Job Duties

We’ve been here for three weeks and haven’t really gotten many jobs to do.  This park has four volunteer pads.  Two pads are for campground hosts and are located at the beginning of the campground loop and two pads are for maintenance hosts which are located far away from the campsites and close to the maintenance shop.

A few of the jobs we have done so far are:

Check the fire extinguishers in the bird blinds to make sure they are “in the green.”

We’ve helped trim a few branches in the campground that a camper got into with his RV.

Mark helped put a new alternator in one of the John Deere Gators.

We were given a list of picnic tables that needed their boards “turned.”

We had several picnic tables that needed their tops turned - this happens when campers spill oil all over the table or they catch the table on fire when they put their grill on top of the table, or it could be that the boards just get old, dry out, and split.

There are numerous bolts and nuts that hold the boards in place - these have to be taken out.

The board is flipped.  If the board has been flipped before, a new board can be cut.

Then the boards are bolted down.  Sometimes the bottom doesn’t look much better than the top.

We’ve had a few other jobs to do but we have really started out slow.

Unfortunately, due to some health issues we have had to leave the park and are back home.  We hope to make some trips at the beginning of the year before we head out to our next volunteer assignment for the summer of 2020.

It’s All About The Birds

Birds need three things to survive: Food, Water, Shelter.  We provide all of that here at the park.

This time of year we provide 3 different kinds of food.  A sunflower/millet mixture, a peanut butter mixture, and thistle.  Other times of year sugar water for hummingbirds will be offered too and when the weather gets warm, the peanut butter mixture will no longer be needed.

There are a lot of different peanut butter mixtures.  The one that Mark has been making for 30 years is very popular.

He melts 1 cup peanut butter and 1 cup lard in the microwave.

Mark prefers chunky peanut butter but the park has purchased creamy so it will have to do.

He then stirs in 4 cups of cornmeal.

That’s all!  The birds love it.  It smells a lot like peanut butter cookies.

Birds that are not seed eaters will eat the peanut butter.  It has a high fat content that is needed during the winter months when bugs are hard to find.

All the bird blinds have peanut butter logs and we also have a small feeding station set up by our RV.  This is the peanut butter log that Mark made 30 years ago from a Post Oak branch from our home in Elgin.  He drilled several holes all the way through and added a hook for hanging.

Here at the park we feed a mixture of black oil sunflower seeds and white millet.

Four scoops of sunflower seeds are mixed with one scoop of millet.  

This is a good balance for the types of birds we get here.  

For a more natural setting there are “bowls” of wood bark that the seed is put in. There are also some large flat rocks that we throw seeds on. 

The other food we’re feeding now is thistle.  No mixing needed.

All four bird blinds have water features where the birds can drink and bathe.

Shelter is provided by Mother Nature and is all over the park.  The bird blinds offer a nice assortment of trees and shrubs surrounding them for the birds to seek shelter after a bath or if any low-flying hawks happen by.

There are 2 different kinds of “bird feeding” stations.  Can you guess what they are?

One type of feeding station is just what I have described above.  The other type is a little different.

Have you guessed yet?  Sharp-shinned Hawks are bird eaters.  So, while the birds are eating their food, the Sharp Shinned Hawk flies through about once a day to catch his food.

About the Park

We are volunteering at S. Llano River State Park in Junction, Texas.  We’ll be here through January, 2020.  This is a beautiful area in the Texas Hill Country.  We’ve stayed at this park many times but this is our first time volunteering.

Walter Buck, Jr. moved to this area with his family in 1910 when he was 18 years old. They lived in the house that is now park head­quarters.  He took over the family ranch after his father died.

A bachelor all his life, Buck used to say that this land was his one great love. He do­nated his whole property to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 1977 for wild­life conservation or park purposes. The park opened in 1990.

South Llano River State Park expanded from about 600 acres to 2,600 acres in 2011, when the Walter Buck Wildlife Management Area became part of the state park.

Located on the western edge of the Hill Country, South Llano River State Park is a unique com­bi­nation of rocky upland back­country and a lush pecan grove river bottom.

One of the lar­gest winter Rio Grande wild turkey roosts in Central Texas is inside the park.

Wild Turkey

In the fall and win­ter, many turkeys gather at the park and make their way into the pecan forest. In the evening, they fly high up into the tree branches and sleep there for safety.  

Records of turkeys roosting in the park go back about 100 years, but the turkeys have probably been here much longer.

If they are disturbed, they could leave.  From October. 1 through March 31, the turkey roost area is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. This allows plenty of time in the morning for the turkeys to leave the roost to look for food in the surrounding area, and time for them to return in the afternoon.

One of our jobs (along with the other 3 volunteer couples) is to open and close the “gates” going into the turkey roosts area.

The park has two miles of river front­age, and multiple put-in and take-out points for tubers along the way.

S. Llano River

There are 22.7 miles of trails. Trails range from easy to difficult, and cross river bottoms, steep ridges and wooded areas in between.

There are 58 campsites with water and electric hookups, and a restroom with show­ers nearby.

Six walk-in sites have water and a restroom with show­ers nearby, while the five prim­i­tive hike-in sites have a chemical toilet nearby, but no water.  The five primitive sites are about 1 1/2 miles from the parking area.

The park has a very active interpretive ranger that offers lots of activities.  The three months we will be here the park will be closed 2 weeks a month for hunting.  There are only eight hunters allowed in the park at that time.

Unlike some parks that have a "season" for volunteers (usually Memorial Day to Labor Day), this park has volunteers year-round. 

More to come - stay tuned.

At the Water Trough, Part II

We are still running the game cam at the water trough on evenings when rain or sleet(!) are not expected.

The most common visitors, by far, are the local Raccoons. We knew of their existence before the game cam as they try to pull our bird feeders down every night!

Sometimes they come to the water trough alone:

Sometimes they bring a buddy:

Or their little one:

Most of them are content to stand beside the trough and drink, but a few prefer to get on in there!

Everybody in the pool!

Once you are all nice a clean, it's time for your close-up.

More to come later, from the water trough!!

Our Most Important Job

One of our jobs here at the park, and certainly the most fun, is keeping the bird blinds clean and stocked with bird food.

We have our own transportation that we keep at our RV site.

There are four, very nice, bird blinds.  All have wonderful water features and lots of inside seating.

Each blind is a little different

but they are nice and comfortable.

The first thing we do on our work day is check each bird blind.  We put out bird feed, and clean out any leaves or other debris from the water.

Putting out seed.

Thistle seed is very popular

Our peanut butter mix is a big hit.

Cleaning out the leaves.

We also clean the windows and sweep out the blind.  These bird blinds are very nice and well kept.

Mark makes sure the windows

are streak free.

Sweeping doesn’t take long.

We are also encouraged to “sit a while” and watch the birds.  Any visitors in the blind are always appreciative of any help we can give them identifying the birds.

Two of the water features are on solar panels.  At one blind we have to fill a 250-gallon water tank to have water to fill the trough when it starts getting low.  We fill up the water truck at park headquarters and haul the water to the bind.

Over 250 different species of birds have been documented at this park.  We hope we are keeping our birds happy and healthy.