Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) Family: Tyrannidae The Great Crested Flycatcher is a large perching bird in the large and diverse family of tyrant flycatchers. This bird is distinguished by its bright yellow belly and under-tail coverts (bottom of tail), dull white throat and namesake head crest. Although not extremely inconspicuous the Great Crested Flycatcher […]

Cattle Egret (Bulbulcus ibis) Family: Ardeidae The stout white Cattle Egret is most often seen in fields rather than shallow water with other herons and egrets. It prefers to follow grazing cattle (hence the name) as well as tractors and mowers, snatching up small lizards and insects that scatter after the disturbance. The Cattle Egret […]

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 […]

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.  […]

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 […]