Week 14:

Hunting season started off with a bang on September 1st (please pardon the obligatory pun), and I’ve since been busy collecting wings from the barrels in order to record harvest data. As of last Friday, we have documented over 175 doves harvested from the farm so far this season, so quite a bit of activity for the first week. Adult mourning doves have accounted for approximately 59% of birds harvested, with juvenile mourning doves making up another 24% and all white-winged doves and Eurasian collared doves coming in at 11% and 6%, respectively. I am interested to see if those percentages change over time as the season progresses.

 

Coverboard deployment was pushed back a week due to some adjustments I made to the lifts after constructing a test coverboard with the original lengths, which did not leave as wide an opening as I had envisioned. I spent some time last week shortening the lifts and trimming them at an angle in order to further encourage herps that might be moving along the outer edge to flow into the opening and under the board. I began distributing the boards on Monday and should finish setting everything up by tomorrow. The included photo shows the underside of the final design for the lifted coverboard.

 

Last week’s interesting wildlife sightings included a juvenile Western ratsnake (Pantherophis obsoletus) who had the misfortune to get caught in a glue trap inside a house (it was rescued and released), as well as a female Io moth (Automeris io) found resting on the office door one morning and a Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) enjoying her lunch of filleted dragonfly. Side note: If you find an animal in a glue or sticky trap that you wish to release, try spraying non-stick cooking spray on and around where it is stuck to the trap, avoiding the head as much as possible, before attempting to gently peel the animal off the trap. Liberal application of olive oil or a similar product can also help the process along, and will help remove the glue from your hands as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dani Miller

Wildlife Biologist

Stiles Farm Foundation

This week on the farm I learned more about how to visually check the body condition score on cattle, I was also able to get a little time in the sprayer and pulling the flail shredder. I also did a little dove and pond management during my down time. Looking forward to the coming months!

 

This first week here on the stiles farm I have done a little bit of everything. From checking a feeding cows to shredding to riding in the combine. It’s been a good week and I look forward to the next six months!

Weeks 12 & 13:

Last week, I was provided a second lesson driving the tractor with the shredder attached, with the purpose of shredding 3 initial strips in a pasture as preparation for dove hunting season. I will be shredding more strips at intervals in various pastures throughout the hunting season to continue putting seed on the ground from naturally-growing forbs. Yesterday, I set out wing barrels at each of the 4 entry points to the public hunting areas of the farm, near the TPWD registration billboards. Once the season begins, I will be collecting wings once or twice per day and recording the data on species, quantities, and ages of birds harvested.

Regarding the coverboard project, all of the roofing tin sheets are ready to go. I have a few more plywood boards to cut down, and will be adding 1” lifts to 1 of the 2 plywood coverboards at each site, in order to see if this adjustment leads to an increased capture rate compared to the adjacent board lying flush with the ground. I plan to begin deploying the coverboards next week, 2 tin and 2 plywood, to each of the 16 sites, and will start checking them once they have had time to settle, likely in 2-3 weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finished spraying mesquite in the project area this morning. The next step on that front will probably take place in October and involve marking larger trees not covered by the aerial spray in order to target them for cut-stumping this winter. Upcoming projects in September include small mammal trapping along established transect lines and camera trapping at the start points for said transects, as well as raptor surveys and waterfowl pond surveys. I plan to experiment with cameras at the ponds in order to see if that can increase my accuracy determining waterfowl species and numbers present, as compared to concurrent visual surveys at dawn.

I have included photos of a male and female painted bunting recently spotted on the bridge over the creek on the south side of the farm. My piles of coverboard materials and the sight that will greet dove hunters at access points this weekend round out the eye-catchers for this post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy hunting,

Dani Miller

Wildlife Biologist

Stiles Farm Foundation

Stiles Farm would like to welcome Michael Escobar to the farm, he will be here for the fall internship program.

Michael attends Texas A&M his major is Soil & Crops he will graduate in December 2021.

Dove banding season is now over. The tally for this year is 19 banded mourning doves and 1 white-winged dove. I had hoped to deploy all the mourning dove bands provided by TPWD this season, but at the very least, I now feel competent in the banding process for dove-sized birds, which was a significant objective of the project for me. Today, I will be collecting and storing the traps and sweeping away any remaining bait at the sites in anticipation of the upcoming hunting season. My next dove-related tasks will involve shredding strips in public hunting pastures that have dove-friendly, seed-bearing forbs such as sunflowers and volunteer sesame, in order to provide ideal habitat for birds and consequently, optimize hunting opportunities during the season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This past Wednesday, I collected north, east, south, and west-facing photo points at each of the 14 sites around the farm, the locations of which were previously established by my predecessor, AnMarie. This visual data allows us to observe changes in the landscape and vegetation communities over time, and the task had the added benefit of familiarizing me with the location of each site. This will make it a smoother process when I conduct vegetation surveys soon, as the sites also act as starting points for established transect lines.

In other news, I have 22 of my 32 plywood herp coverboards cut and ready to go, and the roofing tin is on the docket to be cut down next week. I can report that mesquite spraying is still a work in progress, but the evidence of control coverage has been satisfying to observe. Please enjoy these photos from Wednesday of a friendly neighborhood gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer) and a southern black widow (Latrodectus mactans), as well as a buddy of mine that regularly hangs out near one of my dove traps, this common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) whom I have dubbed Waldo for obvious reasons.    Weeks 10 & 11

Until next time,

Dani Miller

Wildlife Biologist

Stiles Farm Foundation

My success trapping doves has increased significantly, with most of the activity isolated to a line of 3 traps set along a dirt road which runs between a mature corn field on one side and a pasture on the other. After starting with 23 mourning dove bands at the beginning of the season (July 1), I have 7 left to deploy between now and August 15, and I am reasonably confident that this objective can be achieved. I had thought I was going to reach the end without trapping a single white-winged dove, as they have been rather scarce at the farm this season, so I was quite surprised when I caught one yesterday. I don’t expect a surplus of the species in the final week of banding, but I will remain prepared nonetheless.

 

 

This week into next, I am focusing on spraying mesquite in the morning and trapping doves in the evening, as both need to be completed sooner rather than later and those times of day are respectively ideal for each undertaking. This also allows me a reprieve from the heat in the middle of the day, when I take a break and then focus on indoor tasks, such as researching study methods, vegetation identification, and writing these posts.

The herp coverboard project should be moving forward as of tomorrow, when I plan to begin cutting down the salvaged plywood and tin materials into appropriately-sized boards. This task will require much-needed training and practice in the safe handling and use of various saws as provided by Dr. Tomeček, which will also be helpful in an upcoming project involving the construction of a set of doors to replace an old pair for our store room. I have assisted my dad with carpentry projects in the past and have an understanding of the basics, but this will be the first job that I plan and follow through from start to finish. I look forward to gaining a few new skills with both this and the coverboard endeavor.

 

Dani Miller

Wildlife Biologist

Stiles Farm Foundation

Week 9

 

Final blog

Overall, I believe this internship was a great experience and I was extremely lucky to be a part of the Stiles Farm team in Thrall, Texas. Everything I have learned from this internship I will carry with me as I pursue my career in the field of Horticulture. I am grateful for the privilege to meet important people in my field of study and learn tips and lessons that will help me in the real world as I develop my own business interests. I will truly miss stiles farm; waking up to the sunset, taking care of the cattle, working on equipment and developing my own landscapes that I will be able to put in my portfolio. I tried to make the most out of this internship, ask as many questions as I could and provide my own input when needed. I feel that this internship involves a lot of self-discipline and craftmanship and that’s exactly what I brought to the table.

I was given the opportunity to visit the Trans Pecos region of Texas this past week, which was a new experience for me, having previously made it no farther west than Odessa in Texas. Dr. Tomeček introduced me to wildlife professionals from both the research and management spheres, as well as a number of graduate students, all of whom were very welcoming and provided insight into the scope of work that is currently being conducted in the Trans Pecos. To name a few wildlife highlights, I was able to observe pronghorn, bighorn sheep, mule deer, javelina, Montezuma quail, Woodhouse’s scrub jay, and golden eagles, all against a backdrop of incredible mountainscapes, with sky island prairies above and broad plains below. I highly recommend a visit to the area, and I look forward to returning myself in order to explore further.

 

Last week was also my biggest success yet with dove trapping, when I banded 3 mourning doves on a single trap day (Friday)! I am tentatively attributing the improvement to the changes I made on Thursday, when I replaced four of the smaller square traps for larger, more rectangular versions patterned after Stoddard’s ’31 traps and made of newer, shiny wire, one of which trapped the 3 doves. I am not sure which feature boosted the trap’s appeal, size or shine, but I hope the increased activity is the start of a trend that will continue through this week and the next. I also moved some traps to new sites to see if I could improve the trap rate of doves and reduce that of bycatch birds.

 

This past Monday, I scouted a section of the farm that will eventually feature a restored native grassland ecosystem, the purpose of which will be to serve as an educational field site for Thrall ISD students as well as regional college students and other groups such as local 4-H clubs and Scouting BSA troops, to name a few. I tested various routes for the purposes of creating a loop trail that will provide access to designated elements throughout the site, with an eye to staying on higher, dryer ground where possible. I look forward to further developing plans for the project, including details for a pollinator plot, a prairie pothole, gathering spaces, and structures such as signs, benches, and bird and bat houses.

As I work on various projects, I also take increments of time to broaden my plant and bird call identification skills, two areas which will be crucial in upcoming surveys and in which I have not had an abundance of practice. Currently, I am working my way through forbs for the former and flycatchers for the latter, so I’ll just say it’s a work in progress.  Week 8

 

Dani Miller

Wildlife Biologist

Stiles Farm Foundation

Over the last few weeks, we’ve done a bit of maintenance work to clean up the property around the tractor shed. Bobby gave me the opportunity for a bit of operating time on the forklift to move a few trailers and implements so that Parker could mow down some of the areas that had grown up around them. In the process of moving one of the old decommissioned farm trucks to the farrowing barns we decided to remove the diesel tank from the back and install it in the grey dodge.

 

We’ve also begun rotating between moving round bales out of the hay fields with Jimmy, and spraying the pastures using Sendero herbicide to control mesquite and cactus. Last week I opened up the south side of the property to the ‘main herd’ to move them into the native restoration project and allow them to graze down a bit of the forage there. John then showed me how to scout the fields for insects which pose a threat to crop yield.”  Cody Garcia Summer Farm Intern 2019