Houston Audublog

The Texas colonial waterbird counts are underway and Houston Audubon staff are out conducting this important monitoring work. A fantastic surprise in the coast-wide monitoring effort is the first-time use of an island built for just that purpose in Smith Oaks Bird Sanctuary. This now three-year-old island was part of a nesting expansion project completed with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Ducks Unlimited to help recover species affected by the Gulf Oil Spill. After construction, it was planted with native vegetation and nesting condominiums were built and installed to entice pioneering herons, egrets, and spoonbills.  We watched and waited the first two years as the willow and cattails filled in the bare island. It was the Tricolored Herons that finally put nesting material to cattail stalk to get the party started. Five species nested on the Cattail Island in Smith Pond for the first time! Roseate Spoonbill, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, Little Blue Heron, and Cat...

Chestnut-sided Warbler ( Setophaga pensylvanica ) Family: Parulidae The Chestnut-sided Warbler migrates through eastern Texas in spring and the boldly patterned male never fails to dazzle onlookers with his bright yellow crown, black line through his eye, black mustache stripe, white breast, and chestnut streaked flanks. The female has a similar pattern but is duller with a greener back, paler face, and less extensive chestnut on the sides. In the fall, the bird undergoes a dramatic transformation that causes its plumage to bear little resemblance to its appearance in spring and summer. During the non-breeding season the underparts are plain white, the upperparts are greenish yellow, and both sexes have an obvious white eye-ring. The Chestnut-sided Warbler was rare during John James Audubon's time; he only observed the bird once while roaming eastern North America in the early 1800s. Numbers of the birds increased during the 19th century when logging and low intensity agriculture p...

Cedar Waxwing ( Bombycilla cedrorum ) Family: Bombycillidae Flocks of Cedar Waxwings are welcome winter visitors to the Houston suburbs where they feast primarily on berries. The Cedar Waxwing is one of the few North American birds that specializes in eating fruit; their digestive system is especially adapted to rapidly digest berries and they can survive on fruit alone for several months. Favorite food sources include the berries of hollies, Cherry Laurel, Cedar and Privet. They are also known to relish the early spring buds of maples and elms. The name "waxwing" is derived from the waxy-looking red tips of their wings. Cedar Waxwings are pale brown on the head and chest fading to soft gray on the wings. The belly is pale yellow, and the tail is gray with a bright yellow tip. The face has a narrow black mask neatly outlined in white. The red waxy tips to the wing feathers are not always easy to see. Males and females look alike. The period between Christmas and February is a...

It doesn’t take much effort to find advice on how to support birds. In fact, a simple Google search produces hundreds of helpful resources in a matter of seconds. So, if the information is out there, then why are so few people taking action? The answer is both simple, and extremely complicated. In short – knowledge alone is often not enough to change peoples’ behaviors. Our decisions, whether we are buying a new car or planting native plants, are often governed by an internal process – assessing our resources, weighing pros and cons, and seeking advice from outside sources. To move people to action, we have to have an understanding of that decision-making process and create strategies that not only fuel and sustain motivation, but also work to help overcome barriers that keep people from finding success.  With this in mind, Houston Audubon’s Young Professionals Advisory Council (YPAC) has embarked on a mission to uncover the things people find most challenging (barriers) and most ...

Magnolia Warbler ( Setophaga magnolia ) Family: Parulidae As migration in High Island continues, birders are seeing increasingly more mid and late-season migrants. Among them is our Beak of the Week, the striking Magnolia Warbler. Unlike Pine Warblers, Magnolia Warblers do not forage and nest predominantly in their namesake tree. Rather, the first Magnolia Warbler was collected from a magnolia tree in 1810, similar to how Tennessee and Cape May Warblers are named after their collection site. During migration, they typically forage for caterpillars and insects with their short, sharp bill in dense, mid-elevation wooded areas. They pass through the Eastern United States on their way to their northern breeding grounds and to their wintering grounds in Central America. Male Magnolia Warblers are particularly showy with their necklace of thick black streaks on their bright yellow breast. They have a white wing panel, black back and mask, white undertail coverts, and gray crown. Females have...