Texas Birds, Birding, and Bird Watching

We love bird watching, and Texas is a great place for that interest! Birds appeal to our appreciation of diversity and beauty, and birdwatching provides a great opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors.

Plus, you don't have to be rich to be a birder, as you only need a pair of binoculars, and possibly an identification guide and checklist.

Although the Texas Gulf Coast remains prime bird watching territory, our mild winters in East Texas provide great opportunities to watch winter migrants.

And year-round the diversity of the Texas forests, lakes, beaches, mountains and wetlands provides a valuable habitat for permanent bird residents.

East Texas Birding Venues

The Texas Bird Records Committee has recognized 636 species as Texas Birds. But where are good birding sites, besides the backyard?

East Texas features many state parks, lakes, wildlife preserves, and arboretums that are great sites for birding. The various habitats, wetlands, hardwood forests and environments offer food and shelter for numerous species of songbirds and waterfowl.

For example, Caddo Lake State Park and Caddo Lake Wildlife Refuge near Marshall are home to more than 200 species of birds. Richland Creek WMA near Frankston and Malakoff is also a popular birding venue.

Caddo Lake is a 25,400 acres lake and wetland on the border between Texas and Louisiana, in northern Harrison County and southern Marion County in Texas and western Caddo Parish in Louisiana.

This lake was the only natural lake in Texas until it was artificially dammed in the early 1900s when oil was found and for flood control in 1914.

Tyler State Park

Other popular sites include Tyler State Park, Lake Tyler and Camp Tyler, and Lake Palestine.

More than 220 species have been recorded at Camp Tyler, and many birds that are rare in east Texas have put in brief appearances there, including Roseate Spoonbill, Cinnamon Teal, Crested Caracara, Peregrine Falcon, White-winged Dove, Golden-winged, Palm, Cerulean, Worm-eating, and Swainson's Warblers, Blackpoll, Lazuli Bunting, American Tree Sparrow, and Smith's Longspur.

The Mineola Nature Preserve consists of 2,911 acres on Loop 564 along the Sabine River, and has facilities including wetlands, numerous hiking and equestrian trails, bee hives, extraordinary bird-watching, and more for the outdoor enthusiast. More than a dozen man-made ponds are located on the property as well as walking trails and pavilions.

Big Thicket National Preserve

The Mineola preserve is home to 193 species of birds, wildlife, buffalo and longhorn cattle. Pullen Pond at the preserve includes water habitats and outdoor classrooms that can be used as teaching opportunities: small ponds, waterfalls and dams, a running stream, wetlands, and deep water and shallow water concepts.

The Big Thicket National Preserve near Kountze has over 112,000 acres of forests, creeks and rivers. The preserve supports a diversity of migratory songbirds such as hooded warblers and yellow-throated vireos, and resident brown-headed nuthatches, Bachman's sparrows and endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers.

Other popular East Texas sites include Lake Fork, Old Sabine Bottoms WMA, Lake Bob Sandlin, and Toledo Bend Reservoir. A wide array of East Texas State Parks provide a variety of birding environments, from dense forests to prairies to lakes and bayous.

More East Texas Nature Lakes Butterflies Go Outdoors State Parks Zoos

Also, many birders frequent Lake O' the Pines, Bellwood Lake in west Tyler, the Jasper Fish Hatchery, and the Texas Fresh Water Fisheries in Athens.

Visit the website of the Tyler Audubon Society for more information on birding sites, field trips and species.

Be sure to download the very well done Deep East Texas Birding Guide which includes detailed maps and directions to over 40 birding locales in East Texas.

But you don't have to travel far to enjoy birdwatching as there are usually many species to be seen in your own backyard. All you have to do is hang a few bird feeders, setup bird houses and maybe Bluebird boxes ... you will have plenty of birds!

Common East Texas Bird Species

Baltimore Oriole Blue Jay Blackbird Brown Headed Cowbird Brown Thrasher Cardinal Carolina Chickadee Carolina Wren Cedar Waxwing Chuck Wills Widow Crow Dark Eyed Junco Downy Woodpecker Eastern Bluebird Eastern Phoebe Flicker Goldfinch Great Blue Heron House Finch House Sparrow Indigo Bunting Kestrel Mockingbird Mourning Dove

Nuthatch Painted Bunting Pileated Woodpecker Pine Siskin Pine Warbler Red Bellied Woodpecker Red Tailed Hawk Roadrunner Robin Rose-Breasted Grosbeak Ruby Crowned Kinglet Ruby Throat Hummingbird Summer Tanager Tufted Titmouse White Throated Sparrow Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker Yellow-Breasted Chat Yellow-Rump Warbler

   

 

Bird Guides and Resources

Books and guides:

• All the Birds of North America, by the American Bird Conservancy
• Field Guide to the Birds of North America, by National Geographic
• North American Birdfeeder Handbook
• Peterson Field Guide of Eastern Birds
• Golden Field Identification of the Birds of North America
• Birds of East Texas - a quick and easy to use, light-weight, durable, all-weather field guide to the varied birdlife of the eastern part of the State of Texas.

East Texas Nature Oranizations and Resources

• Tyler Audubon Society
• Texas Ornithological Society
• Beaumont CVB: Birding in South Texas
• Deep East Texas Birding Guide (PDF)
• Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine: Birding in Texas (PDF)
• American Birding Association

Photos of Birds in East Texas: Some Year-Round, Some Migrants

Seen Around the Backyard, Farm or Wooded Areas in East Texas Let's start with some red ones!
Male Cardinal	Male Cardinal
Female Cardinal	Female Cardinal
Male House Finch	Purple Finch
Scarlet Tanager	Summer Tanager
Vermilion Flycatcher	Rose Breasted Grosbeak
Warblers ... Lots of Yellow! Yellow-throated Warbler Yellow Rumped Warbler Hooded Warbler Pine Warbler Prothonotary Warbler More Yellow!
Common Yellowthroat	Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch	Pine Siskin
Shades of Gray
Mockingbird - TX State Bird	Junco
White-winged Dove
Chickadee	Tufted Titmouse
Ruby Crowned Kinglet	White Eyed Vireo
Red-Breasted Nuthatch	White-Breasted Nuthatch
Browns
Mourning Dove	Killdeer
Scissortail Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe	Carolina Wren
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	Brown Thrasher
House Sparrow	White Throated Sparrow

 

 

Chestnut Colored
American Robin	Eastern Towhee
Blues
Blue Jay	Bluebird
Blue Grosbeak	Indigo Bunting
Beautiful Multi-Colored Birds
Painted Bunting (Male)	Painted Bunting (Female)
Texas Roadrunner	Roadrunner Up Close
The Wild Turkey in East Texas
Swallows
Tree Swallow	Barn Swallow

 

Birds of the Night
Great Horned Owl	Barred Owl
Eastern Screech Owl	Chuck Will's Widowl

 

 

Birds that Love the Water
Little Blue Heron	Great Blue Heron
Brown Pelican	White Pelican
Wood Duck	Mallard Duck
Roseate Spoonbill

 

Birds of Prey
Cooper's Hawk	Swainson's Hawk
Red Shouldered Hawk	American Kestrel
Bald Eagle

 

 

The Woodpeckers
Red Headed Woodpecker	Pileated Woodpecker
Red Bellied Woodpecker	Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker	Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

 

Opportunists
Loggerhead Shrike	Belted Kingfisher
Turkey Vulture

 

Seen at the Shopping Center
European Starling	Rock Pigeon
American Crow
Boat-tailed Grackle	Red-winged Blackbird

 

Hummingbirds

Ruby-throated Hummingbird ... the only hummingbird species regularly seen in East Texas

Hummingbirds grouped on crowded feeder during the fall southward migration in East Texas

About the Birds of East Texas Photo Gallery

The photos in this gallery include original photographs by the East Texas website staff as well as those taken by the great nature photographer Alan Schmierer. Also included are public domain photos, many from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

East Texas Nature Galleries East Texas Birds Hummingbirds Butterflies Flowers & Trees East Texas Lakes Botanical Gardens & Arboretums Lee Daffodil Garden

 

Nature, Birds and Wildlife Websites of Interest

Hummingbird Central

Butterflies At Home