Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) Family: Icteridae This week’s Beak of the Week can be found year-round in most of Texas. Common Grackles are lanky blackbirds with iridescent teal heads, purple wings, and olive and purple bodies. Female grackles are less iridescent, and often appear brown. Male Common Grackles will puff their feathers when singing, […]
Read MoreSora (Porzana carolina) Family: Rallidae Secretive and cryptic, rails have evolved to avoid detection among the dense reeds of freshwater marshes. The Sora is no exception, although one characteristic sets it apart from other North American rails: its lemon-yellow bill. This striking bill is quite short and stubby, which allows it to primarily eat seeds. […]
Read MoreEastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) Family: Passerellidae Some believe that this week’s Beak of the Week sounds like it’s singing “drink your tea.” The male Eastern Towhee has a black upper body, wings, rump and tail, two white tail spots, white belly, and rufous flanks. Female Eastern Towhees have brown upper bodies, rumps, wings, and tails […]
Read MoreGreater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) Family: Anatidae Nothing quite screams January like the Greater White-fronted Goose. Perhaps not, but they do spend the winter season on the Upper Texas Coast and they are rather noisy. They start arriving from their tundra breeding grounds in October and leave again around March and April. Greater White-fronted Geese […]
Read MoreFork-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus savana) Family: Tyrannidae We at Houston Audubon wish you all a Happy New Year, full of renewal and good luck. And what is luckier than finding a Fork-tailed Flycatcher in Galveston County? This Central and South American species rarely ventures into the United States, but last Wednesday, one made its way into […]
Read MoreNorthern Gannet (Morus bassanus) Family: Sulidae This week’s Beak of the Week looks out of this world. While immature Northern Gannets are patchy brown birds, adults are sleek, white, heavy-set birds with black wingtips, yellowish napes, and have spears for bills. If the appearance of this bird wasn’t enough to impress you, just watch it […]
Read MoreCommon Redpoll (Acanthis flammea) Family: Fringillidae The Common Redpoll is a small finch with a stubby, conical, yellow bill, a dark spot beneath its bill, a red spot on its forehead, dark wings, and dark streaking on the flanks, and upper body. An adult male will have a rosy wash to the breast. As a […]
Read MorePine Siskin (Spinus pinus) Family: Fringillidae The Pine Siskin can normally be found across southern Canada and in higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains, spreading more widely across the northern and western United States during winter. Pine Siskins prefer to feed on the cones of spruce trees, and, in years when spruce trees do not […]
Read MoreHermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) Family: Turdidae Houston birders are starting to see ever more Hermit Thrushes appear in the forest. These spotted birds fly to the Southern United States and Mexico in the fall to spend the winter before flying north again in the spring. Of the common American thrushes, the Hermit Thrush is one […]
Read MoreChipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) Family: Passerellidae Breeding adult Chipping Sparrows have gray bodies, tan and black wings, a distinct bright rufous crown, white eyebrows, malar and throat, and a striking black eyeline. Immature birds will have less distinct eyelines and crowns, and will have a tan wash all over. They may also have slight streaking […]
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