With three-fourths of all American birds represented in Texas, there are birds for the watching anytime, anywhere in the state. No other state offers the birding variety (or challenge) that Texas does. In fact, Roger Tory Peterson devotes an entire volume just to this state: A Field Guide to the Birds of Texas, available at virtually any bookstore. Varied vegetation, altitudes from sea level to over 8,000 feet, rainfall from less than 10 inches annually to more than 55 inches, and a strategic position on the North American continent, combine to provide Texas diversity of avian habitats. In addition, Texas' resident bird population is augmented by multitudes of migrating species.

Refuges offer exceptional viewing of both rare specimens and large concentrations of familiar species.

The 624 mile Texas coastline teems with shorebirds - gulls, pelicans, egrets and roseate spoonbills, plus the worlds few remaining whooping cranes that winter at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.

The lower Rio Grande Valley area hosts tropical birds, Inca and white-winged doves, and is the only place in the nation where such species as white-fronted doves, chachalacas, and green jays may be observed. Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge is an ideal spot to add them to a life list.

The Texas Panhandle is home to horned larks, kites and prairie chickens. Lakes attract mallard, baldpate and pintail migrants. Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge is haven for thousands of wintering sandhill cranes.

In West Texas are rare Colima warblers and eagles, canyon wrens, desert dwelling flycatchers and tiny verdins.

roadrunner

The Hill Country hosts large flocks of wild turkevs, almost countless resident and migrant species, and is the nesting place of rare golden-cheeked warblers. More open terrain is habitat of fleet-footed roadrunners.

The East Texas pine forests are the home of several eastern species including the wood thrash, Acadian flycatcher and Kentucky warbler. A few swallow-tailed kites may live here with, perhaps, the once-thought-to-be extinct ivory-billed woodpeckers.

Bird watching in Texas can be a rewarding experience.

Here are a few web sites of related interest:

Amarillo: Panhandle Bird Club
http://www.wtamu.edu/~rmatlack/panhandlebirdclub 

Birds of the Upper Texas Coast
http://www.texasbirding.net/

BirdNet, by the Ornithological Council
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/index.html

Corpus Christi: The South Texas Birding Forum
http://www.caller2.com/periodic/birdingindex.html

Galveston Island Birding Brochure
http://www.galveston.com/islandbirding/

Llano Estacado Audubon Society (LEAS)
http://www.leas.bizland.com/ 

Migrating Texas Animals
http://riceinfo.rice.edu/armadillo/Ftbend/texmig.html

Purple Martins in Texas
http://www.rice.edu/armadillo/Ftbend/pmartin.html 

Refugio County Birding
http://www.refugiocountytx.org/Recreation/birding/ 

San Antonio, Birds of Texas
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/whbauer/tx_birds.htm 

Texas Coast Birding Trail Map
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/wildlife_trails/coastal/upper/ 

Texas Gulf Coast Birding and Naturalist Web
http://texasnaturalist.net/ 

Texas Ornithological Society
http://www.texasbirds.org/