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Golden-cheeked Warblers (GCWA) are beginning to arrive within their Hill Country haunts. The folks at Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center reported at least one GCWA on the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve on 5 March 2021 – right on time. Many more of these birds will arrive over the next couple of weeks.

The Golden-cheeked’s scientific name, Setophaga chrysoparia, translates to golden cheek moth eater; moth eater describing the genus which now includes most New World warblers. This federally endangered songbird is an attractive member of the wood-warbler family (Parulidae) and is a Texas breeding endemic – meaning every individual is a native Texan. Golden-cheeked Warblers are overwhelmingly reliant upon that special Hill Country habitat association of mature juniper-hardwood forests, typically with high levels of canopy cover, a diverse deciduous component, and occurring along moderate to steep slopes.

Habitat

Prime GCWA habitat is attractive and diverse and represents some of my favorite wooded parts of the Hill Country. These prime woodland habitats are often densely canopied and old-growth, occurring with an abundance of large attractive individual juniper, the kind of trees that are easy to appreciate as important natives instead of the noxious shrubs we regularly battle. The best GCWA habitat will hint at creeks and springs along the moist shaded slopes of valleys and ravines. These healthy forests are characterized by veins of rich dark soil high in organic material alternating with exposed limestone ridges and fractures.

Before his death in 1963, Harry C. Oberholser* painted a bleak picture for the future of Golden-cheeked Warblers “[the golden-cheek] and its cedar brakes are unlikely to reach the twenty-first century alive, but then, who is?”.

Conservation Challenges

During the 20th Century, the species suffered as large areas of woodland were cleared throughout central Texas. The primary intent of this conversion was to increase the area of grassy forage for livestock. This practice sorely misjudged the importance of the woodland structure in stabilizing erodible soils and often undermined the overarching goal of clearing.

Additionally, a terrible toll was taken on the reproductive success of GCWA when populations of Brown-headed Cowbirds (BHCO) began to increase. This increase was largely due to BHCO’s affinity for large grazing herbivores. When relatively sedentary cattle replaced large free-ranging herds of bison – the cowbird flocks, too, stop roaming. Female BHCOs are brood parasites – meaning that they utilize the nests of other breeding birds to help raise their young. They are adept at locating nests and, after doing so, will remove one or more eggs (or chicks) and deposit eggs of their own. After hatching, the cowbird chick(s) grows quickly and usually dominates the surrogate parent’s attention and feeding; all of this to the detriment of the biological chicks.

Progressive fragmentation of landscapes increasingly contributes to the dynamic challenges faced by wildlife managers and policy-makers. Texas A&M Natural Resource Institute has documented that the average Hill Country landholding is decreasing in acreage as more large ranches are reduced to inheritances, large tract subdivisions, and hobby ranches. Smaller farms and ranches don’t necessarily present an insurmountable conservation challenge but the resultant mixed management of these smaller parcels, often variable and without coordinated conservation intent, can create substantial management challenges on a landscape or regional scale. This is particularly true in regards to the management of remnant old-growth and mature juniper woodlands which necessitate a combination of education, appreciation, and coordination in landscape-scale planning.

Today, many populations of GCWA throughout the Hill Country appear stable but others are continually challenged by the development of rural lands. Habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation are generally considered to be the greatest acute challenges to the recovery of GCWA while climate change and limitations in gene-flow are more chronic challenges.

Protections

The Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act currently provide federal protections for the species – which largely serve as a backstop to more voluntary forms of conservation and recovery. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department provides complimentary state-based protections through our own protected species list – which mostly drive limited conservation funding and resources to interested landowners. However, these protections can’t alone assure the recovery of the species in a state that is 95+% privately owned and staunchly opposed to governmental overreach. The responsibility of protection and recovery ultimately falls on the landowner who stewards the habitat these birds rely on to survive and reproduce. Society’s most meaningful role is to incentivize that stewardship through voluntary tools, resources, and research while continuing to express our appreciation and wonder for a species so uniquely Texan (did I mention that this is the ONLY species of bird that breeds exclusively in Texas?).

Closing Thoughts

Each landowner will have their own motivations and goals in ownership of land – that’s inherent in private property rights. In Texas, we respect those rights. But we also recognize and hold in highest regard those landowners that shoulder the burden of land ownership with due consideration of stewardship responsibilities. Wildlife is a public trust resource – at once owned by everyone and no one. Land and habitat are overwhelmingly owned and managed by the individual, family, or partnership. Assuring that the needs of wildlife and the needs of the landowner are compatible remains the biggest challenge to the viability of all Texas wildlife and especially our little iconic songbird, the Golden-cheeked Warbler.

*Harry C. Oberholser is the author of The Birds of Texas published posthumously in 1974 and representative of a lifetime of work occurring over the first half of the 20th century.