Houston Audublog

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Eastern Meadowlark ( Sturnella magna ) Family:  Icteridae The Eastern Meadowlark’s bright song is a familiar sound throughout open grasslands of eastern North America. They are commonly seen singing from fence posts, telephone wires, and shrubs. Eastern Meadowlarks can easily be identified by their brilliant yellow chests and dark v-shaped collar. These colors are slightly duller in the winter yet still distinguishable. They have heavy brown and black streaking on their backs, a long, sharp bill and, a white mustache. Aside from differences in song, this mustache coloration helps to differentiate the Eastern species from the similar Western Meadowlark species, as they have a yellow mustache.  Eastern Meadowlarks forage for food by walking on the ground through grass while probing for an assortment of insects including grubs, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and crickets. They also feed on seeds during the winter and spring months if insects are more scarce.  When it is time to...

Carolina Wren ( Thryothorus ludovicianus ) Family: Troglodytidae Our Beak of the Week is a favorite Houston resident, the Carolina Wren! Male and female Carolina Wrens look alike; both are reddish-brown above and warm buffy-orange below, with a long, slightly downcurved bill, a bold white eyebrow stripe, a rusty cheek, white throat, and a relatively long tail.  Carolina Wrens are common in Houston and the eastern part of Texas. They can be found in dense forest undergrowth, especially in shrubby tangles and thickets. They usually forage in pairs, creeping around vegetated areas and scooting up and down tree trunks in search of insects, spiders, and fruit. They will visit bird feeders for seed, peanuts, and suet. Keeping a brush pile is a great way to attract Carolina Wrens to your yard. They eat predominantly insects and readily visit suet feeders. Often heard before they are seen, this small, shy bird produces a loud song. The adults live in pairs all year, and they may "duet...

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron ( Nyctanassa violacea ) Family: Ardeidae Our Beak of the Week is the official Bird of Houston , the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron! This seemingly hunch-backed bird can be a difficult one to spot. Both species of North American night-herons, yellow-crowned and black-crowned, forage mainly at night and spend most of the day hidden among branches near a body of water. These two birds can be differentiated easily by their plumage on and around their head. The most obvious difference is stated in their names: Yellow-crowned Night-Herons have a yellow crown and Black-crowned Night-Herons have a black crown. But that’s not the only difference! Yellow-crowned Night-Herons have a black head and face with a distinct thick white cheek stripe, whereas Black-crowned Night-Herons have a black head with gray on their face that extends down the whole front of the body. Yellow-crowned Night Herons also have a gray front and neck, but it contrasts greatly with their facial patter...

Ruby-throated Hummingbird ( Archilochus colubris ) Family: Trochilidae Did you know that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are able to fly in all 6 directions with wing beats of 53 times per a second? Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are bright emerald or golden-green on the back and crown with gray-white underparts. Males have a brilliant iridescent red throat while females and immatures have fine, dark throat streaking. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds feed on the nectar of red or orange tubular flowers as well as at hummingbird feeders and sometimes tree sap. Hummingbirds also catch insects in midair or pull them out of spider webs. In preparation for their migration, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds double their weight from 3 grams to over 6 grams prior to departing. In the fall, millions of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds will pass through Texas on their migration to points south of the border with many crossing the Gulf of Mexico in a single flight. They arrive from breeding grounds as far away as Nova Scotia...

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...

We're excited to welcome a new team member to the Education Department - Javier Salas ! Javier considers himself an artist but holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from The University of Texas at San Antonio. There, he ran cross country and worked as an ecology summer camp counselor and in monarch butterfly conservation. Since then, he has volunteered and worked at three different wildlife rehab centers, including the Alaska Raptor Center doing public education programs. After relocating for seasonal work at Lake Houston Wilderness Park in 2020, he became enamored with the diversity of birds in Houston and eventually discovered the Houston Audubon Raptor Center. Now that he is a part of the Houston Audubon team, he is excited to get people passionate about conservation through birds. In his spare time, he runs his personal art business and goes on trail hikes throughout the Houston area. Javier answered a few questions for us so everyone can get to know him a little...

Houston Audubon announced the 2020 Laura Singleton Exceptional Volunteer at a virtual event celebrating our volunteers at the conclusion of National Volunteer Week. Our deserving honoree for 2020 is JD Carballo , volunteer maintenance technician at Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary.  JD has been an active and frequent volunteer at Edith L. Moore since 2014. We chose to honor him because of the unique and wide-ranging projects he has taken on throughout the sanctuary, including showing up during times of crisis. Due to his close proximity to the sanctuary, JD sometimes arrived on site before staff to take care of any issues. He also helped us prepare the sanctuary for unprecedented issues, such as the pandemic and extreme weather events. He kept an eye on the sanctuary and made sure cameras were up and gates were secure when staff were working from home. JD's contributions went above and beyond, showing a true sense of ownership and pride in our sanctuary.  Here are some things t...

Rose-breasted Grosbeak ( Pheucticus ludovicianus ) Family: Cardinalidae Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are stocky, medium-sized songbirds with very large conical bills. The breeding plumage of adult males is striking; they have a black hood and back, a bright red chevron that extends from the black throat down the middle of the breast, and the underparts and rump are white. Females and immatures have brown upperparts, buff underparts with dark brown streaking, a thin whitish crown stripe and a bold whitish eyebrow.    Arriving from winter homes in southern Mexico, Central America and northern South America, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are currently moving through the Houston area on their journey to their northern breeding grounds. The birds are stopping to rest and feed on seeds, fruits and insects. They can often be observed gorging on any Mulberry Tree they can find. They will also readily visit backyard feeders and consume sunflower seeds with abandon.  The song of the Rose-brea...

Happy Earth Day from all of us at Houston Audubon! Although we think every day should be Earth Day, we’re excited for a chance to celebrate the planet that sustains the people and wildlife that call it home.  There are many easy actions you can take to promote a healthier and happier Earth. If you're looking for a place to start and have a soft spot for our feathered friends, you can help locally by turning your community into a Bird-Friendly Community! Supporting birds in your yard or local spaces can make a huge conservation impact for not only wildlife, but people as well. As we like to say, “where birds thrive, people prosper.” There are four key steps to being Bird-Friendly! We've outlined them below, along with suggestions on how you can work towards each.  Get Connected With Others   Learn from others who are making efforts to create a happier and healthier world! This spring, there are a number of opportunities for you to connect with others doing great things ...

Here at Houston Audubon we are so appreciative of the younger generations; from Elementary School to College, young people are a big part of our volunteer efforts. The initiative they take in finding ways to help out at our sanctuaries is super inspiring!  This was particularly true throughout the pandemic, as youth continued to work to help us, even as their school schedules were in limbo and they weren't able to gather in groups. Some of the contributions of youth volunteers in 2020 included: Eagle Scout Projects! Scouts built a shed, helped us clear out invasive plants, designed, built and installed a solar powered compost bin, developed a volunteer project to control invasive plants, and created and mounted new signs on our trails at Edith L. Moore; as well as built owl boxes for our High Island Sanctuaries.  High School clubs were also helpful to us! At Edith L. Moore, student activists from Memorial Teens for Green and Langham Creek Students Protecting Animals of Am...