Birdlife of Houston, Galveston, and the Upper Texas Coast


Book Description

In the last thirty years, the Upper Texas Coast has become a “must go” destination for birders around the globe. This book will serve as an essential companion to the customary field guide and pair of binoculars for all visitors to Houston, High Island, Galveston, Freeport, or any of the area’s other exciting birding spots. It also places the birdlife of the region, a seven-county area with a larger bird list than forty-three states, into historical and ecological contexts. Authors Eubanks, Behrstock, and Weeks—all recognized authorities on the migrant and resident birds of this region—present a thorough introduction to the area’s history, physiography, and avifauna. Then, in generous discussions of bird families and species, they synthesize years of records, tracking the comings and goings of more than 480 birds and incorporating their own lifetimes of experience to create an “ornithological mosaic” of lasting significance.




Finding Birds on the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail


Book Description

The Texas coast offers rich avian treasures for expert birders and beginners alike, if only they know where to look. For those familiar with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s maps to the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, this book on the Upper Texas Coast offers more—more information, more convenient and detailed maps, more pictures, more finding tips, and more birding advice from one of the trail’s creators, Ted Lee Eubanks Jr., and trail experts Robert A. Behrstock and Seth Davidson. For those new to the trail, the book is the perfect companion for learning where to find and how to bird the very best venues on this part of the Texas coast. In an opening tutorial on habitat and seasonal strategies for birding the Upper Texas Coast, the authors include tips on how to take advantage of the famous (but elusive) fallouts of birds that happen here. They then briefly discuss the basics of birding by ear and the rewards of passive birding before turning to the trail itself and each of more than 120 birding sites from the Louisiana-Texas border, through Galveston and Houston, to just south of Freeport. Advice oninding bird groups While not intended as a field identification guide, the book contains more than 175 color photographs of birds and their coastal habitat, giving readers an excellent feel for the trail’s diversity and abundance. Whether you are making your annual spring pilgrimage to Texas, leisurely traveling with the family along the coast, or wondering what to do during a layover in Houston, using this book as your guide to the trail will greatly enhance your birding experience.




Birds of Houston


Book Description

No matter where you see birds in the city--in parks or woodlands, on power lines or in parking lots--they are the natural soul of the urban landscape. They enhance the city and the lives of those who watch them. Nature writer B. C. Robison and wildlife photographer John Tveten have teamed up to produce this field guide for birders who want to identify the birds most commonly seen in Houston. Fifty-five species are included, ranging from such well-known favorites as the mockingbird and cardinal to the more exotic yellow-crowned night heron. A full-color photograph for each bird appears alongside warm and often witty description. For quick reference, a summary of the primary field marks of the adult bird is also provided. This summary includes not only identifying features of the bird but also its habitats, the time of year it can be found, and its distinctive behavioral traits. Aimed at the beginning birder, the guide also gives tips on buying binoculars and on attracting birds to your yard.




A Birder's Guide to the Texas Coast


Book Description

A Birder's Guide to the Texas Coast will be indispensable as your field guide to one of the world's premier birding destinations. The Texas coast is home to an amazing number of migrating and wintering birds, as well as many specialty resident and nesting species. The habitat diversity ranges from the Pineywoods to the Gulf prairies, from the coastal wetlands to the South Texas subtropics. The spring migration of neotropical birds along the coast is one of North America's most remarkable birding spectacles. And the region is host to some of the nation's largest congregations of herons, egrets, rails, shorebirds, gulls, and terns at any season. A Birder's Guide to the Texas Coast includes Species Accounts for over 170 Texas specialties, and more than 70 new sites, for a total of over 200 birding stops, as well as bar-graphs for 388 regularly occurring Texas Coast species.




Exploring the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail


Book Description

This birding guide profiles more than 80 of the best sites and attractions along this approximately 2,110-mile trail which covers more over 41 counties along Texas's Gulf Coast, and hosts half of the 600 species found in the state.




Birds of Northeast Texas


Book Description

Provides descriptions of 390 species of birds found in Northeast Texas and includes color photographs and commentary on status, distribution, and occurrences in the region's twenty-two counties.




Galveston Bay


Book Description

Galveston Bay is the recreational center of the Texas coast—a fishing, boating and birdwatching playground for the almost four million people who live on or near it. A shallow estuary of about 350,000 acres, the bay supports a rich assortment of wildlife and a commercial fishery that pulls millions of pounds of crabs, shrimp, and oysters from the water each year. Gateway to the Port of Houston, Galveston Bay is also a major corridor for huge volumes of international shipping and is home to the nation's largest petrochemical manufacturing complex. How can such divergent and apparently contradictory activities all coexist? Setting out to find some answers, Sally Antrobus has produced a book for residents and visitors alike that tunes them in to what is happening in, on, and to the bay—the book she wished for when she first came to live nearby. Beginning with a short, incisive history of the peopling of the area, Antrobus describes how the bay works ecologically and how it is put to work, for recreation and for commerce; how nature both contributes to and controls the human enterprise there; and how power and politics can destroy all the bay has to offer. Antrobus serves as an expert guide for those who want to discover hidden destinations and attend events that celebrate the life on Galveston Bay. Her resources section offers a wealth of ways to become active in local conservation efforts, reminding us there is much to hope for but also much to do to ensure the survival of this great bay.




Lives of North American Birds


Book Description

The bestselling natural history of birds, lavishly illustrated with 600 colorphotos, is now available for the first time in flexi binding.




Birds of Southeast Texas and the Upper Texas Coast


Book Description

Birds of Southeast Texas and the Upper Texas Coast: People exploring nature in Southeast Texas can use this handy photographic field guide to identify 88 bird species. The birds in the guide are grouped by family for ease in identification, and the accompanying text indicates size, habitat, field marks, and seasonal occurrence. The guides six double-sided panels fold up into a packet narrow enough to fit in a back pocket yet sturdy enough to stand up under repeated use. Lamination has made the guide waterproof. The birds included here reside, migrate through, or spend part of the year in the area from the Texas/Louisiana border to south of Freeport and including the inland Piney Woods and Coastal Prairie regions.




Houston Birds


Book Description

Most illustrations show the adult male in breeding coloration.