Birds and Interviews

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Invasive Species - Learn about the different kinds of Invasive Species.
History - Learn about the history behind Sheldon Lake.
Fish and Reptiles - Learn about the different kinds of species of fish and reptiles.
Aquatic Invertabrates - Learn about the different kinds of species of aquatic invertabrates.
Birds/Interviews - Learn about the different kinds of species of birds.
More Pictures - See more pictures of the class, Sheldon Lake, and visitors.
Visitors - Learn about the visitors that taught us about Sheldon Lake.
Sources - Where we got our information from.

The Birds and Interview Group is composed of Jennifer and Stephanie. This group is responsible for acquiring the phone numbers of people who know about Sheldon Lake. They are also responsible for keeping them as references for further information that we may need from them. They also research the different types of birds that inhabit Sheldon Lake.

Interviewee: Danny (Highlands local)
-for contact: bigdanceoutdoor@sbcglobal.com

Q: What do you come to Sheldon Lake for?
A: To catch bass for the State Record Boss.

Q: What types of fishes do you catch here?
A: Bass, Catfish, Gar, Cropy, and White Bass. I see alligators.

Q: About how many fishes do you catch?
A: The catches depend on the weather. Sometimes a boatful, sometimes one.

Q: What problems do you see here in Sheldon Lake?
A: There are large amounts of lily pads and hydrilla

Note: Danny comes from New Caney to catch fish for the Texas Game Board Record. He puts the fish back in the lake after tacking pictures with them.

Roseate Spoonbill

Description:
- 32 inches (81 cm) W 50 inches (127 cm)
- Pink body with red highlights
- Long, spoon-shaped bill
- White neck
- Head greenish (buffy in breeding season), no feathers
- Red eyes
- Bill grayish with dark mottling
- Head greenish and unfeathered with black nape band
- White neck and back
- Pink back and wings
- Legs red, feet dark

Food Source: Sweeps bill through water, snapping it shut on fish, crustaceans, insects, detected by feel. Few aquatic plants.

Nesting Habits: In branches of dense vegetation above water, occasionally on ground; well built, deeply cupped, stick, twig platform. Lined with green and dry finer materials. Male presents nest materials to female, she builds. EGGS: three dirty white, marked with brown, occasionally wreathed. 2.6" (65 mm).

Red Tail Hawk

The Red-tailed Hawk ranges throughout North America to the central Alaska and northern Canada, and south as far as the mountains of Panama. Although not truly migratory, they do adjust seasonally to areas of the most abundant prey . In winter many of the northern birds move south.

Phylum : Chordata
Class : Aves
Order : Falconiform
Family : Accipitridae
Genus: Buteo
Species: jamaicensis

Weight: 2-4 lbs.
Length: 22"
Wing Span: 56"
Sexual Maturity: 3 yrs.
Mating Season: spring
Incubation: 28-32 days
No. of Eggs: 1-3
Birth Interval: year
Lifespan: 10-21 yrs.
Typical diet: small rodents, snakes

Hawks are carnivores (meat eaters) who belong to the category of birds known as raptors.

The Red-tailed Hawk is the most common member of the buzzard hawk family.

The eyesight of a hawk is 8 times as powerful as a human's.

Like all hawks, the Red-tailed Hawk's talons are its main weapons.
The Red-tailed Hawk has hoarse and rasping 2- to3-second scream that is most commonly heard while soaring.

85 to 90 % of the Red-tailed Hawk's diet is composed of small rodents.

Cattle Egret

Characteristics:
The cattle egret is a small white heron about 19-21 inches in length with a wingspan of about three feet. It often looks like it is hunched over. It has short legs and a thick neck compared to other species of egrets. Adults have dull yellow or orange bills and dull orange legs. Immature cattle egrets have black legs and bills. During breeding season it has a brownish crown and chest and its eyes, legs and bill are red.

Range:
The cattle egret breeds from California east to the Great Lakes and Maine and south to the Gulf Coast. It is also found in the tropics, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. The cattle egret is a non-native species in North America. It probably flew to South America from Africa and then moved up to the United States.

Habitat:
The cattle egret is most often found near farmland and livestock. It also can be found in wetlands.

Diet:
In Africa, the cattle egret eats insects that are stirred up by wild animals. They have adapted to following animals like cows in North America and eating insects like grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, and flies that are disturbed by the livestock.

Life Cycle:
Males claim territory before mating begins. They will go through a variety of display behaviors to attract females. Females will gather in their territory and sometimes jump on the backs of the males. Eventually, the male will evict all but one female. Both the male and the female work on building a nest. The male brings the materials, sometimes stealing sticks from the nests of other egrets. The female constructs the nest. The nest is made of sticks and is built in a bush or a tree. The female lays three to five eggs and both parents incubate the eggs. The chicks hatch in between three and four weeks and fledge when they are a month old. Both parents care for the chicks. Cattle egrets nest in colonies with other species of egrets.

Behavior
Cattle egrets are very social. They gather in large colonies of cattle egrets and other bird species. In addition to following livestock, they also follow farm equipment like tractors to catch insects that are disturbed.