Looking for a comprehensive feature to rely on for all your birds of North Texas identification needs? Then you’re in the right place!
As a resident of North Texas, you may have seen multiple birds of different species feasting on your birdfeeders or just flying across the sky in harmony. While many of us just like looking at them, others like to identify these birds and tell them apart.
If you have ever wondered about common Texas birds and which ones zoom across your backyard every day, this is where the mystery ends. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most popular birds of the Lone Star State and their relevant details!
Table of Contents
8 Birds Of North Texas And Their Identification
North Texas is home to some of the most beautiful and vibrant birds in America. If the Texas wild birds intrigue you, this list of avifauna is bound to intrigue you! Here goes!
1. Northern Cardinal
The Northern Cardinal is one of the most common birds seen in Texas. The male of this species has a bright red bird with a contrasting black variance around the beak. This combination of brilliant hues looks striking against the cold, snowy backdrop of the North.
On the other hand, the female Northern Cardinal is less striking but has a similarly beautiful coat of feathers. It dons a brown coat with red highlights and a red beak that complements its partner’s colors. These birds have short, plump bodies with tiny feet and conical bills. You can lure a Northern Cardinal to your backyard with millet, sunflower seeds, and peanut hearts.
2. Northern Mockingbird
The Mockingbird signifies the state of Texas as it is the state bird. It is grayish-brown with a medium-sized body and a fairly large tail. They have long, pointy and curved bills and a relatively paler underside. Plus, they have strong, long legs that can help identify them.
Here’s a fun fact. The Mockingbird is a songbird that can copy other birds’ songs and sing through the day and night. The males can learn up to 200 songs in their lifetime. You can spot Northern Mockingbirds in open lawns and gardens with fruit trees and bushes.
3. Mourning Dove
Mourning Doves are light brown birds with black spots on their wings. They have a large, plump body with a long tail, a small head, and their beaks are as big as their heads. Conversely, their tails are almost as long as their body.
Mourning Doves frequent open areas like fields, grasslands, and near the outskirts of woodlands. They search these places for seeds which they feed on. These birds are more commonly found in Texas in summers. You can easily lure them into your backyard by laying out some millet or sunflower seeds.
4. Great-tailed Grackle
With a name like Great-tailed Grackle, what else can the bird be but unique? Unsurprisingly, the Grackles get their name from their beautiful long tails, usually tapered in males.
These are long blackbirds don an elegant coat of jet black and have a distinguished long, sharp beak. The males are more eye-catching due to their pitch-black hues, striking yellow eyes, and slender legs. The females, however, are smaller in size than the males and have a brown coat. Their tails are also thinner. You can spot Great-tailed grackles in urban settings mostly, and they eat everything they can find. This includes seeds, fruits, insects, and small animals.
5. White-winged Dove
Clocking in at number five on our birds of North Texas identification list is the White-winged Dove.
Unlike the name suggests, these doves do not have white wings. Instead, they are rusty brown with a white line along the edges of the closed wings. This white stripe stands out on the dove’s otherwise dark body, especially during flight.
White-winged doves live in forests, woodlands, deserts, and suburban areas. In winters, they migrate to the south. Their feed consists of fruits, seeds, and grains, which they search for on the grounds. Therefore if you wish to lure these birds into your backyard, using corn or seeds in the bird feeder is an excellent idea.
6. House Sparrow
As standard as they are the world over, did you that House Sparrows were actually introduced in Texas? The rest, as they say, is history.
House Sparrows hang out in residential areas near houses and buildings and can often be observed perched on top of wires in a group. These birds are almost domesticated and very tame, which is why it is easy to feed them even with your own hands.
They are small in size and have plump bodies. Like Sparrows worldwide, they are mostly golden brown with streaks of black. You will find House Sparrows in your yard even if you don’t keep any birdfeeders. However, you can use flower seeds to attract more. House Sparrows feed on seeds, grains, and other discarded food.
7. Blue Jay
Blue Jays are pretty large songbirds. They have a blue body with patterns of black on their back while their underside is white. It’s little wonder that these birdies are thought of as beautiful by many.
However, they leave something to be desired, personality-wise. Blue jays are boisterous birds that travel in flocks. They are mostly found near Oak trees as they love eating acorns. They also like to eat seeds, grain, insects, and nuts.
These birds do not shy away from stealing eggs or young birds from other birds’ nests. You may put seeds and nuts in your birdfeeder to attract blue jays.
8. House Finch
House Finches are small birds with red chests and heads in males and more brown shades in females. They’re easy to find near greenery, including farms, lawns, parks, forests, and backyards.
These Finches have a thick and curvy bill and long feet. Their tails are also slightly longer. Much like the Blue Jays, House Finches can get pretty loud in group settings.
They like eating seeds, fruits, and buds. You can attract them to your backyard with sunflower seeds.
Birds Of North Texas Identification – The Upshot
There you have it, folks. We’ve delivered on our promise of 8 North Texas birds species and their identification – as promised. Of course, with the kind of area that the Lone Star State covers, there were many other candidates that we didn’t get to cover in this list.
That’s where you, our readers, can chip in and add all the species we missed! That way, everybody wins, and we get to read your comments – which we love! Till next time, keep a weather eye on that horizon for all our feathery friends.
