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Texas Naturalist’s Notes by Bill Reiner: Goldfinches and Siskins
Lesser Goldfinches are the only goldfinches that stay in central Texas year-round. Unlike the American Goldfinch, a male Lesser keeps his flashy yellow and black plumage year-round. Females look…
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Texas Naturalist’s Notes by Bill Reiner: Goldfinches and Siskins, Part 1
By: Bill Reiner If you feed birds in the winter, you probably know the goldfinches well already. Tiny seed-eaters that throng to the feeders, often fluttering on zebra-striped wings, they…
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Texas Naturalist’s Notes by Bill Reiner
Legend tells of a great debate that arose among the birds over who should lead them. To settle the matter, they held a contest: whoever could fly the highest…
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Texas Naturalist’s Notes By Bill Reiner
An iconic sight, during the “dog days” of late summer in central Texas, is a statuesque Great Egret poised motionless at the edge of a stock tank. Flocks of…
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Texas Naturalist’s Notes By Bill Reiner
Milkweeds are not the most colorful of our spring flowers. Next to the brilliant yellows and reds, pinks and blues and snowy whites of other blooms, the overall pale…
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Texas Naturalist’s Notes By Bill Reiner
From the Archives This article originally appeared in the Travis Audubon Newsletter in 2005. Photos by Jim deVries. On a cold, cloudy January afternoon, the open prairie seems lifeless. To the…
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Texas Naturalist’s Notes By Bill Reiner
As the leaves of most trees and shrubs native to central Texas turn colors and then drop away, two tree species, dominant on the landscape west of the interstate…
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Texas Naturalist’s Notes By Bill Reiner
September and October are traveling times for many bird species. Most of the travelers are southbound migrants: stragglers from the shorebird migration that peaked in August; the songbird wave…
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Texas Naturalist’s Notes By Bill Reiner
Shady, moist, and relatively cool, the canyons near Austin have long provided a respite from the summer heat for people and wildlife alike. The Colorado River and major streams, such…
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