CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — As springtime approaches, we should be hearing the lovely tunes of singing birds.
But instead, the reality is quite different.
“Now since the weather cleared up, I’ve actually found a couple of dead birds, a couple of dead lizards,” Corpus Christi resident Jeff Brown said.
Brown is not the only one.
Pflugerville resident Jeff McIntyre visited the Coastal Bend, documenting what he saw on the app iNaturalist.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department currently has a project called Winter Storm URI Wildlife Deaths used to track the number of animals killed in the freeze.
“Basically, click on a button to join that project and any observations that you make, you can include it in that project,” said McIntyre. "So, it's pretty simple to do.”
McIntyre has made 75 observations of 23 different species with the app.
By using the iNaturalist app you can record your observations, share with fellow naturalists and discuss your findings.
This can ultimately help the TPWD to determine what species had the most impact from the cold weather.
"Our biologists, they can only be in so many places at one time and so they are just doing their best right now with the help of the public,” said Megan Radke, wildlife press officer for TPWD.
Radke says while she believes there won't be an exact number of animals lost from the freeze, it helps to understand why some are affected by the cold weather more than others.
To record your observations, join the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department project named Winter Storm URI Wildlife Deaths or click here.
