birds can I see in Texas. I probably wanted-have seen fewer species, different species in Texas than a novice birder has who's been at it a-just a few years.

00:19:27 - 2217 Never-never has been my aim to see how many birds I can accumulate on the list. And I-I just-I find-it-it-to me it is fantastic when I read of people who travel all over the world, and they can tell-there are, what, eight or none thousand species of birds in the world? And they say, well, I've seen six thousands of these birds, these species of birds. Probably, five thousand, five hundred of that six thousand was just a fleeting

00:20:05 - 2217 glance at a bird. How-how can you-how can you remember ten, fifteen, twenty years from now what that bird looked like? Can you remember it? I made a trip once with Leo Galloway to California, San Diego Bay. We recorded a Pelagic cormorant, I've got it on the list as Pelagic cormorant, I've seen a Pelagic cormorant, the only one I've ever seen. People, twenty years later say, oh, you've seen a Pelagic cormorant. Yes, I've seen a Pelagic cormorant, but I could no more tell you in the world what it looks like than the man in the moon. I have not become familiar with that bird, but I've got it on my list. To me, that's very unsatisfying.

DT: How did you decide to study things more in depth rather than breadth?

00:21:07 - 2217 KS: I think-I think I was so fascinated with what I was seeing in the panhandle and at that time there was, well, there-little or nothing ever published. There had been very few observers over the years, you know, recording the birds of the panhandle. And there was so much misinformation as to what actually could be found here or couldn't be found here. So many people who had never birded, or only passed through the area, were not hesitant to tell you, no, you can't find that species in the panhandle, there's just nothing in the panhandle. I've been through the panhandle, I've been through Amarillo, and there's nothing there. But it-it just-it continued to fascinate me as I continued going afield as to actually what is here.

DT: Is it migrants or it is residents?

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KS: Oh, it's migrants, resident, both. I know, in the early days, when we did the Christmas bird counts, we would record, well, the marsh wren, for example. Well, there are marsh wrens in the-in the-in the, certainly, common in the marshes at Lake Meredith and many other places. But we would send in the count result to the editor of the Christmas counts. He lived in Louisiana. And he refused to acknowledge that as a valid species. He said, there can't be any marsh wrens in the panhandle; I've been through there. And I argued with him and he said, well, send me a specimen and I'll

00:23:13 - 2217 believe it. But, of course now, it's taken for granted that it is a species that can be found. But that, you know, that-it always amazed me how people who were not familiar with the area did not hesitate a minute telling you that something was so or wasn't so as far as bird life was concerned.

DT: What is the matter, them not looking in the right places?

00:23:43 - 2217 KS: Well, and not spending any time, assuming there hadn't been a whole lot of people sending in observations from the area, so they just make an assumption that it-that was out of the range of that species.

DT: Well, can you describe your strategy for doing your censuses and surveys, where you'd go, how a typical bird outing would work for you?

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KS: Well, I would-I would-I would select different habitats. For example, Buffalo Lake is the-is a prairie habitat, it's-it's just a manmade playa, more or less. Palo Duro Canyon is a completely different habitat. You could go into-go into the eastern panhandle and get into wooded areas. Canadian River is-is other habitat, riverine habitat. The prairies themselves, you know, the grasslands species, it just-the secret or the object is to sample as many different habitats as possible. Because each holds their-it's own typical species of birds.

DT: Say you have a Saturday or a Sunday, you're off from work and you're planning to do a birding trip, say a day trip. How would it start and what would you do?

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KS: Well, I would start so that I would be at my destination at about sunrise. And normally, there would be, oh, on average, it would be half a day trip, unless I was going at a great distance. But if you would look at my journals, trips to Buffalo Lake, Palo Duro Canyon, areas nearby. Usually, the time I would spend on the refuge or in the canyon would be three hours.

DT: Would you be in one location or would you walk a little ways?

00:26:06 - 2217 KS: I would-I would walk quite a bit, yeah, yeah, do a lot of walking.

DT: And most of your visits were to public lands? Or private lands?

00:26:16 - 2217 KS: Well, most to public lands because most the private property, you know, is inaccessible and unless you know someone, become acquainted some-with some ranchers, farmers. Generally, I found that if you ask a owner, most of your ranchers are quite interested in knowing what wildlife is on their property. And if you tell them, explain to them what you're doing, most of them will gladly tell you to-to come on in and-and see what you can find, just so long as you close the gate when you go thorough.

DW: Are some of them ever afraid that, let's say you come on their land and you find some kind of a bird that might be endangered? Somehow they might, you know, now suddenly think you will create a bureaucracy thing?

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KS: That-that-some-some-some landowners are apprehensive or leery of allowing you on their property if they think you are trying to look for something rare or unusual. That has been become increasingly so over the years because of controversies over the Endangered Species Act. But I-I've never found that to-to be true as far as my own experience is concerned. There are-I did encounter, for example, a-a farmer over in Oklahoma that was concerned about my being on his property because he had turkeys on his land. When I explained to him that I was not a hunter, that I was just observing birds, well that was fine, but he was quite concerned because some hunters would go on his land and shoot turkeys and leave some of them behind, injured birds, and he was quite outraged about that and quite protective of his property after that. But if you could explain what you were doing, it wasn't usually any problem at all. Yeah.

DT: You've mentioned a few birds that you've seen in your outings, the marsh wren and the wild turkeys, but maybe you can give us a little bit more of a broad-brush picture of what some of the common birds you've seen and different ecotypes around the panhandle?

00:29:13 - 2217 KS: Well...

DT: What might be some of the keystone species?

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KS: Some of the keystone species, I would say, well for example, in the-in the northwestern panhandle, the long-billed curlew, which of all species of birds is my favorite. I admire that bird more than any other, it's-it's-of course, it's very-the look of it is-is fascinating, the sound it makes, that wild, wild call prairie, just typical of the prairie to me is to hear the curlew's calling. And, of course, that is a species that is definitely in trouble. It's one of the, what they call the dirty thirteen, the thirteen species-grassland species that are experiencing a marked decline-a marked decline, widespread consistent decline. And that would be a keystone species in the panhandle.

00:30:26 - 2217 That and the burrowing owl, the Cassin's sparrow, some of your longspurs, McCown's, chestnut-collared longspurs, the Ferruginous hawk, that's another-that's that-that's the regal bird, that is a fascinating bird and the only area of Texas in which it is still found as a nesting bird is in the northwestern counties, up in primarily Dallam County, Dallam, Hartley Counties. When I first started birding, 1967, well, they were still nesting in this area, Amarillo area. That was the last year they nested here. And that's-it's-it's-it's-it's shown a drastic decline in numbers.

It's-another species, the horned lark, the horned lark was, and it still is, it's common, but was very abundant at one time, a typical

00:31:42 - 2217 spes-plain, grassland species.

But I have found in my breeding bird surveys, that began in 1967, I do six of them in the panhandle. And they show anywhere from 40 to 76% decline in numbers over the years. It is really disturbing.

Of course, the breeding bird surveys can tell you, show you, what species are declining, but they can't tell you why. So I don't know if anyone who really knows why, but I'm sure the loss of habitat is one of the primary reasons.

DT: Loss, for what reasons?

00:33:33 - 2217 KS: Well, take for example, the Great Plains. Estimated 698 million acres in the Great Plains. There are now, 90% of that, of the tall grass prairie is gone, 60% of the short grass prairie is gone. So you can imagine what effect that is having on the grassland birds.

DT: Gone for overgrazing or cultivation?

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KS: Oh, well it-cultivation, yeah. Been put to other uses, yeah.

DT: I guess some of the species that you mentioned are short grass species. Are there some other species that you've seen?

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KS: Primarily. Well, you're canyon species down the Palo Duro Canyon and the, for example, you have Golden-fronted woodpeckers as typical species, the Black-crested titmouse, your rock wrens, canyon wrens, Bewick's wrens are typical resident birds.

And then it is a-a haven, in winter, for wintering birds from the north. Mountain bluebirds, Townsend Solitaires, species like that winter down there.

DT: Have you seen many woodland species in and around Canadian?

00:34:07 - 2217 KS: Well, yes, quite a few woodlands and-and-along the Canadian River. Canadian River is-acts as a-it's a corridor that your typical eastern birds penetrate down that river valley as far as New Mexico line. For example, a house wren is a eastern species that you don't find in the western panhandle except along that river, almost to the New Mexico line you can find it so a number of those eastern species, red-headed woodpecker, the eastern bluebird, extend into the western panhandle through that corridor.

DT: What about some of the urban birds, I guess they're now referred to as trash birds?

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KS: That-that is a term that I find abominable, I detest anyone calling a bird a trash bird. I can-and I cannot conceive of how they can consider any-just because you don't like the bird, you've put in a category. A house sparrow, a grackle, is as valid a species-organism as any other. And it-a house sparrow is a fascinating bird if you study the house sparrow; it could teach you a lot about birds. Usually, I can't help but thinking that people who'd call something a trash bird is just-just interested in it as something you check off on the list. I mean, it-not interested in the-in the bird, and I

00:36:07 - 2217 wonder if he's in-even interested in birds at all. The grackle, the wide-the incursion of grackles into the panhandle is a result of, primarily, probably of-of a-of a-of a environment, altered environment that has drawn the bird in, that-a species that can adapt to what man has done to the-to the environment. It-it can live with it, where-where other species cannot. It's just reacting as all species do in the wild; they're adapting to an environment and are successful at it. So why-why not study or consider it on the same basis as you would any other organism? I don't understand that trash business, that's-that's a value judgment that's completely out of place as far as I'm concerned.

DT: You mentioned house sparrows; do you see many exotic birds or ones that have naturalized? Do you see many cattle egrets, for example?

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KS: Cattle egrets is a species that has-is becoming very common in the panhandle in the last-within the last ten years. In 1966, the first cattle egret was seen in-in the panhandle right out here on the east part of town. A few weeks ago, I was down at the farmer's market and I happened to notice the cattle egrets going over and 320 of them went over. They're nesting here now. They're becoming more and more common.

DT: How do you explain something like that? I understand they came over from the Old World, from Africa, and what niche are they filling?

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KS: Well, go out south of town here and find the herds of cattle, and there are the cattle egrets feeding along with them. They-they-they exploit that niche right there.

DT: Well, would there have been a bird earlier that would have had the same niche with the buffalo that is no longer common?

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KS: Well, cattle egret unique-is unique in that it does feed with-with cattle. The other egrets, snowy egrets, great egrets, they do not. They feed in the marshes, in the lakesides, primarily. But the cowbird is one, of course the cowbird is still common, it-it exploited that niche, I'm sure, with the buffalo. And it has become-became widespread farther east, you know, with the leveling the forest, opening up the land, you find cowbirds back in those areas now where they didn't-historically, they didn't used to be there.

DT: Now speaking of the cowbird, some people do a value judgment on them, too, and say it's a parasite.

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KS: Yeah. Absolutely.

DT: What do you think of that, where folks have judged it?

00:39:33 - 2217 KS: Well, they have evolved with all the other birds in that community over the millennia and a-it's-it's-it's-it's a valid species or it's-it's-it's-it's-again, it's a value judgment. You say, well, the cowbird parasitizes the black-capped vireo or the Kirkland's warbler and these two are-are two species that are disappearing. And one of the factors in-in-in their inability to reproduce and maintain a valid population is the paras-being parasitized by the cowbirds. So we want to preserve the black-capped vireo, so we will have to manage the brown-the brown-headed cowbird in-in order to preserve it. Well, it's questionable. I don't know that if your species has been reduced to

00:40:44 - 2217 the point where it's about to disappear, it's a value judgment again, as-as to what to-what do you value the most. But, I mean, in-in-as far as nature is concerned, we have become ourselves; we have become so disruptive that sometimes I think we're just flailing around, selecting this species, not caring about this species. I mean, if-if the brown-headed cowbird was on the point of becoming extinct, what would be done to preserve it? Anything? I don't know. Who knows?

DT: Well, speaking of birds that are having some trouble, are there any that you see in the panhandle that catch your eye? I think you've mentioned the lesser prairie chicken, are there others? Maybe you can describe what's happened to the prairie chicken.

00:41:59 - 2217 KS: Well, the prairie chicken, primarily, is-it is being reduced because of the destruction of habitat. That and the widespread use of pesticides, pesticides, not so much presently as it was some years ago, but certainly the destruction of habitat. That is the general belief among the wildlife people who are studying it. Prairie chicken is north of the Canadian River, say, Lipscomb County, it seems to be holding it's own, prospering. But south of the river, in Wheeler County, it's-the last ten years, it's just nosedived, the numbers have. And now they're-right now, they have a fellow up there, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that's studying the problem and trying to determine, you know, what is

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happening. There are any number of theories, even some who seem to think that, perhaps, the pheasant is a factor, the pheasant taking over habitat that the prairie chicken uses. They aren't for sure but there's evidence-some evidence for that. It remains to be seen.

DT: Were there other birds that you see, over the long period that you've been looking at them, that are having difficulty and maybe you could speculate as to why?

00:43:41 - 2217 KS: Well, for example, the burrowing owl is one. There have been widespread destruction of prairie dog. Farmers and ranchers hate prairie dogs. They-they-they don't like them on their property, their cattle, their livestock; they need that land for grazing, not for raising prairie dogs. Development, housing development. There have been some wonderful prairie dogs on the western fringes of Amarillo that attracted Ferruginous hawks, rough-legged hawks, falcons, golden eagles, bald eagles in-in winter, wonderful-wonderful feeding grounds for raptors. And Amarillo is steadily moving westward and those towns have been destroyed. They no-they no longer exist

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out there and this is-this is happening all over the panhandle with prairie dog.

Of course, you know there's the big controversy going on now about the prairie dogs south of Lubbock. The groundwater has-or their drinking water has become contaminated and they've-someone made the statement, well, that's because the prairie dogs-there's a prairie dog-a huge prairie dog town down there and the prairie dog waste-prairie dogs have percolated down into the groundwater system which has not been proved, it's a-it's a-an assumption. So they're battling over that right now because the-the-I believe, the city or the county wants to transport the 10 or 15,000 prairie dogs and put them someplace else, or destroy them altogether if they can.

DT: Any other sort of birds that come to mind? You mentioned a lot of these grassland birds, the dirty thirty...

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KS: The dirty thirteen?

DT: Thirteen, I'm exaggerating, sorry.

DW: You're confusing it with the Sharpstown political scandal.

DT: I am. Can you discuss what might be affecting them, which birds are included?

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KS: The dirty thirteen?

DT: Yeah.

00:46:34 - 2217

KS: Well, I-I-as I said, probably the main factor is the-the destruction of habitat, their habitat. The long-billed curlew, burrowing owl, Cassin's sparrow, McCown's and chestnut-collared longspur, lark bunting, Ferruginous hawk, Baird's sparrow, Sprague's pipit, I guess there's some others I've left out, but they are typical. But you say, the dirty thirteen species that are in trouble, that are disappearing, and

yet, there are other species that are prospering, that have become somewhat common in the pandle-panhandle just since I began birding. Birds you can find here nesting like curved-billed thrasher, southwestern birds that have moved into the area. Curved-billed thrasher, the western scrub jay, canyon towhee, birds like that that formerly were not found here. Dove, the white-winged doves, they've just exploded across the state. They have nesting

00:48:02 - 2217 colonies now in the panhandle. Inca dove. Inca dove used to be a rarity, and now, in the-in the city, they can be readily found. What triggers that, why-why is that happening?

Warming trend? Why would these southern birds-the grackle, great-tailed grackle? It began moving north around the 19-late 1940's, 1950's, it steadily is increasing in numbers and it can be found all over the panhandle now. Of course, it-it's quite compatible with the agriculture. It's easier to see why it might spread, expand its range.

But there are so-there are species that-well the towns themselves are attracting birds. In the-prior to settlement, you wouldn't have found the cardinal, which is a town bird now. The blue jay, the robin, a number of species that are now common. Before settlement, you would have never found them in the panhandle.

DT: Is it because the planting of trees or feeding birds or what?

00:49:40 - 2217

KS: Well, the planting trees, the habitat is there for them now. They can-they can survive, yeah.

DT: Maybe you can discuss some of the birds that have actually been reintroduced? I think we talked about the wild turkey, maybe there are others?

00:49:57 - 2217

KS: Wild turkey, well, of course, a-a bird that has been introduced, not reintroduced, is the ring-necked pheasant. And-and it's-of course, that is a game bird and people accept it. It's a-not a native species, but it has high economic value.

House sparrow has none whatsoever. So it's a trash bird. But it was, originally, when it was introduced into the United States, it was thought that it would help control insects, you know, or insects that were detrimental to the-the farmer in the-but, it just has become of no economic value whatsoever.

The starling is another one. If you opened up-if it became a species you could hunt, it would become of great value to everyone. So we-we judge all of-all of these-all of this wildlife, all of this nature, from our own values, we place the values on them. Nature could care less.

DT: Can we talk about some of the birds that are migrants to the area? I think the panhandle is known for some pretty amazing migrations of hawks and cranes.

00:51:49 - 2217

KS: Well, for example, the Swainson's hawk, masses of Swain-if you're lucky, conditions are right, you can might see hundreds, or even thousands, of Swainson's hawks migrating through. Particularly up there, if there is in-inclement-inclement weather that will cause them to hang around a while. Quite a few of them, though, are unnoticed because they are so high. They-you miss them, that they-unless you have a binocular and are looking for them, you very well might miss them. But-but if the weather conditions are right, you may run across a field of several hundred of them.

The sandhill cranes, people like the migration of sandhill cranes, that's quite a sight. Particularly in spring, I've seen, oh, 25,000 in-in-in a small area as they move

00:53:02 - 2217 through.

And, of course, the waterfowl, there used to-they're the Ross's geese, the snow geese. That is-that is a species that is-when I first started birding in the panhandle in the spring, occasionally, you might see a flock of a thousand snow geese. They winter primarily Mexico, southwest of here, and only came through in migration. Now you can go up to Etter Lake, near Dumas, and you can find, on that little lake, you can find 15 or 20,000 snow geese. You can go up to Rita Blanca Lake, Dalhart, and you can find that many more. It is a species that has exploded in numbers it's-in the Canadian breeding grounds. It and the Ross's goose have reproduced to such an extent,

00:54:19 - 2217

have been so successful that they just-it's unbelievable how they have invaded parts of the country where they didn't used to be seen at all.

Canada goose-the Canada goose has become a pest in many parts of the country and even nest in the panhandle, some areas now. It has invaded the city parks in winter; they're all over the place. Enormous numbers. Those are just examples of successful species.

DT: You've described some real spectacles in nature, I mean, the sight of thousands of sandhills or thousands of geese must be really startling. Can you tell us about some other birding events that have really caught your attention?

00:55:23 - 2217 KS: One of the most-one of the most rewarding birding experience I ever had was when I found a Wilson's phalarope chick. That is a shorebird. I found it in Carson County, just west-just east of Pantex Ordnance plant, the atomic energy plant out there. And I had received a call from a friend, a birding friend; he was somewhat of a novice. And he said there was a white bird out there on a playa and he thought it might be a snowy egret. And this was June and it would-and it would be unusual, you know, to have snowy egrets in the panhandle at that time. So I ran out there and sure enough it was a snowy egret. And as I was getting ready to leave, I looked-I was looking east and the sun was-wasn't up very high and I noticed this bird, meadowlike-meadowlark-like

00:56:37 - 2217

bird in size, but it kept hovering, flying around and around over this one spot. It was across the playa, on-away from me, and I became curious. I couldn't imagine-I-the light was bad and I couldn't identify the bird. So I decided, well, I'll trespass, which is not the thing to do, you know. But I climbed over the fence and I walked around that playa and I got over there and I kept watching that bird. It was-my presence disturbed it, but I would just remain in one spot for quite a while and it would go back to this one spot. And over a period of time, just by moving short distances, I was able to get-pinpoint exactly where that bird was concentrating. And I walked over there and in high grass I found-found this little Wilson's phalarope chick. Little downy chick, hadn't been two

00:57:45 - 2217 or three days old. And I picked it up and, of course, by that time I had identified the bird as the Wilson's phalarope, the adult, and that was a-the first record of the-of the species nesting in-in Texas. The closest one that had ever been found nesting before was in central Kansas, and then but rarely. So, that was a very gratifying experience. I've found a few since then also, but-in the panhandle nesting, but it's-it's quite a rarity for that species to nest this far south. That's one of the good experiences I've had.

DT: What about...?

00:58:31 - 2217

KS: And about Ed, the farmer caught me out there and he was quite irate, wanted to know what I was doing on his property. And I tried to explain to him about the Wilson's phalarope, and by the time I got through, he was so bewildered he just-he gave up-he didn't pursue the matter.

DT: Something I've heard people travel near and far for is to see the lesser prairie chickens boom. Can you describe what that's like?

00:59:04 - 2217

KS: Well, it...(misc.)