News and Features

A Recap of the 2010-11 Winter Season

The 6^th winter season (Nov. 2010 - Mar. 2011) of the South Texas Wintering Birds Program (STWB) is over and once again for the third year in a row that has produced over 260 bird species! This is also the first winter season in which 200 or more species were reported each month.  That is quite remarkable!   Additionally, 14 new species were submitted during this past winter season bringing the overall winter bird richness since the STWB program started to 334 species.

Lark Buntings invade South Texas!

Lark Buntings staged an unprecedented invasion of South Texas this past winter season.  With sightings from 12 counties and some observations exceeding 500 birds, this became quite a remarkable season for this species!  Prior to the 2009-10 winter season, there had only been 5 counties that had sightings of Lark Buntings since the South Texas Wintering Birds program began in 2005.  

Harris's Sparrow comes to Jim Wells County!

Recently, a Harris’s sparrow was found on a property in Jim Wells County! This particular species of sparrow usually winters in the north central portion of Texas.  Records of Harris’s sparrow in South Texas are very few and this record appears to represent one of a handful for this region.

Highlights of 2008-09 Winter Season

The South Texas Wintering Birds program (STWB) during its 4^th winter season has continued to learn even more about the diversity and distribution of bird life that occur here in South Texas.  Overall, 401 bird species have been reported to the STWB program. During the 2008-‘09 winter season, 266 bird species were reported, which is 10 species more than was reported during the previous winter.  Also, 24 counties had sightings submitted to the STWB program compared to 22 of the previous winter.

Wood Storks on the move!

A perennial South Texas summer and fall visitor

Wood storks are traveling about South Texas and could be visiting a place near you this fall! This article provides some background information regarding these unique South Texas birds.

Wood Storks, while found in this region during summer and fall months, are unlike many other summer residents in that they do not nest in South Texas. The occurrence of Wood Storks in South Texas is related to an activity known as post-breeding dispersal. These are birds that have nested elsewhere and once the young have fledged from the nest, these family groups start to travel to other regions. Most sightings in South Texas occur from June through early November.

Waiting for the rain

The breeding season of birds is timed to coincide with periods of favorable environmental conditions, thereby increasing the chances of successful reproduction. In semiarid regions, where rainfall can be erratic and highly variable, the timing of favorable conditions is uncertain and, therefore, the breeding season of birds in these regions often is closely tied with the occurrence of rainfall. The positive response of avian reproduction to distinct periods of rainfall has been observed in many parts of the globe such as Australia, New Zealand, and South America. In fact, we have even observed this response in our own backyard for many years.

CKWRI kicks off South Texas Wintering Birds Program

Thanks to a number of private donors, CKWRI has launched a new program called South Texas Wintering Birds. For some time, we have recognized the need to monitor migration patterns such as arrival and departure dates of birds that overwinter in South Texas as well as those passing through this important region. We often stumbled when trying to figure out how to do long-term monitoring on a landscape scale. That is, until we began talking to our friends at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The Charismatic Reddish Egret

A little studied wading bird of the Texas coast

The reddish egret is a medium-sized heron with an exclusive habitat preference for coastal wetlands. There are 2 color phases, the more common dark phase that exhibits grayish plumage with a reddish head and neck, and a white phase that has entirely white plumage. Both color phases can be distinguished from similar looking egrets by their bicolored bill and very animated foraging behavior that includes a diverse range of activities such as running, jumping, wing-flicking, foot-stirring, and wing canopy feeding.