-
Bird of the Week: Orange-crowned Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler (Leiothlypis celata) This tiny songbird is most common in our region from October through March, though its camouflage makes it…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: American Oystercatcher
American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliates) American Oystercatcher. Courtesy of Jeanette Larson. Readily identifiable by its bright orange beak and red-yellow eyes, the…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: Bewick’s Wren
Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) If you’ve ever been on a bird walk and heard someone pishing* to attract birds, the sound they are making is very similar to the alarm…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: Whooping Cranes
Whooping Crane, Grus americana Eighty years ago, you would have been hard pressed to see a Whooping Crane. Although these cranes have existed for millions of years, by 1938 there…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea Blue-gray Gnatcatcher breeding male. Photo Credit: James A. Giroux Flitting…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: Lesser Goldfinch
Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) This handsome (and tiny) bird lives year-round in central Texas eating seeds from plants in the daisy family – and sometimes eating insects. They are especially…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: Verdin
The tiny, active, and vocal Verdin might be thought of as the Southwest’s answer to the chickadee–in fact, its scientific name (Auriparus flaviceps) means “the yellow-headed golden chickadee.” Get…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
When trees begin to bud and temperatures rise, most ducks flee central Texas for cooler climes (as most of us would like to do). Not the Black-bellied Whistling-Duck–but then…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: Hooded Merganser
The Hooded Merganser is another entry in the Bird Name Hall of Shame, where can be found such inaptly-named birds as the Orange-crowned Warbler, the Red-bellied Woodpecker, and the…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: Hutton’s Vireo
What are we to make of the mysterious Hutton’s Vireo? This small, undistinguished bird does not even appear in my 2014 printing of the Sibley Guide to Birds of…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: House Finch
To view a humble House Finch, foraging at one’s feeder or singing sweetly atop a telephone pole, is to witness the American dream come true. Originally native…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: Pileated Woodpecker
With a wingspan of up to two and a half feet, the Pileated Woodpecker is by far the largest woodpecker in Texas. In fact, only…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: Red-breasted Nuthatch
Of the four species of nuthatch native to the United States, the Red-breasted is the only species that regularly enters Central Texas. Although it’s only…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: Common Yellowthroat
The Common Yellowthroat is one warbler you can spot without risking “warbler neck.” These small wood-warblers prefer the undergrowth to the canopy, and can often be found…
Continue reading -
Bird of the Week: Black-crowned Night Heron
The Black-crowned Night Heron is a bird so nice, they named it twice: Nycticorax nycticorax. In spite of this binomial insistence, it is…
Continue reading
