Left, a mourning dove broods over an egg and a newly-hatched chick in a nest above a carport this past April. Three days later, both hatchlings rely on their parents for food while they grow and prepare to fledge. Mourning doves may have up to six clutches per year with a typical clutch size of two eggs.
Photos by Jason Cook
Exploring Nature: Backyard Birds
There are a number of birds that most everyone in Texas should be familiar with. These are the species that are most likely to show up in our backyards.
Let’s start with the mourning dove. Native to Texas, it is found in most of North America and has a long, pointed tail. Among the largest of our native doves, its song is a soft, mournful hooting “OOAAH, coo, coo coo.” This is sometimes rendered as “who cooks for you?”
Hummingbirds in Texas are generally either the black-chinned variety, most common west of the Interstate 35 corridor, or the ruby-throated, most common east of 35. The black-chinned pumps its tail up and down while hovering, but the ruby- throated does not use its tail much while hovering.
Our most common woodpecker is the golden- fronted, very common in the Texas Hill Country and South Texas brushlands. It has a small red cap and a large all-white rump which distinguishes it from its look-alike cousin, the red-bellied woodpecker. In eastern portions of the state, you’ll find the downy woodpecker and from the Hill Country westward, the ladder-backed is quite common.
Rounding out the most common avian attractions in our state are the blue jay, tufted titmouse, black-crested titmouse, Carolina chickadee, Carolina wren, Bewick’s wren, American robin, northern mockingbird, northern cardinal, house finch and American goldfinch.
In all, that’s some 17 birds. The “supreme seventeen” you might call them.
I hope you get a chance to see — and enjoy — all of them.
