Attwater Prairie Chickens after the flood

We hope the Houston Zoo APC have a good breeding year to make up for the flood victims.

Houston Zoo's Attwater Prairie Chickens at NASA weathered the rains of Hurricane Harvey with no troubles. But the volunteers working on the pens didn't get back to work for about two weeks because most were helping storm damage to friends' homes or beach areas.

However not all the Texas APC survived.

From Friends of APCNWR Facebook page:

This morning we received the following update from Terry Rossignol, Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge manager:

"Unfortunately, the APC at the refuge did not fare well. Of 29 that were being tracked before the storm (generally hens only), we only have 5 confirmed alive. An additional 3 have gone missing since the storm. Birds have yet to be checked in Goliad. Quail also took it on the chin. Dr. Silvy's project had 12 quail radioed before the storm. He picked up 5 dead after, and 4 are missing, 3 confirmed alive.

​Although the ​refuge headquarters is open as usual, the auto tour route remains closed until we can fix a few spots. Folks can drive/walk to the Horseshoe Lake observation blind. Trails are mosquito infested. Refuge HQ/Visitor Center building and maintenance compound area are fine."