Attwater's Prairie-Chicken

Over a century ago, one million Attwater’s prairie-chickens graced the Texas and Louisiana gulf coastal prairie. Each spring, males gathered to perform an elaborate courtship ritual. They inflated their yellow air sacs and emitted a strange, booming sound across a sea of grasses.

Today, less than one percent of coastal prairies remain. With so little of its home left, the Attwater’s prairie-chicken has come dangerously close to following the passenger pigeon to extinction. The Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge offers one of the last hopes for survival of this endangered bird.

You may not see the birds, but they are here, valiantly struggling to keep their species alive, with a lot of help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others. Their presence deepens the experience of a visit among breathtaking spring wildflowers, marshes, ponds, and virgin tallgrass prairie.
Meet the Attwater's Prairie Chicken
A Story of Loss and Hope

Cont'd. Shelter: Habitat Availability is Key to Recovery
The Attwater’s prairie chicken is an endangered grouse that is unique to Texas gulf coastal areas.  It is brownish, and strongly black barred with a short, rounded, blackish tail.  It weighs about 1.5 to 2.5 pounds.  Over a century ago, the APC population was booming.  At that time, there were around one million APCs living in the Texas and Louisiana gulf coastal prairie.  APCs once had over six million acres of homeland. Today, less than one percent of their original habitat remains.  This loss of habitat is the main reason for the APC’s drastic decline. 

In late August and early September, a new safe harbor agreement between the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is expected to help private landowners be a part of the conservation effort to save the APC.  Through the agreement, landowners are able to be involved in restoring and maintaining coastal prairie habitat with cost share and incentives, on their own land.

On Friday August 24, about 30 captive-bred juvenile APCs arrived from captive breeding facilities and were released into the wild onto private ranchland in Goliad County in South Texas.  The ranch lies within a pristine native prairie kept intact by the same family since the mid-1800s.  The land is a historic habitat for APCs which were last seen in the region in the mid-1990s.

Not including The Nature Conservancy property near Texas City, this is the first ever release of APCs on private land.  Since this is such a milestone event for the APC, The Texas Nature Conservancy is coordinating a small media event at the release site.  The birds will be held in acclimation pens at the release site for 10 days before being released into the wild.  Once these 30 birds are released, it is anticipated that there will be about 20 more birds released on the site this year, with subsequent releases planned for the next 2 years. 

Most of the Texas landscape is privately owned.  This makes the voluntary cooperation of ranchers and other rural landowners essential for wildlife conservation in the state.  Under the new agreement, Land owners who allow endangered or threatened species onto their property and are willing to undertake voluntary conservation measures such as brush control, grazing management, prescribed burning, and allowing periodic monitoring on their property, will be assured that no further land use restrictions or conditions will be required from them if the APC is ultimately listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.  The bird is currently a candidate for listing.

Food: Thousands of Insects Needed to Feed Hungry Chicks
Allowing the APC onto their land is not the only way that regular concerned citizens have been volunteering to help save these extremely endangered birds.  At the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge (APCNWR), staff are working hard to bring the numbers up to save the species.  This year, they had to ask for help. 

The prairie chicken's breeding season starts in February and continues through mid-May.  When the chicks hatch in late May and early June, they are highly susceptible to predication, weather, and to starvation.  Since there are so few birds left, it is up to refuge staff to make sure the birds make it past their first few critical weeks.  During late May and early June, volunteers were called to assist over-stretched refuge staff and Student Conservation Association interns in collecting insects for the newly hatched chicks and their mothers.  Each volunteer was provided with large canvas nets and plastic baggies and sent into the long prairie grasses on the refuge to collect. 

The process of bug collecting consisted of taking one of the provided nets and sweeping it quickly back and forth through the tall grasses in order to collect a variety of insects for the chicks to snack on and then shoving the bugs into plastic bags quickly so that as few of the precious cargo would be lost in the switch as possible.

The bug collections started around nine or ten, depending on morning dew, and went until around four, depending on how quickly the bugs were collected.  One hen and her chicks ate about twelve gallon sized plastic baggie of insects with about 100 insects in each per day for the first few weeks of the chick’s lives.  More insects were needed as the chicks grew.  Insects were collected daily to make sure that they were fresh and alive when they were given to the APCs.  Typically, a hen will have about 10-12 chicks in her brood.  This year, there were about 8 to 11 chicks per brood.

This year, at the APCNWR, the last brood was released on June 27, 2007.  there were 18 nests total (includes two re-nests).  Out of those, 12 nests were successful.  There were 77 chicks produced that made it to two weeks of age, and although unusually wet weather hampered efforts in determining the number of chicks at six weeks of age, over 14 six week old chicks were observed.  The six week age marker is about the time chicks can live on their own without the hen.  Unfortunately, five chicks have since died, most likely due to predators.

Refuge manager Terry Rossignol said that despite some set-backs, the results of volunteering were very positive.  “Although this year's outcome was not as good as we had hoped for,” Rossignol said, “we did surpass last year's production at the refuge.  We truly appreciate everyone’s help this season.  Without the help, we could not have accomplished what needed to be done.”  The refuge had a total of 43 volunteers including fish and wildlife employees from across region 2, a school group, a local Master Naturalist group as well as several others.

Although times are still tough for the endangered Attwater’s prairie chicken, there is still hope for their survival as long as there are people who are willing to help try to protect them.  Through the conservation efforts of numerous wildlife organizations, as well as the help of caring volunteers, these birds are getting their chance to take a step towards survival, however small that first step may be.