Texas Hill Country Bird Book - Abby Milligan

Texas Hill Country Birds

By Abby Milligan

Texas Hill Country Birds

Summer 2015

Table of Contents American Goldfinch

American Robin

Barn Swallow

Bewick’s Wren

Black‐Chinned Hummingbird

Black‐Crested Titmouse

Blue‐Gray Gnatcatcher

Brown‐headed Cowbird

Carolina Chickadee

Carolina Wren

Cedar Waxwing

Chimney Swift

Chipping Sparrow

Cliff Swallow

Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Meadowlark

Eastern Pheobe

Field Sparrow

Golden Fronted Woodpecker

Golden‐cheeked Warbler

Greater Road Runner

House Finch

Inca Dove

Ladder‐backed Woodpecker

Lark Sparrow

Lesser Goldfinch

Mourning Dove

Nashville Warbler

Northern Cardinal

Northern Flicker

Northern Mockingbird

Orange‐Crowned Warbler

Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Table of Contents Painted Bunting

Ruby‐Crowned Kinglet

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Rufous‐Crowned Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Scissor‐tailed Flycatcher

Spotted Towhee

Summer Tanager

Tufted Titmouse

Western Scrub‐Jay

White‐Crowned Sparrow

White‐eyed Vireo

White‐Winged Dove

Wild Turkey

Yellow‐bellied Sapsucker

Yellow‐Rumped Warbler

Audubon Links Audubon Links 2

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

American Goldfinch FEMALE

MALE

Description: American Goldfinches are small finches with short bills and small heads, long wings, and short, notched tail. They are bright yellow with black forehead, black wings with white markings, and white patches both above and beneath the tail.

Habitat/Diet:

* American Goldfinches live in weedy fields, open flood plains, and other overgrown areas * They eat seeds almost exclusively

Facts: * The oldest known American Goldfinch was 10 years and 5 months old * They are very strict vegetarians

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

American Robin FEMALE

MALE

Description: American Robins are fairly large birds with a large, round body, long legs, and a fairly long tail. They are gray‐brown birds with warm or‐ ange underparts and black heads.

Habitat/Diet: * American Robins live in lawns, fields, city parks, woodlands, forests, mountains up to the treeline * American Robins eat invertebrates and fruits

Facts: * The oldest known American Robin was 13 years and 11 months old * They eat different kinds of food depending on the time of day

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Barn Swallow FEMALE

MALE

Description: Barn Swallows are sparrow‐sized birds with blue black wings and tail feathers that are long.

Diet/Habitat:

* Barn Swallows live in parks, ball fields, beaches and houses * Barn Swallows eat beetles, bees, wasps, ants, butterflies, moths, and other flying insects

Facts: * They often get help from other barn swallows with feeding their young * They mainly build their nests in man‐ made structures Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Bewick’s Wren

Description: Bewick’s Wrens are medium sized birds with a slender body and a long tail. They are mostly brown and gray with white spots on their tail.

Habitat/Diet: * Bewick’s Wrens live in bushes, shrubs in open country, or open woodlands * Bewick’s Wrens eat eggs, larvae, pupae, and adult insects

Facts: * They are named after the British engraver Thomas Bewick

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Black‐Chinned Hummingbird FEMALE

MALE

Description: Black‐Chinned Hummingbirds are small, fairly slender hummingbirds with fairly straight bills.

They are dull metallic green above and grayish‐ white below. They have a velvety black throat with a thin, purple base.

Habitat/Diet:

* Black‐Chinned Hummingbirds live in canyons and along rivers * Black‐Chinned Hummingbirds eat nectar from flowers, small insects and spiders, and sugar water at feeders

Facts: * The oldest known Black‐Chinned Hummingbird was 10 years and 1 month old * Their eggs are about the size of a coffee bean

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Black‐Crested Titmouse FEMALE

MALE

Description: Black‐Crested Titmice are small gray song‐ birds.

Habitat/Diet:

* They live in forests, woodlands, mesquite, and scrubs * They eat insects and seeds

Facts: * They were considered the same as a Tufted Titmouse * They nest in holes in trees

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Blue‐Gray Gnatcatcher FEMALE

MALE

Description: Blue‐Gray Gnatcatchers are tiny, slim song‐ birds with long legs, a long tail, and a thin, straight bill. They are pale blue gray birds.

Habitat/Diet: * Blue‐Gray Gnatcatchers live in coniferous forests and woodlands * Blue‐Gray Gnatcatchers eat small insects, spiders, and other invertebrates

Facts: * Despite their name, Blue‐Gray Gnat‐ catchers do not eat gnats * The oldest known Blue‐Gray Gnatcatcher was 4 years and 2 months old

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Brown‐headed Cowbird FEMALE

MALE

Description: Brown‐headed Cowbirds are smallish black birds, with a short tail and thick head. They have brown bodies and the rest of the body is black.

Habitat/Diet: * Brown‐headed Cowbirds live in grasslands with low scattered trees * Brown‐headed Cowbirds eat seeds from grasses and weeds

Facts: * The oldest known Brown‐headed Cowbird was 16 years and 10 months old * In the winter they join huge roosts with several blackbird species

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Carolina Chickadee

Description: Carolina Chickadees are tiny birds with a fairly long tail. They are mostly gray with white cheeks and a black cap.

Habitat/Diet:

* Carolina Chickadees live in woodlands, swamps, open woods, and parks * Carolina Chickadees eat insects and spiders

Facts: * In winter they live in flocks of two to eight * Some of them stay in the same flock all season while others move to different flocks Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Carolina Wren

Description: Carolina Wrens are small chunky birds with a round body and a long tail. They are a bright unpatterned reddish‐brown.

Habitat/Diet:

* Carolina Wrens live in thickets, swamps, woods, and ravines * Carolina Wrens eat caterpillars, moths, stick bugs, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, and cockroaches

Facts: * Male Wrens sing around 3000 times per day * Carolina Wrens are sensitive to cold weather Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Cedar Waxwing

Description: Cedar Waxwings are medium‐sized birds, sleek with a large head, short neck, and wide bill. They are pale brown on the head then fade to gray down their body. They have a pale yellow belly and a bright yel‐ low tip on their tail.

Habitat/Diet:

* Cedar Waxwings live in deciduous, coniferous, and mixed woodlands. Also in old fields, grasslands, and sage brush * Cedar Waxwings eat mainly fruits year‐round

Facts: * The oldest known Cedar Waxwing was 8 years and 2 months old * Building a nest takes a female Cedar Waxwing 5 to 6 days and may require more than 2500 trips to the nest

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Chimney Swift

Description: Chimney Swifts are very small dark gray‐ brown birds.

Habitat/Diet: * Chimney Swifts live in chimneys and urban areas across the eastern half of the US and Canada * Chimney Swifts eat flies, bugs, beetles, bees, wasps, ants, mayflies, and other flying insects

Facts: * They use glue‐like saliva to build their nests * They bathe in flight by gliding over the sur‐ face of water and hitting the water with their bodies

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Chipping Sparrow

Description: Chipping Sparrows are a slender, fairly long‐tailed sparrow with a medium‐sized bill. They look clean and crisp, with frosty underparts, pale face, black line through the eye, topped off with a rusty brown crown.

Habitat/Diet:

* Chipping Sparrows live in forests, woodlands, parks, tree‐lined backyards, and edges * Chipping Sparrows eat seeds and insects

Facts: * The oldest known Chipping Sparrow was 11 years and 10 months old * The nest of the Chipping Sparrow has such a flimsy structure that light can be seen through it

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Cliff Swallow

Description: Cliff Swallows have a small head and medium length squared tail. They have dark blue backs and brick red heads and faces and have a white patch on top of their heads.

Habitat/Diet:

* Cliff Swallows live in canyons, foothills, and river valleys * Cliff Swallows eat flying insects

Facts: * They sometimes lay and put their eggs in other nests * There are colonies of nests

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Eastern Bluebird FEMALE

MALE

Description: Eastern Bluebirds are small birds with big rounded heads. They have deep blue above and rusty or brick‐red throat and breasts.

Habitat/Diet: * Eastern Bluebirds live in trees, pine savan‐ nas, beaver ponds, open woodlands, and for‐ est openings * Eastern Bluebirds eat insects caught on the ground

Facts: * The oldest known Eastern Bluebird was 10 years and 5 months old * The males display at their nests cavities to attract a female

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Eastern Meadowlark FEMALE

MALE

Description: Eastern Meadowlarks are chunky, medium-sized songbirds with short tails and long, spear-shaped bills. They are pale brown marked with black, with bright-yellow underparts and a black V across the chest.

Habitat/Diet: * Eastern Meadowlarks live in grasslands, prairies, pastures, hayfields, airports, and other grassy areas. * Eastern Meadowlarks eat crickets, grasshoppers, caterpillars, grubs, and more insects.

Facts: * The oldest known Eastern Meadowlark was 8 years and 8 months old * The males can sing several variations of their songs

Table of Contents

Eastern Pheobe

Description: Eastern Phoebes are a plump song bird that is brownish gray and off white with the head being the darkest part of its body.

Habitat/Diet:

* Eastern Phoebes live in open woodlands * Eastern Phoebes eat insects , fruits, and seeds

Facts: * The oldest known Eastern Phoebe was 10 years and 4 months old * Eastern Phoebes reuse nests

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Field Sparrow

Description: Field Sparrows are small, slender sparrows with short bills, rounded heads, and long tails. They are warm‐colored birds with a white eye ring, a pink bill, and pale grayish underparts with orangey highlights.

Habitat/Diet:

* Field Sparrows live in fields, pastures, fence‐ rows, forest edges, and openings in wooded areas * Field Sparrows eat grass seeds in the winter, then switch to seeds and insects as the weather warms

Facts: * The oldest known Field Sparrow was 10 years and 4 months old. * They often breed more than once per season

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Golden Fronted Woodpecker FEMALE

MALE

Description: Golden Fronted Woodpeckers are fairly large with yellow necks and striped backs.

Habitat/Diet:

* Golden Fronted Woodpeckers live in woodlands, brushlands, and forests * Golden Fronted Woodpeckers eat insects, seeds, and occasionally bird eggs and lizards

Facts: * In summer they become stained purple from eating fruit from cactus. * Found mostly in Texas and Mexico

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Golden‐cheeked Warbler FEMALE

MALE

Description: Golden‐Cheeked Warblers are small birds with a black throat and yellow face with black line through their eyes. They have two white wing‐ bars and a white belly.

Habitat/Diet: * Golden‐Cheeked Warblers live in wood‐ lands, scrubs, and thickets * Golden‐Cheeked Warblers eat insects and spiders

Facts: * Nests only in Juniper‐Oak woodlands of cen‐ tral Texas. * Individuals have turned up in Florida, the Virgin Islands, and off the coast of California

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Greater Roadrunner

Description: *The Greater Roadrunner has a dark brown‐black head, neck, and wings and streaked heavily with white.

Habitat/Diet:

* Greater Roadrunners prefer desserts and other regions with scattered brush for cover. * Greater Roadrunners eat smaller birds, mammals, reptiles, eggs, insects, wood, bark and stems

Facts: * The scientific name for the Greater Roadrunner is Geococcyx californianus * Their predators are hawks, cats, skunks, coyotes, and raccoons * Their breeding season is May ‐ September

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

House Finch FEMALE

MALE

Description: House Finches are small bodied finches with fairly large beaks and somewhat long flat heads. They are rosy red around the face and upper breast, with streaky brown back, belly, and tail.

Habitat/Diet:

* House Finches live in buildings, lawns, small conifers, and urban centers * House Finches eat seeds, buds, and fruit

Facts: * The oldest known House Finch was 11 years and 7 months old * About 267 million House Finches live in North America Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Inca Dove

Description: * Tiny grey pigeon‐like bird with long tails. Inca Dove have white outer tail feathers, scaly look‐ ing feathers on breast, head, and back. They have bright red feet.

Habitat/Diet: * Inca Dove live in woodland edges, savannahs, and thickets in and around fields * They eat seeds, grains, weeds, and grasses

Facts: * Scientific name for the Inca Dove is Colum‐ bina inca. * Usually found in the southwestern US * Get water from pools, dripping faucets, or eating cacti

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Ladder‐backed Woodpecker FEMALE

MALE

Description: Ladder‐backed Woodpeckers are large woodpeckers that are mostly black and white.

Habitat/Diet:

* Ladder‐backed Woodpeckers live in de‐ serts or desert shrubs * Ladder‐backed Woodpeckers eat insects

Facts: * They are also found in pinelands in Central America

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Lark Sparrow

Description: Lark Sparrows are large sparrows with long, rounded tails with white corners. Their underparts are plain whitish with black spots.

Habitat/Diet:

* Lark Sparrows live in woodlands, mes‐ quite grasslands, brushy edges, and sage‐ brush * Lark Sparrows eat insects and seeds

Facts: * Unlike many songbirds, Lark Sparrows walk on the ground rather than hop * Often they take over old mockingbird and thrasher nests Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Lesser Goldfinch FEMALE

MALE

Description: Lesser Goldfinches are tiny songbirds with long, pointed wings, and short, notched tails.

They are bright yellow below with a glossy black cap and white patches in the wings.

Habitat/Diet: * Lesser Goldfinches live in thickets, weedy fields, woodlands, forest clearings, scrublands, farmlands, and desert oases * Lesser Goldfinches eat mainly seeds from the sunflower family

Facts: * The oldest known Lesser Goldfinch was 5 years and 8 months old * They are most common in California and Texas

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Mourning Dove

Description: *Overall grayish blue on the back with block spots on their wings and behind their eyes. They have white tips on their tail.

Habitat/Diet:

* Open woodlands and forest edges near grasslands and fields. * Mourning Dove eat insects, grains, nuts, and fruits.

Facts: * Mourning Dove have many predators such as hawks, falcons, raccoons, dogs, cats, and snakes

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Nashville Warbler FEMALE

MALE

Description: Nashville Warblers are medium‐sized warblers with a gray head, white eye ring, plain olive green back and wings, and yellow throat, breast, and belly.

Habitat/Diet: * Nashville Warblers live in second growth deciduous or mixed forests with shrubby undergrowth * Nashville Warblers eat insects and insect larvae

Facts: * They sometimes use porcupine quills as nest material * They migrate along the Atlantic coast and along inland routes

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Northern Cardinal FEMALE

MALE

Description: Northern Cardinals are fairly large, long‐tailed songbirds with short, thick bills. Male cardinals are bright red all over with a red‐orange bill. Female cardinals are pale brown, with warm red on the wings.

Habitat/Diet:

* Northern Cardinals live in forest edges, over‐ grown fields, hedgerows, backyards, marshy thickets, mesquite, re‐growing forests, and orna‐ mental landscaping * Northern Cardinals eat seeds and fruit

Facts: * The oldest known Northern Cardinal was 15 years and 9 months old * The Northern Cardinal is the state bird of seven states

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Northern Flicker FEMALE

MALE

Description: Northern Flickers are fairly large birds. They are over all brownish but have yellow tinted wings and tail feathers.

Habitat/Diet:

* Northern Flickers live in open woodlands, forest edges, and open fields * Northern Flickers eat insects, fruits, and seeds

Facts: * They are strongly migratory * They make nests in holes in trees like other woodpeckers

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Northern Mockingbird

Description: Northern Mockingbirds are medium‐sized songbirds with small heads and long, thin bills. They are overall gray‐brown with wingbars on each wing.

Habitat/Diet:

* Northern Mockingbirds live in hedges, fruiting bushes, and thickets * Northern Mockingbirds eat mostly insects and fruit

Facts: * The oldest known Northern Mockingbird was 14 years and 10 months old * A male Northern Mockingbird learns around 200 songs throughout its life Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Orange‐Crowned Warbler

Description: Orange‐Crowned Warblers are small songbirds with thin, sharply pointed bills. They are fairly plain yellowish or olive, they have a thin white or yellow stripe over the eye and a black line through the eye.

Habitat/Diet:

* Orange‐Crowned Warblers live in shrubs and low growing vegetation * Orange‐Crowned Warblers eat mainly ants, beetles, spiders, flies, and caterpillars

Facts: * The oldest known Orange‐Crowned Warbler was 8 years and 7 months old * They nest on the ground to avoid nest robbing birds

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Painted Bunting FEMALE

MALE

Description: Painted Buntings are medium‐sized finches with stubby, thick bills. They have blue heads, red underparts, and green backs.

Habitat/Diet:

* Painted Buntings live in overgrown fields, stream sides, and patches of grass, weeds, and flowers * Painted Buntings eat insects and seeds

Facts: * The oldest known Painted Bunting was 11 years and 10 months old * In 1841 thousands of male Painted Buntings were captured

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Ruby‐Crowned Kinglet FEMALE

MALE

Description: Ruby‐Crowned Kinglets are tiny songbirds with large heads, almost no necks, and a thin tail. They are olive‐green with a white eye ring and wingbar.

Habitat/Diet: * They live in spruce‐fir forests in the north‐ western United States and Canada * They eat spiders, scorpions, and many types of insects

Facts: * The oldest known Ruby‐Crowned Kinglet was 4 years and 7 months old * They lay up to 12 eggs at a time

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Ruby Throated Hummingbird FEMALE

MALE

Description: Small hummingbirds with a golden‐green back.

The males have an iridescent red throat.

Habitat/Diet:

* They live in fields, forest edges, meadows, stream borders, and backyards. * They will eat nectar of red or orange flowers, mosquitoes, gnats, fruit flies, small bees, and spiders.

Facts: * The Ruby‐Throated Hummingbird beats its wings about 53 times per second * The oldest humming has ever been is 9 years and 1 month * Their nests are usually only 2 inches across and 1 inch deep

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Rufous‐Crowned Sparrow

Description: Rufous‐Crowned Sparrows are relatively large sparrows with rounded head and fairly long tails.

They are grayish with streaky backs and bright reddish‐brown crowns.

Habitat/Diet:

* Rufous‐Crowned Sparrows live in dry, open hillsides covered with grasses, rocks, and scat‐ tered shrubs * Rufous‐Crowned Sparrows eat insects in the spring and summer, and stems, shoots, and seeds in winter

Facts: * The oldest known Rufous‐Crowned Sparrow was 5 years and 1 month old * The tend to stay on or near the ground

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Savannah Sparrow

Description: Savannah Sparrows are medium‐sized spar‐ rows with short tails. They are brown above and white below, with streaks throughout.

Habitat/Diet: * Savannah Sparrows live in grasslands with few trees, including meadows, pastures, grassy roadsides, sedge wetlands, and cultivated fields * Savannah Sparrows eat insects and spiders

Facts: * The oldest known Savannah Sparrow was 6 years and 20 months old * The female and her young eat 10 times the weight of the female in eight days

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Scissor‐tailed Flycatcher FEMALE

MALE

Description: Scissor‐tailed Flycatchers are pale gray birds with a very long, stiff, deeply forked tail.

Habitat/Diet:

* Scissor‐tailed Flycatchers live in savannas, towns, farm fields, and other grasslands * They eat insects particularly grasshop‐ pers, crickets, and beetles

Facts: * They use many human products to build their nests * They often roost near towns

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Spotted Towhee FEMALE

MALE

Description: Spotted Towhees are large sparrows with a thick pointed bill, short neck, chunky body, and long, rounded tail. They have jet‐black upperparts and throat; their wings and back are spotted bright white.

Habitat/Diet:

* Spotted Towhees live in dry thickets, brushy tangles, forest edges, old fields, shrubby back‐ yards, and canyon bottoms * Spotted Towhees eat mainly insects

Facts: * The oldest known Spotted Towhee was 10 years and 8 months old * They used to be considered the same species as the Eastern Towhee

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Summer Tanager FEMALE

MALE

Description: Summer Tanagers are medium‐sized chunky song‐ birds with big bodies, large heads, and large, thick, blunt tipped bill. The male s are entirely bright red.

Habitat/Diet:

* Summer Tanagers live in open deciduous forest or pine oak forests across the southern and mid‐ atlantic U.S. * Summer Tanagers eat invertebrates such as spiders, bees, wasps, beetles, ants, grasshoppers, and other insects

Facts: * The oldest known Summer Tanager was 7 years and 11 months old * When they eat bees they rub the bee’s stinger against a tree until it comes off

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Tufted Titmouse

Description: The Tufted Titmouse looks very similar to a Black‐Crested Titmouse but has a peach‐ colored flank.

Habitat/Diet:

* They live in deciduous and evergreen forests * They eat insects, seeds, nuts, and berries

Facts: * They oldest known Tufted Titmouse was 13 years and 3 months old

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Western Scrub‐Jay

Description: Western Scrub Jays are blue and gray with a long floppy tail.

Habitat/Diet:

* Western Scrub Jays live in scrubs and open woodlands * Western Scrub Jays eat insects, fruit, nuts, and seeds

Facts: * The oldest known Eastern Scrub Jay was 15 years and 9 months old * They eat ticks and other parasites off of mule deer

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

White‐Crowned Sparrow

Description: White‐Crowned Sparrows are large spar‐ rows with a large bill and small tail. They are pale‐gray with brown stripes on the head.

Habitat/Diet:

* White‐Crowned Sparrows live in tundras, high alpine meadows, and forest edges * White‐Crowned Sparrows eat seeds of weeds and grasses, plus caterpillars, wasps, beetles, and other insects

Facts: * The oldest known White‐Crowned Spar‐ row was 13 years and 4 months old * They share territories with Fox Sparrows

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

White‐eyed Vireo

Description: White‐eyed Vireos are fairly small olive green birds with yellow side, white eyes and a white throat.

Habitat/Diet:

* White‐eyed Vireos live in scrubs, over‐ grown pastures, fields, and mangroves * White‐eyed Vireos eat insects and fruit

Facts: * They bathe by rubbing against wet foliage * The only fossil record of them in North America was found 400,000 years ago

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

White‐Winged Dove

Description: Large doves, brownish grey with white wing marks on the tips of their wings, with a blue ring of featherless skin around each eye.

Habitat/Diet: * They mainly live in brushlands, woodlands, or dessert scrub and cacti

* They eat leaves, seeds, grains, nuts, fruit, nectar, pollen

Facts: * The scientific name for it is Zenaida asiatica * Their predators are owls, bobcats, coyotes, snakes, raccoons, and many more. * Their breeding season is Spring through August

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Wild Turkey FEMALE

MALE

Description: Wild Turkeys are usually thinner than domestic tur‐ keys and have brown tipped tails instead of black.

Most male Wild Turkeys can grow to be four feet long, while female turkeys grow to three feet long.

Habitat/Diet:

* Wild Turkeys can live in open woodlands, forests, and meadows. * Wild Turkeys eat a variety of food such as: In‐ sects, salamanders, slugs, lizards, frogs, very small snakes, grasses, vines, acorns, seeds, fruits, worms, berries, and other vegetation.

Facts: * Wild Turkeys were here long before Europeans colonized in America * Male Turkeys are called Gobblers * Female Turkeys are called Hens * Young Turkeys are called Poults

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Yellow‐bellied Sapsucker

Description: They are fairly small birds, mostly black and white with a boldly patterned face.

Habitat/Diet:

* They live in forests * They eat all kinds of insects

Facts: * The Yellow‐bellied Sapsucker is the only woodpecker in eastern North America that is completely migratory

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Yellow‐Rumped Warbler FEMALE

MALE

Description: Yellow‐Rumped Warblers are fairly large, full bod‐ ied warblers with a large, sturdy bill, and long, narrow tail. They are gray with flashes of white in the wings and yellow on the face and sides.

Habitat/Diet:

* Yellow‐Rumped Warblers live in coniferous and mixed coniferous and deciduous woodlands * Yellow‐Rumped Warblers eat caterpillars, larvae, and insects in the summer. In the winter they eat fruits

Facts: * The oldest known Yellow‐Rumped Warbler was 8 years and 9 months old * The males tend to forage higher in trees than females

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Audubon Birds of North America Field Guide Links American Goldfinch

American Robin

Barn Swallow

Bewick’s Wren

Black‐Chinned Hummingbird

Black‐Crested Titmouse

Blue‐Gray Gnatcatcher

Brown‐headed Cowbird

Carolina Chickadee

Carolina Wren

Cedar Waxwing

Chimney Swift

Chipping Sparrow

Cliff Swallow

Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Meadowlark

Eastern Pheobe

Field Sparrow

Golden Fronted Woodpecker

Golden‐cheeked Warbler

Greater Road Runner

House Finch

Inca Dove

Ladder‐backed Woodpecker

Lark Sparrow

Lesser Goldfinch

Mourning Dove

Nashville Warbler

Northern Cardinal

Northern Flicker

Northern Mockingbird

Orange‐Crowned Warbler

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015

Audubon Birds of North America Field Guide Links Painted Bunting

Ruby‐Crowned Kinglet

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Rufous‐Crowned Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Scissor‐tailed Flycatcher

Spotted Towhee

Summer Tanager

Tufted Titmouse

Western Scrub‐Jay

White‐Crowned Sparrow

White‐eyed Vireo

White‐Winged Dove

Wild Turkey

Yellow‐bellied Sapsucker

Yellow‐Rumped Warbler

Table of Contents Texas Hill Country Birds

Abby Leigh Milligan 2015