News and Features

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.