Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra) Family: Cardinalidae Summer Tanagers are medium-sized, chunky songbirds with big bodies and large heads. They have large, thick, blunt-tipped bills. The strawberry-colored male Summer Tanager is the only completely red bird in North America. Adult females have olive-green upperparts and mustard yellow underparts. First spring males may have varying patches of […]

Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) Family: Apodidae Chimney Swifts are small, grey-brown birds found in Houston from March to October. They are best identified by their silhouette- slender bodies, round heads, long, narrow, curved wings and short, tapered tails. Their wide bills are so short that they are often hard to see. They have a distinctive […]

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis) Family: Anatidae The Black-bellied Whistling-Duck is a large duck with a long neck, long legs, and short tail. They have a chestnut breast and black belly with a bright pink bill and legs. Their face is gray and has a broad, white wing stipe that is visible in flight. True to […]

Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) Family: Tyrannidae The Eastern Kingbird is a broad shouldered and big-headed songbird with black head, white underparts and black tail with a white tip. This bird belongs to the one of the oldest and most diverse families of birds, the tyrant flycatchers. Eastern Kingbirds, like many other flycatchers are insectivores meaning […]

Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia) Family: Parulidae The Black-and-white Warbler is a medium-sized warbler with a long, slightly downcurved bill. They are boldly striped in black and white and their black wings have two wide, white wing bars. The males of this species have more pronounced black streaking on their underparts and cheeks. Females and immatures […]

Nashville Warbler (Leiothlypis ruficapilla) Family: Parulidae By Ryan McGinty, Conservation Technician, Houston Audubon The Nashville Warbler is a small bird with a yellow underside, olive back, and gray head. They also have a white eye-ring and a little spot of chestnut on their crown, although this is often not visible. These birds move between branches, […]

Swainson’s Warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii) Family: Parulidae By Ryan McGinty, Conservation Technician, Houston Audubon What one might think of as a boring, brown warbler, the Swainson’s Warbler is a unique bird with many interesting behaviors. Ranging from olive to chestnut, these birds have a dark back, cap, and eyeline to contrast their lighter underside and supercilium. […]

American Golden-Plover (Pluvialis dominica) Family: Charadriidae By Averi Lohman, Conservation Technician, Houston Audubon The American Golden-Plover is a very unassuming bird this time of year. Its plumage is a brown-gray color with some darker brown spots and gray ‘armpits’ on the underside of its wings. When it arrives at its breeding grounds in the Arctic, […]