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Breeding Birds of the Texas Coast

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Breeding Birds of the Texas Coast Roseate Spoonbill • L 32”• Uncom- Why Birds are Important of the mon, declining • Unmistakable pale Breeding Birds Texas Coast pink wading bird with a long bill end- • Bird abundance is an important indicator of the ing in flat “spoon”• Nests on islands health of coastal ecosystems in vegetation • Wades slowly through American White Pelican • L 62” Reddish Egret • L 30”• Threatened in water, sweeping touch-sensitive bill •Common, increasing • Large, white • Revenue generated by hunting, photography, and Texas, decreasing • Dark morph has slate- side to side in search of prey birdwatching helps support the coastal economy in bird with black flight feathers and gray body with reddish breast, neck, and Chuck Tague bright yellow bill and pouch • Nests Texas head; white morph completely white – both in groups on islands with sparse have pink bill with Black-bellied Whistling-Duck vegetation • Preys on small fish in black tip; shaggy- • L 21”• Lo- groups looking plumage cally common, increasing • Goose-like duck Threats to Island-Nesting Bay Birds Chuck Tague with long neck and pink legs, pinkish-red bill, Greg Lavaty • Nests in mixed- species colonies in low vegetation or on black belly, and white eye-ring • Nests in tree • Habitat loss from erosion and wetland degradation cavities • Occasionally nests in mesquite and Brown Pelican • L 51”• Endangered in ground • Uses quick, erratic movements to • Predators such as raccoons, feral hogs, and stir up prey Chuck Tague other woody vegetation on bay islands Texas, but common and increasing • Large • Feeds on plants and seeds in shallow water Laughing Gulls that eat eggs and young gray-brown bird with distinctive bill and pouch Clipart.com – breeding adults have yellow head with dark Little Blue Heron • L 24”• Uncommon, • Disturbance from humans and their pets brown neck• Colonial nesters on islands with decreasing • Smaller wader; entirely blue- gray with long, greenish legs and bluish Clapper Rail • L 14.5”• Locally com- • Entanglement in discarded or lost fishing tackle dense vegetation and low shrubs • Plunge- dives to feed on fish bill – immature birds mon, trend unknown • Thin, chicken-like and other debris Chuck Tague are white with or bird, grayish to rusty brown with long, without blue mottling orange bill • Nests in clumped grasses Great Blue Heron• L 46”• Com- • Nests in mixed- or low in forks of woody vegetation • Robert Stalnaker Robert mon, slightly decreasing • Largest species colonies on Forages alone among mangroves and islands in low shrubs or mangroves • Slowly Chuck Tague heron– overall gray-blue with Lavaty Greg along marsh edges yellowish bill – will extend and coil wades through water with a stiff, extended neck in search of prey long neck • Nests colonially on islands in mangroves • Wades to Cattle Egret • L 20”• Common, stable Killdeer • L 10.5”• Common, de- feed on a wide variety of prey • Smallest white egret, with stocky body, creasing • Large plover with double Chuck Tague short legs, rusty-buff plumes on back, chest, black neck band and red eye ring Chuck Tague Chuck Tague • Solitary nester on bare ground, Cattle Egret nestlings Tricolored Heron nestlings and head, and reddish-orange bill • Nests in Great Egret • L 39”• Common, slightly mixed-species groups on vegetated coastal gravel, or sandy/shell-based surfaces decreasing • Large, white wading bird islands • Usually seen foraging in agricul- • Forages on land or water’s edge How to Avoid Disturbing Birds with long, orange-yellow bill and black Chuck Tague tural areas inland; feeds on insects Tague Chuck legs; during breeding season has long “Fish, Swim, and Play From 50 Yards Away!” plumes on back and lime-green skin Snowy Plover • L 6.25”• Uncom- around eyes • Nests in groups among — Gary P Nunn, The Music Ambassador of Texas Black-crowned Night-Heron • L 25” mon, decreasing • Small pale brown- other species on mangrove islands • Common, decreasing • Mid-sized, gray plover with black forehead stripe •Wades or waits motionlessly to capture and ear patch, and partial neck band • Obey posted areas where groups of birds are Chuck Tague nocturnal heron fish or other prey with short legs –black bill and gray legs • Solitary nesting on islands and neck – black nester on sandy or shelly ground cap and back, Chuck Tague • Feeds on ground or on tidal flats • Anchor your vessel at least 50 yards away from Snowy Egret • L 24”• Common, de- Chuck Tague gray wings and creasing • Small, white egret with long nesting islands tail, and red eyes. Juveniles are brown with black bill - yellow feet contrast with dark Wilson’s Plover • L 8”• Uncommon, white streaking • Nests in groups on islands Chuck Tague • Keep children and pets away from nesting islands legs; yellow skin around eye • Nests in decreasing • Mid-size plover with in shrubs or mangroves • Crouches at water’s edge waiting to mixed-species colonies among shrubs single neck band, thick black bill, and strike and capture fish and other prey • Move away from nesting birds if they increase • Slowly wades through water with white forehead • Nesting on sandy vocalization, fly off their nests, or otherwise move neck extended in search of prey bare ground, often among Least Tern away from you Chuck Tague White Ibis • L 25”• Common, colonies • Eats mostly crustaceans, stable • White, mid-sized wader including crabs, crayfish, and shrimp Greg Lavaty • Do not leave discarded fishing tackle behind– Tricolored Heron • L 26”• Common with long, downward-curving, red- but decreasing • Mid-sized heron; dispose of it properly on the mainland orange bill and legs. Juveniles mot- American Oystercatcher • L 17” slate gray back and dark breast with tled brown • Nests on mangrove • Common, stable • Black and brown contrasting white belly • Nests in • If you see someone destroying nests or disturbing islands • Uses touch-sensitive bill with white underside; large, laterally- mixed-species colonies on islands a nesting colony of birds, please contact: to probe shallow water and soft flattened, reddish-orange bill and red in dense vegetation • Chases fish mud in search of food Chuck Tague eye ring • Nests on shores and dredge Texas Parks & Wildlife at 1-800-792-GAME (4263) through water, crouching low and spoil islands with little to no vegetation Chuck Tague quickly stabbing bill to catch prey • Forages on tidal flats for shellfish Chuck Tague Black-necked Stilt • L 14” Sandwich Tern• L 15”• Com- • Common, trend unknown • Slen- mon, increasing • Mid-sized tern der shorebird with long reddish-pink with shaggy black cap, slender, Breeding Birds legs, black upperparts, white under- black bill with yellow tip • Nests parts, and long, thin, black bill in groups, usually with Royal • Nests on vegetation clumps over Terns, on sandy or shelly ground Fun Waterbird Facts of the Texas Coast water • Stands or wades slowly with little vegetation • Dives to Tom Grey Tom through shallow water to catch prey catch fish near water’s surface – also eats crustaceans Chuck Tague • Waterbirds take a wide variety of prey, including fish, crustaceans, snails, shellfish, worms, amphibians, rep- A Fisherman’s and Boater’s Bird Guide Willet • L 15”• Common, status tiles, and insects. Roseate Spoonbills are pink because unknown • Large, drab, gray-brown Forster’s Tern • L 13”• Local, the crustaceans they eat contain pink pigmentation. February – August shorebird with long bill and legs – declining • Mid-sized tern with in flight shows distinctive black and black cap, orange bill with black • The Killdeer, like many plovers, will feign a wing injury white wing stripe • Solitary ground tip, and orange legs • Nests on if you get too close to its nest. This behavior is called a nester amid marsh or beach grasses the ground in smaller colonies amid marsh and grasses • broken-wing display, and is used to lure predators away • Forages on beaches and tidal flats Greg Lavaty Plunge-dives to capture prey from the nest. Chuck Tague • Like owls, many fish-eating birds, such as terns and Laughing Gull• L 16”• Abundant, Black Skimmers, regurgitate “pellets” – non-digestible increasing • Breeding adult has black parts of their prey such as bones or scales. hood, reddish-black bill, and dark gray Least Tern • L 9”• Uncommon, declin- back with white underparts –juveniles • The American Oystercatcher has a laterally com- ing • Smallest local tern – yellow bill are varying shades of brown• Nests in pressed bill that allows it to easily pry open shellfish to large colonies • Opportunistic feeder; and legs, white forehead, black cap • Nests in sparse colonies on bare, reach its soft-bodied prey inside. Greg Lavaty will take eggs and young of other birds sandy or shelly ground • Hovers and • Terns and Black Skimmers display a behavior called plunge-dives to catch small fish and Caspian Tern • L 21”• Common, shrimp “mobbing”, flying up as a group to dive-bomb people, Chuck Tague stable •Large tern with thick red dogs, or predators that approach their nesting colonies. bill and black cap • Nests with Agitated birds will peck at and defecate on intruders, so other terns and gulls on bare or steer clear of nesting colonies! Black Skimmer • L 18” • Common, sparsely vegetated ground •Dives decreasing • Large, black bird with to capture fish near the water’s • Black Skimmers rest in a strange position – they lay flat white underparts, neck, and forehead on the ground with their heads stretched out in front of surface Greg Lavaty –large, red and black bill with lower them. “Rest assured” they aren’t dead! bill longer than upper • Nests
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