Basic Texas Birds: A Field Guide

Finding all the birds in Texas can be a lifetime pursuit. Basic Texas Birds, an easy-to-use field guide, will help you identify over 180 species of birds that are found across the state, including a selection of the rarer "Texas specialties" that draw birders to Texas from around the world. These are the birds that form the basis of a birder's life list for Texas. Basic Texas Birds is organized by bird families to aid in identifying any bird you see in the wild. It is loaded with resources, including: *200 full-color, close-up photos of the birds * State-of-the-art range maps-the most accurate of any currently available-that show each species' distribution within the state * Up-to-date species accounts that provide a wealth of current and historical information, including each bird's appearance, habitat, status, and distribution, and that also identify similar species * A glossary of terms used in bird identification * A list of selected readings for learning more about birds found in Texas * The Texas Ornithological Society's list of birds documented in Texas Much more convenient for identifying common birds than a comprehensive state or national field guide, Basic Texas Birds is a must-have resource for both beginning and experienced birders.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction Species Accounts Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Snow Goose Cackling Goose and Canada Goose Wood Duck American Wigeon Mallard Blue-winged Teal Northern Shoveler Green-winged Teal Canvasback Redhead Ring-necked Duck Lesser Scaup Masked Duck Greater Prairie-Chicken Lesser Prairie-Chicken Wild Turkey Scaled Quail Gambel's Quail Northern Bobwhite Montezuma Quail Common Loon Least Grebe Pied-billed Grebe American White Pelican Brown Pelican Double-crested Cormorant Anhinga American Bittern Least Bittern Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret Little Blue Heron Reddish Egret Cattle Egret Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron White-faced Ibis Roseate Spoonbill Black Vulture Turkey Vulture Osprey Mississippi Kite Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Cooper's Hawk Harris's Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Swainson's Hawk White-tailed Hawk Zone-tailed Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Crested Caracara American Kestrel Aplomado Falcon King Rail American Coot Sandhill Crane Whooping Crane Killdeer American Avocet Long-billed Curlew Sanderling Least Sandpiper Long-billed Dowitcher Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull Royal Tern Forster's Tern Black Skimmer White-winged Dove Mourning Dove Inca Dove Common Ground-Dove Green Parakeet Yellow-billed Cuckoo Greater Roadrunner Barn Owl Western Screech-Owl and Eastern Screech-Owl Great Horned Owl Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl Burrowing Owl Barred Owl Lesser Nighthawk Common Nighthawk Common Poorwill Whip-poor-will Chimney Swift Buff-bellied Hummingbird Lucifer Hummingbird Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Black-chinned Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher Green Kingfisher Golden-fronted Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Ladder-backed Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Red-cockaded Woodpecker Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Vermilion Flycatcher Great Kiskadee Western Kingbird Eastern Kingbird Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Loggerhead Shrike White-eyed Vireo Black-capped Vireo Blue-headed Vireo Blue Jay Green Jay Western Scrub-Jay Mexican Jay American Crow Common Raven Purple Martin Cave Swallow Barn Swallow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse and Black-crested Titmouse Bushtit Cactus Wren Carolina Wren Bewick's Wren Marsh Wren Ruby-crowned Kinglet Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Eastern Bluebird Hermit Thrush Wood Thrush Clay-colored Robin American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher Curve-billed Thrasher Cedar Waxwing Phainopepla Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Colima Warbler Tropical Parula Yellow Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Golden-cheeked Warbler Black-and-white Warbler Common Yellowthroat Wilson's Warbler Summer Tanager Scarlet Tanager Spotted Towhee Chipping Sparrow Lark Sparrow Black-throated Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Harris's Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal Pyrrhuloxia Black-headed Grosbeak Blue Grosbeak Indigo Bunting Varied Bunting Painted Bunting Red-winged Blackbird Eastern Meadowlark and Western Meadowlark Yellow-headed Blackbird Boat-tailed Grackle Great-tailed Grackle Bronzed Cowbird Brown-headed Cowbird Bullock's Oriole Altamira Oriole Baltimore Oriole House Finch Lesser Goldfinch American Goldfinch Appendix: The Texas Ornithological Society's List of Birds Documented in Texas Glossary Suggested References Index