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Black-throated Green Warbler
An adult male. Females are similar but have a whitish throat. Primarily a migrant in Texas with a few winter records. Their Spring migration season lasts from mid-March through mid-May. Note the pale yellowish wash on its underparts. They are the easternmost representative of a quartet of...- jmorlan
- Media item
- black-throated green warbler setophaga virens texas usa
- Comments: 1
- Category: North America
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Black-and-white Warbler
The clean fresh primaries and secondaries indicate this is an adult. The solid black cheek patch along with bold black flank streaks indicate a male. They act more like a nuthatch than a warbler. In fact they were originally placed with the Creepers instead of the warblers. The monotypic genus...- jmorlan
- Media item
- black-and-white warbler mniotilta varia texas usa
- Comments: 3
- Category: North America
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Tennessee Warbler
An adult male. Females are similar but usually less crisply patterned and tend to have more yellow on the chest. Note the fine pointed bill which is sometimes used to steal nectar from flowers by piercing the base of the flower. Its nomenclature has been unstable. Formerly in the genus...- jmorlan
- Media item
- leiothlypis peregrina tennessee warbler texas usa
- Comments: 3
- Category: North America
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Blackpoll Warbler
A rare spring migrant in Texas, this incredibly cooperative male is in full breeding plumage. They have one of the longest non-stop migrations of any song bird. Most of the population migrates over the Atlantic Ocean from Canada and New England to South America in the Fall and back in the...- jmorlan
- Media item
- blackpoll warbler setophaga striata texas usa
- Comments: 3
- Category: North America
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Kentucky Warbler
This is a female. They are similar to males but have less black in the face and crown. They are a bird of forested understory, shy and usually difficult to see. but this cooperative individual was extraordinarily tame. They have been declining and are now a scarce migrant here in Coastal Texas...- jmorlan
- Media item
- geothlypis formosa kentucky warbler texas usa
- Comments: 2
- Category: North America
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Stilt Sandpiper
Posing nicely along the Laguna Madre Trail, this is an adult in breeding plumage. Note the chestnut ear coverts. Sexes are similar but this one has only a hint of rufous in the crown and less distinct ventral barring suggesting a female. A long-distance migrant wintering mostly in South America...- jmorlan
- Media item
- calidris himantopus stilt sandpiper texas usa
- Comments: 3
- Category: North America
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Fulvous Whistling-Duck
A small flock of migrants along the Laguna Madre Trail were grounded by the weather and were gone the next day. This species is dependent on rice cultivation where they have declined as a consequence of pesticide use. In Texas they are still local summer breeders to coastal regions but in...- jmorlan
- Media item
- dendrocygna bicolor fulvous whistling-duck texas usa
- Comments: 3
- Category: North America
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Gray-cheeked Thrush
An uncommon long-distance migrant from wintering grounds in Northern South America to boreal forests in North America and the Russian Far-East. Missed by Audubon and often confused with similar species, Gray-cheeked may be identified by the lack of a distinct eyering, combined with rather cold...- jmorlan
- Media item
- catharus minimus gray-cheeked thrush texas usa
- Comments: 2
- Category: North America
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Louisiana Waterthrush
An early Spring migrant this is the only one we saw. This record shot in deep shade at a water feature shows the white supercilium flaring behind the eye and and exceptionally large bill. Both features help distinguish it from the more expected Northern Waterthrush which has a buff supercilium...- jmorlan
- Media item
- louisiana waterthrush parkesia motacilla texas usa
- Comments: 2
- Category: North America
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Hooded Warbler
An incredibly tame adult male posed nicely. Immature males are similar but have narrower black on the side of the neck and more contrasting retained primary coverts. They are migrants in this area often hiding in low dense shrubbery. Formerly in the genus "Wilsonia."- jmorlan
- Media item
- hooded warbler setophaga citrina texas usa
- Comments: 3
- Category: North America
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Wood Thrush
Posing at a water feature, this Eastern North American thrush is a fairly common migrant in the eastern half of Texas, especially along the coast where it can be found in shady forested areas with heavy leaf litter. Unfortunately they are rapidly declining with forest fragmentation, cowbird...- jmorlan
- Media item
- hylocichla mustelina texas usa wood thrush
- Comments: 3
- Category: North America
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Painted Bunting
My first bird at the parking lot was a harbinger of a major migration fallout. Adult males are outrageously multi-colored but females and immature males are usually indistinguishable. Here the fresh primary coverts suggest an adult female. "P. c. pallidior" is the smaller, paler western race...- jmorlan
- Media item
- painted bunting passerina ciris texas usa
- Comments: 2
- Category: North America
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Greater Roadrunner
An alert pose with tail cocked and crest raised. This iconic ground cuckoo of the arid American Southwest seemed to be following me. The colored eye markings are bare skin known as the postorbital apterium. It is mostly blue in females, but males such as this also show a bit of red or orange.- jmorlan
- Media item
- geococcyx californianus greater roadrunner texas usa
- Comments: 4
- Category: North America
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Gray Catbird
Gray Catbirds were abundant, but difficult to photograph because of their somber plumage and preference for deep shade. I got this image at a photo-blind with a water drip. This species is named for its catlike "mewing" call-note, but its song includes many complex phrases; often sounding like...- jmorlan
- Media item
- dumetella carolinensis gray catbird texas usa
- Comments: 3
- Category: North America
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Bronzed Cowbird
Cowbirds are obligate brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds. This species prefers orioles as its host. Distinguished by its red eyes, it formerly went under the name "Red-eyed Cowbird." This is presumably the nominate race occurring from Southern Texas to Panama. Females...- jmorlan
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- bronzed cowbird molothrus aeneus texas usa
- Comments: 2
- Category: North America
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Blue Grosbeak
The males take two years to gain full plumage. This is presumably the nominate eastern race smaller with a smaller bill and more purple than birds from the western US. Formerly placed in the monotypic genus "Guiraca" but moved to "Passerina" by the AOS in 2002 (43rd supplement) based on...- jmorlan
- Media item
- blue grosbeak passerina caerulea texas usa
- Comments: 3
- Category: North America
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Altamira Oriole
This species reaches the northern limit of its range in southern Texas where it appears to be increasing. Prior to 1950 it was considered rare. Resembling an oversized male Hooded Oriole, it is the largest oriole in the US. Texas birds are the smaller more brightly colored subspecies "I. g...- jmorlan
- Media item
- altamira oriole icterus gularis texas usa
- Comments: 2
- Category: North America
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Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Another shot taken in the rain through a window in the visitor center. It gets its name from the gold colored nasal tufts and forehead. This is a male. Females lack the red patch on the crown. A close relative of the more widespread Red-bellied Woodpecker, Golden-fronted Woodpecker ranges from...- jmorlan
- Media item
- golden-fronted woodpecker melanerpes aurifrons texas usa
- Comments: 3
- Category: North America
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Great Kiskadee
Taken during the rain through a window in the visitor center. This is another open-country bird that has expanded its range because of deforestation. It is widespread from Southern Texas to South America. About 10 subspecies are recognized but some of these are vaguely defined and probably...- jmorlan
- Media item
- great kiskadee pitangus sulphuratus texas usa
- Comments: 2
- Category: North America
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Clay-colored Thrush
The national bird of Costa Rica visiting a feeder in the rain, taken through a window in the visitor's center. Formerly a very rare visitor to southern Texas, but it has increased in resent years. Breeding was first documented in 2002 and it now breeds regularly in south Texas. It was removed...- jmorlan
- Media item
- clay-colored thrush texas turdus grayi usa
- Comments: 3
- Category: North America
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Long-billed Thrasher
Feeding on mulberries. The Long-billed Thrasher replaces the similar, more widespread Brown Thrasher (T. rufum) in southern Texas and Mexico. Note the orange iris and more curved bill cf. Brown Thrasher. The Long-billed Thrasher is still common in the area, but it has declined apparently because...- jmorlan
- Media item
- long-billed thrasher texas toxostoma longirostre usa
- Comments: 2
- Category: North America
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Altamira x Audubon's Oriole (Icterus gularis x graduacauda)
Records of this hybrid combination go back to 1988 when a mixed pair was noted at a nest in Ricardo, Texas. The first presumed hybrid (nicknamed "Smudgy") was seen in 1998. Since then several presumed hybrids have been seen at Bentson Rio Grande SP and elsewhere in the area where the two...- jmorlan
- Media item
- altamira x audubon's oriole icterus gularis x graduacauda texas usa
- Comments: 2
- Category: North America
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Couch's Kingbird
Feeding on Mulberries. Couch's Kingbird is almost identical to Tropical Kingbird, (the two were formerly lumped) but this individual was giving the long "pit-wheeeer" call diagnostic of Couch's. Tropical has a rapid twitter. This one also shows a visibly shorter bill thicker at its base as...- jmorlan
- Media item
- couch's kingbird texas tyrannus couchii usa
- Comments: 3
- Category: North America
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Brown-crested Flycatcher
Identification of flycatchers in the genus "Myiarchus" is notoriously tricky with vocal differences being the gold standard. However subtle differences in the distribution of rusty color in the tail can be helpful. Here an out-of-place tail feather, shows the reddish inner web extending all the...- jmorlan
- Media item
- brown-crested flycatcher myiarchus tyrannulus texas usa
- Comments: 1
- Category: North America
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Franklin's Gull
Part of a large flock of an estimated 70 birds. The pink flush seen here is acquired internally from food and not applied via the preen gland as often thought. These gulls are long-distance migrants, breeding in the interior of the North American prairies and wintering primarily along the west...- jmorlan
- Media item
- franklin's gull leucophaeus pipixcan texas usa
- Comments: 3
- Category: North America