Big Stone Lodge - Dennis Johnston Park709 Riley Fuzzel Road

December 18thSocial 6:30pm

PWWS meetings are held at the Big StoneLodge at the new Dennis Johnston CountyPark at 709 Riley Fuzzel Road.

The directions to get there are much the sameas to the Nature Center. Aldine-Westfield turns into Riley Fuzzel Road just northeastof Spring so there are several ways to get there.

1. Take the Rayford/Sawdust exit and go East (right) on Rayford Rd. It dead ends atRiley Fuzzel, then turn South (right) and drive to the Dennis Johnston Park pastSpring Creek and on the right. or, 2. take Spring-Cypress east to Aldine Westfieldthrough Olde Town Spring, turn left and then on to Riley Fuzzel for a short distanceand turn left; or, 3. Take Aldine Westfield north from Mercer Arboretum until it turnsinto Riley Fuzzel. Turn right and watch for the Dennis Johnston Park on the left.

January 2017 Vol. 38, No.1

cont.on page 2 cont.on page 2

Last October my wife and I took advantage of the EURAIL PASS program thatallow us to travel across Europe with first class tickets at reduced prices.

We visited 6 countries and 8 cities in four weeks by ourselves. The hotels werebooked through booking.com saving us tons of money. It took us six months ofplanning to design the itinerary. Many hours watching boring videos by RickSteves on you tube.

I came back with over 7000 pictures. No, I will not show them all. Traveling byourselves increase the productivity. We saw and photographed more than travel-ing with a group.

The goal was to visit as many reformed and catholic churches through Europe.Historical places and art museums. Shoot many night pictures. And tasted thehouse wine of small cafes.

Janury 18th PresentationEurope by Rail

Presented by Carlos Hernandez

Heart Happenings

Sea turtle news isscant for the Janu-ary newsletter! Hope-fully, they are all swim-ming where it is warm!

Funding for the Kemp’s Rid-ley sculpture in Galveston is moving alongwith $5000 from the Kempner Fund and othergrant proposals being submitted. The Mayorof Galveston is very excited about a SeaTurtle Festival next fall although plans arenot final. The location was planned for a jettynear 29th street on the seawall, but it may bechanging to an even better place!

Tom Shearer, longtime US. Fish and WildlifeService Sea Turtle Coordinator who has justretired, informs us, “We are fortunate in Texasto have several sea turtle rehabilitation facili-ties up and down the coast, including GladysPorter Zoo, Sea Turtle Inc., The Animal Re-habilitation Keep, Texas State Aquarium,Texas Sea Life Center (Padre), Texas SeaLife Center (Galveston), The Houston Zoo,and many other zoos and aquariums thatprovide care for long term and non-releas-able animals. Stranding recoveries and re-habilitation has returned many juveniles andadults back into the sea to continue to grow

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January Program from page 1Heart from page 1

Our February, 2017 program will be BIRDINGCOLORADO presented by Brad and NomaMacurda. They described their program: Fromthe highest mountains to the endless plains, thestate of Colorado hosts an amazing diversity ofbirds. These range from the lark bunting of theplains to the ptarmigan of the peaks. Here, thebirds of the east give way to the birds of the westand 499 species of birds have been recorded inColorado. Travel with us to see these avian trea-sures and the habitats in which they live.

Membership Directory Connie Blakley volunteeredagain to work with us to have our membership Di-rectory published. Farrar Stockton took charge forus to coordinate and voila it’s done. We will havethem to distribute at our January meeting. This isstrictly for our members and we will have them atour meetings so you can pick up whenever youare able to attend.

Notes:

I will briefly give an ac-count of the the photog-raphy techniques forthose interested on travelphotography.

and reproduce.

In Texas and Mexico, the number of professionalsworking on sea turtle nest detection and protec-tion has increased the number of hatchlings intothe Gulf. Each of these groups has at least onecooperating non-governmental organization orNGO. Help Endangered Animals-Ridley Turtles(HEART), Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN),Sea Turtle Inc., and many other “Friends” groupsthat help in so many ways, from outreach andeducation, to funding and coordinating volunteers.

I keep mentioning volunteers, because withoutpeople willing to volunteer, the recovery effort wouldnot be successful. We have over 300 volunteersup and down the coast thanks to the efforts ofeach group’s Volunteer Coordinator. Volunteersadd to the number of responders available to helpto respond to calls from the public, and help lo-cate sea turtles so that data can be collected.The comparability of data is the result of standarddata collection methodologies. That is why theforms used to document these sea turtle eventsare so critical. Again, it is the responder, that hastrained and takes time to do the work correctlythat benefits the management of the recovery ofthis species.

In closing, I thank all that are reading that haveworked so hard in the hot sun of summer, and thegusty winds of winter to help to save the Kemp’sridley sea turtle and other sea turtles from extinc-tion. I look forward to volunteering for sea turtlerecovery soon!”

This year’s Spring Creek Christmas Bird Count (CBC) experienced verywarm weather and breezy winds which kept our species count down to thelowest in many years. We totaled 85 species which is lower than our usualnumber of species which is generally in the 90’s.

This year featured a new section & team that covered the ExxonMobilHouston Campus on Springwoods Village Parkway just south of The Wood-lands. It has been exciting over this past year to work with ExxonMobilemployees and retirees to help them survey the bird life there on the cam-pus and we are definitely pleased to have them contribute to our CBC.

The six teams in the field plus the six more feeder watcher groups ended upcomplimenting each other well with 13 different instances where only onearea reported a specific bird species. Al Barr was able to locate all threeowl species as well as the only Snowy Egret. David Henderson’s team inthe Woodlands contributed five unique species including Lincoln’s Sparrowand Least Sandpiper. Paul Gregg’s team on the ExxonMobil campus foundthe only Peregrine Falcon & Brown Creeper for the count. Claire Moore’steam in the southwest portion of the count circle reported an Eared Grebe,

Spring Creek CBC in the Booksby Claire Moore

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Plant Vegetables from transplants like broccoli, cauliflower,strawberries, collards, and lettuce. Begin seeding springtomatoes inside.

Plant Rosebushes in prepared soil where they receive 6-8full hours of sun every day. Prune rosebushes in February.

Choose cool season color such as pansies and violas,snapdragons, and dianthus. Get green Foxgloves, holly-hocks, larkspur, poppies, and delphiniums in your beds nowfor Spring.

Plant Spring flowering trees and shrubs such as red-buds, fringe trees, Mexican plums, azaleas and spirea. Nowis a great time to plant.

Fertilize established trees and shrubs, except Azaleas andcamellias with a good all-around fertilizer.

Water- Containers need more frequent water than plants inthe ground. Watch for drought stress between rain show-ers and water well before upcoming freezes to reduce plantstress

Pests- Loopers and Aphids are on the prowl. Keep a closeeye on plants and catch them early. Treat with the leasttoxic method possible. Find and squish loopers or treatwith organic BT. Spray away aphids with a strong stream ofwater or treat with insecticidal soap.

Lawns- Best way to control early spring weeds: dig themby hand. Easiest way: MOW THEM. They will die outwhen it gets warm. We do not recommend “weed & feed”products. Keep fallen leaves raked up so lawn grasses canreceive adequate sunlight. Reuse leaves in beds as mulchor add to compost bins.

Pruning - Crepe Myrtles need no pruning. If you must,you may shape gently now, but don’t commit Crepe Mur-der. Wait to prune spring flowering trees such as decidu-ous magnolias, Mexican plums, and redbuds until after theybloom.

Birds- Keep bird baths scrubbed and filled with clean water.Keep seed in feeders fresh. After rain check for moist ordamp seed, replace promptly to keep birds healthy andhappy. Continue to put out suet cakes for high energy win-ter snacks.

Freezes- Keep an eye on the weather and stay informed onnight time lows. Have frost cloth on hand for light frosts.Water plants thoroughly before a freeze to protect roots. Ifthe temperature drops below 32 double wrap tender plantsto ensure proper insulation. Avoid using plastic against fo-liage, but it can be used as the second exterior layer whencovering plants. Remove plastic during the day.

January Horticulture NewsletterBy Kathy Dodge

Spring Creek CBC Count Circle & Teams - photo by Claire Moore

new species for thecount, and the onlyWilson’s Snipe aswell as several otherunique species. Thefeeder watchers con-tributed a surprisingfour unique speciesincluding Blue-headed Vireo, Black-bellied WhistlingDuck, and TricolorHeron.

Big misses for this count were most of the ducks, Cattle Egret,Rufous Hummingbird, Pine Siskin, and several others. The warmerthan usual weather looks like it kept several of our normal speciesfrom being present.

Big thanks go out to all the 63 participants this year! Thanks foranother great year. Save the date for next year’s Spring CreekCBC which will happen on Saturday, December 16, 2017.

Peregrine Falcon fly over at ExxonMobil

Photos by Steven Stones

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2017 Board of Directors

Numbers of Interest

Visit: http://pineywoodswildlifesociety.org

The Pine Warbler is published monthly, September throughMay, by The Piney Woods Wildlife Society, Inc. and Cop-perhead Publishing.

For membership information write to us at P.O. Box 189,Spring Texas 77383-0189. Annual Dues: $15.00 per house-hold.

Publisher: Copperhead PublishingPublish1@copperheadfarms.net or jdfagm@swbell.net.P.O. Box 131776, The Woodlands, TX 77393

Please send all new address changes and anycorrections to cdmoore3@gmail.com (Claire Moore)and add PWWS to the subject line. Thank you.

Rat Snake - Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Please submit any articles you’d like considered for thePWWS Newsletter, The Pine Warbler, to Kathy Coward,justforthebirds@sbcglobal.net.

President, Kathy CowardFirst VP, Diane Wedgeworth

Second VP, Claire MooreThird VP, Carlos Hernandez

Secretary, Carole BarrTreasurer, Jim Lacey

Director, Farrar StocktonDirector, Debbie Wilson

Director, Maryanne DiBiase

Sunny’s Ginger Molasses CookiesSunny Anderson

For the wet:1 cup granulated sugar1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) salted butter, softened2 tablespoons unsulfured molasses1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger1 large egg

For the dry:2 cups all-purpose flour1 teaspoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

For the topping:About 1/3 cup granulated sugar, for dusting24 pieces crystallized ginger candy (1/2- to 1-inch pieces)

Blend the wet: In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or ina large bowl using a hand mixer on medium, blend the sugar andbutter until lighter in color and fluffy. Add the molasses and gin-ger and blend until smooth. Then add in the egg and blend untilincorporated.

Add the dry: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, bakingpowder and pumpkin pie spice. Reduce the mixer speed andadd the flour mixture in 3 parts, slowly blending and scraping thesides of the bowl to include all the dough. Refrigerate for 30minutes.

Roll, bake and top: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2baking sheets with parchment. Pour enough sugar into a smallbowl to dust the cookies (about 1/3 cup).

Using a small melon baller or ice scream scoop, make 24 ballsof cookie dough and roll each in the sugar to coat on all sides.

Heart Hotline............................1 866 TURTLE5 887-8535)

© 2017

Place the balls on the prepared baking sheets 1 inch apartand gently press each down.

Bake until the bottoms and edges are browned slightly, about12 minutes; remove from the oven and immediately push aginger candy in the center of each cookie so that it coolswith it locked in place. Slide the cookies off the sheet bypulling the parchment paper off the sheet and onto a coolingrack. Cool before serving. Store in an airtight container for upto 6 days

Hot Corn DipTrisha Yearwood

Ingredients

Cooking spray or butter, to greaseTwo 11-ounce cans Mexican corn, drainedTwo 4.5-ounce cans chopped green chiles, drained2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese (about 8 ounces)2/3 cup grated Parmesan1 cup mayonnaiseCorn chips, for dipping

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9- 13- by 2-inchcasserole dish.

In a medium bowl, mix the corn, chilies, cheeses and may-onnaise until fully combined. Spread the mixture in the pre-pared casserole dish and bake, uncovered, until bubbly aroundthe edges, 30 to 40 minutes. Serve the dip warm from theoven with corn chips