Male Cardinal Close up – Fennessey Ranch/Refugio, Texas

 

 

Beginning Birding Tips – Resources

 

By David Plunkett

 

At least in passing, I have briefly mentioned several resources in the first three articles.  In this article, I will attempt to provide you with a more comprehensive description of resources available such as field guides, maps, websites, classes, and area organizations.

 

There are many different bird guides available.  As stated before, I have many different books but National Geographic’s “Birds of North America” is my favorite.  Most people I know prefer guides with drawings rather than actual pictures since this gives you a generalized view of a particular bird rather than a picture of one individual. 

 

My first field guide was Peterson’s “Birds of Texas” and it worked very well.  Other folks have started with the Golden Book guide.  Sibley, Stokes, Kaufman, to name a few, have excellent guides.  You need to decide what you like best for you.

 

In addition, to field guides, there are all kinds of other books you can buy concerning birding.  This spring at Quintana, I was also carrying Stoke’s “Field Guide to Warblers”.   My most recent purchases, which I have not used enough to have a credible opinion, are Lockwood’s “Basic Texas Birds” and Arnold/Kennedy’s “Birds of Texas”.   John and Gloria Tveten have written many excellent nature-related books about Texas and the Houston area.

 

Other specialty books that I have are: “A Birder’s Guide to the Lower Rio Grande Valley” (Lane/ABA) and the Tucson Audubon Society’s “Finding Birds in Southeast Arizona”.  These are the two “hottest” areas in the country for more exotic birds not normally found anywhere else.  These guides give you locations, driving directions, maps, and the types of birds expected to be found at a location.  The information about some locations can become dated in these books but they are generally very helpful if you are planning a trip to these areas.

 

Various guides are available in our area at Gulf Coast Bird Observatory (GCBO), Hastings and Waldenbooks.  My opinion is that GCBO has the best selection of nature-related books in the area.  Ordering over the web is another option.

 

As previously mentioned, the “Birds of Southern Brazoria County, Texas” compiled by the Brazosport Birders and Naturalists and published by the GCBO is another great resource for our area.  This booklet and an area birding map are available from the GCBO in Lake Jackson.  

 

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) publishes three “The Great Texas Birding Trail” maps for the lower, middle and upper coast.  This is a great way to find descriptions and map locations of many good birding spots.  While there is some time of year information on the map, my opinion is you should also do further research as to when is the best time to visit these locations.  Of course, this is true on any location you are planning to visit.

 

One way to check these locations out is search them on the web.  There is a lot of information out there on various sites.  Be sure to look for bird checklists that give seasonal information so you can plan the timing of your visit. 

 

Some of the birding websites that may be of value to you include:

 

• Houston Audubon’s links page http://www.houstonaudubon.org/index.cfm/MenuItemID/679.htm;

 

• David Saroski’s Birds of the Upper Texas Coast which has much more than that on the site http://www.texasbirding.net/;  

 

• The Friends of the Brazoria Wildlife Refuge’s links at http://www.refugefriends.org/; and

 

• One of my favorite sites is Connell’s “All About Birds” where you can search at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/.   Rather than using this link, I normally just type a Goggle search such as “Black Skimmer Cornell.” 

 

Houston Audubon periodically offers birding classes and field trips so you just need to watch their website for information.  Closer to home, a Beginning Birding class/field trip(s) has been offered at Brazosport College the last several years.  My understanding is demand has fallen off so their plan is to wait until next spring before offering the next class.

 

Local organizations where you can learn more about birding are:

 

Brazosport Birders and Naturalists which meet the fourth Monday September – November and January – April at 7:00 p.m. At the Natural Science Museum (Brazosport Center for the Arts and Sciences) in Clute.  Typical in May, a dinner meeting is held on a Saturday afternoon at GCBO. 

 

 Master Naturalists - Cradle of Texas Chapter requires completing an extensive training course typically held in the fall.  Training is excellent and includes birds and other nature related topics.  Providing trained volunteers for other nature-related organizations is the main purpose of the Master Naturalist program.

 

This is the last article in this series.  Hopefully, this information will be useful to you in learning more about birds and birding in Brazoria County and coastal Texas. 

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