Birds, birds, and more birds!

Missy watches birds with binoculars.

It is a cold day in Texas.  We are having another winter storm with sleet and a little snow.  All the schools and many stores are closed.  We are staying inside where it is warm.  Missy tells us that it snows a lot in the winter in Colorado.  We rarely have snow in our part of Texas.

Today is a good day for Missy to learn about Texas birds.  We always have lots of birds at our bird feeders.  This time of year we also have many very special birds visiting Texas.  These birds have two homes.  They nest in one home and winter in their other home.  Twice a year, the birds fly from one home to the other.  This is called migration.

Many birds migrate to our part of Texas in the winter.  They leave their homes in the cold country and migrate here to stay warm.  Some of these birds fly all the way from the Arctic ocean!

Central Flyway Migration map (courtesy Texas Parks & Wildlife)

The most famous Texas migratory bird is the whooping crane.  Whooping cranes nest in northern Canada and migrate to the Texas coast every winter.  They fly over 5,000 miles to get here!  In 1941 only 14 whoopers were still living in the wild.  People in Canada and Texas began to work together to save the whoopers.  It worked!!!  Now there are over 250 whooping cranes that come to Texas every year.

At our house, we have many migratory birds that visit us every winter.  Hawks and hummingbirds migrate here.  We also have many warblers and flycatchers.  Sometimes we even have spoonbills and the bright red scarlet tanager.

We knew that the birds would be hungry today because of the cold weather.  We filled our bird feeders early this morning.  Soon many, many birds came to visit.  Here are a few that Missy saw:

An American Goldfinch poofing up his feathers to keep warm.

Red Cardinal

Black-capped Chickadee

Mourning Dove

Downey Woodpecker

Red-breasted Robin

Blue Jay

Carolina Wren

Missy and I had fun watching the birds today.   We learned a lot about Texas birds and migratory birds.  If you would like to know more about Texas birds, we have found some great information for you.

Just click here to learn more about Texas backyard birds:  Texas Backyard Birds

Here's a great activity book about Texas birds:  Texas Birds Activity Book

If you would like to learn more about whooping cranes, click here:  Whooping Cranes

You can also check out these great books from your library:

• Backyard Bird Watching for Kids by George H. Harrison
• On the Wing:  American Birds in Migration by Carol Lerner
• The Peregrine's Journey:  A Story of Migration by Madeleine Dunphy
• How Do Birds Find Their Way? by Roma Gans
• Whooping Cranes by Karen Dudley

Whooping Cranes

Texas is the winter home of a very special kind of bird. Whooping cranes are the tallest birds in North America. Their wing span is nearly eight feet wide. Their feathers are white except for black wing tips. They have bright yellow eyes and a patch of red skin on their heads.

Including birds living in zoos, there are only about 530 whooping cranes in the entire world. This year, 288 whoopers flew back to Texas. The flock included 21 chicks that were born this spring.

In the summer, whoopers live in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada. Every fall, they fly 2,400 miles to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. Aransas is located on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Whoopers arrive in Texas around November. They live in the marsh land along the Gulf Coast. They eat blue crabs and crawfish.

In April, the whoopers fly back to Canada. They build their nests and raise their babies there. When the air turns cold in Canada, they fly once again to their Texas winter home.

For more information on whooping cranes, go to http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/whooper/ . You can also read my mom's story about whoopers by checking out this book from your library: Milkweed Edition's Stories from Where We Live: The Gulf Coast.