November 2010

In This Edition

• Bison Roundup Summary, November 3—8
  by Bob Hamilton
• Wild Flower Identification
  by Van Vives
• Upland Sandpiper
  by Nicholas Del Grosso
• Tackling Climate Change Could Save Biodiversity
  by Stephen Leahy
• Cash Value of Biodiversity
  by Fred Pearce
• Docent Coverage Of Season Days
  by Andrew Donovan-Shead
• Voices From The Past
  by Iris McPherson
• Tallgrass Prairie Preserve Visitor’s Center Latitude & Longitude
• Kiosk Maintenance
• Back Issues
• Newsletter Publication

Bison Roundup Summary, November 3—8

—Bob Hamilton

• Bison at Roundup, worked through corral:
  • 2,505 head totaling 1,930,956 pounds.
• Known Roundup escapees or uncatchable:
  • 1 yearling bull with broken leg (vehicle collision?).
• Average Corral Processing Time:
  • Adults @ 57 sec./head; Calves @ 54 sec./head.
• Number of 2010-Born Calves:
  • 646 (309 female, 337 male).
• Largest & Smallest Calves:
  • 505 lbs heifer; 115 lbs bull.
• Number of Red Calves (1-2 mo. old at roundup):
  • Zero.
• Calving Rate (# calves at roundup ÷ # females of calving age):
  • 71.9% (16-year average of 70%).
• Largest Bison Worked:
  • 1790 lbs 2004-born Bull.
• Number Sold:
  • 393 total (228 in 11-10; 165 in 7-10).
• Number Purchased or Acquired by Trade:
  • None.
• Over-Wintering Herd Size:
  • 2,276 (2,098 in Bison Unit; 178 yearling dinkers in Spring Trap north of HQ likely to be sold in 7-11).
• Expected Spring 2011 Calf Crop:
  • 600-700.
• Bison Unit Year-Round Pasture Size:
  • 23,464 acres.
• Cattle Summary:
  • Patch-Burn Study (4/10 — 9/30):
    • 10,745 acres,
    • 2,160 head.
  • Short-Season (4/10 — 7/15):
    • 2,260 acres,
    • 600 head.
  • Totals:
    • 13,005 acres,
    • 2,760 head.

Wild Flower Identification

—Van Vives

For those interested in wild flower identification, there is a new field guide just published. It is Field Guide to Wildflowers of North America, by David M. Brandenburg for The National Wildlife Federation. It has 600 pages of photos of flowers with the regions in which they are found. The price is $19.95. (They used one of my photos of Vevelty Gaura.)

Upland Sandpiper

—Nicholas Del Grosso

The Upland Sandpiper is truly a difficult bird to get one’s mind around. When you spot it on the prairie it looks out of place, your first thoughts are What is a shorebird doing in the tall grass? But this bird was once very common in the Great Plains. However, market hunting had an adverse effect on this species in the late 1800’s. It also was a victim to reductions in habitat from increased croplands. The species is now on the rebound with the Breeding Bird Survey showing an increase of about 1-percent a year. It has an estimated world wide population of about 350,000.

This bird is a long distance migrant coming from southeastern South America to nest in parts of Alaska, north-central Canada, north-central Great Plains, the Midwest and the Northeast. In Oklahoma it nests mostly in the northern tier of counties. Its greatest numbers are found in the Flint Hills of Osage County.

I have seen flocks of Upland Sandpipers on the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve as early as mid-March. Last year driving back from Docent Re-orientation I spotted 35 plus birds working a recently burned area that was still smoking. Most likely this group was foraging for weed seeds but they also eat insects, including weevils other beetles, grasshoppers and crickets. You can usually find this bird in recently burned areas or areas of new growth foraging for food. In the new growth this 12 inch bird is easy to spot. If you initially don’t see any Upland Sandpipers a properly initiated wolf whistle (the two legged variety) will usually illicit a response. These birds blend into their surroundings with their pale brown coloration, yellow legs, long thin necks and small heads.

They prefer to nest in the tall grasses. When nesting the Upland Sandpiper makes a small hollow and lines it with grasses. The nesting season is from May through June. The female will usually lay four pale buff eggs with fine brown speckles in the nest. Both sexes will incubate the eggs for 21 days and the young are capable of flight after 30 days

The Upland Sandpiper is usually on the prairie breeding grounds from mid March through June. By mid July they are beginning their southward migration back to the South American grasslands where they will spend the next seven to eight months. This South American visitor is easily overlooked on the breeding grounds but it is still a very interesting visitor on the Tallgrass Prairie.

Tackling Climate Change Could Save Biodiversity

—Stephen Leahy

Climate change, pollution, deforestation and other forms of land use change are pushing species into extinction, reducing their abundance and home ranges…. Read the full article by following this link.

Cash Value of Biodiversity

—Fred Pearce

Invest in lush tropical forests, vibrant coral reefs and clear blue streams, and they will provide a healthy return. That's the message from a group of environmental economists who for the first time have estimated the cash value of ecosystems…. Read the full article here.

Docent Coverage Of Season Days

—Andrew Donovan-Shead

We slipped a bit a bit more in October.

 

Voices From The Past

—Iris McPherson

This is the seventh in our series Voices from the Past. Read Mary McIntyre’s Docent News. You need Acrobat Reader or a similar program installed on your computer to read the PDF file.

Tallgrass Prairie Preserve Visitor’s Center Latitude & Longitude

Here is the latitude and longitude of the Visitor’s Center that you can give to visitors for entry into their GPS navigation device.

• N36° 50.774′
• W096° 25.381′

Kiosk Maintenance

The manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning the touch-screen recommend use of a soft dry cloth only. This proved inadequate for smeared fingerprints. Soft-paper kitchen towels work well, slightly damp with a small drop of soft handsoap. Application of a dry kichen towel removes any residual moisture.

Over time, a matter of several weeks continuous operation, I have noticed that calibration of the touch-screen drifts away from the initial set-point. If you notice that the cursor isn’t under your finger when you touch the screen then restart the kiosk by unplugging it from the wall, waiting a few moments and then re-inserting the power plug. It will restart and recalibrate.

This link points to the complete Kiosk Maintenance Manual.

Back Issues

Some printed back issues of the Docent Newsletter, to February 2009, can be found in the two green and one blue-black zip-binders, stored in the Perspex rack by the file cabinet in the office of the Visitor’s Center.

All back issues are available electronically via the links shown below. All newsletters prior to December 2007 are available in Portable Document Format (PDF), which means that you will need Adobe Reader installed on your computer to read these files. All newsletters from December 2007 onwards are in HTML format that is easily read using your web-browser.

Newsletter Publication

Deadline for submission of articles for inclusion in the newsletter is the 10th of each month. Publication date is on the 15th. All docents, Nature Conservancy staff, university scientists, philosophers, and historians are welcome to submit articles and pictures about the various preserves in Oklahoma, but of course the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in particular.

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