Bloggers

Texas Birders: Stop Taking ID Shots and Start Capturing Character & Personalities

Texas Birders: Stop Taking ID Shots and Start Capturing Character & Personalities

There is nothing wrong with a field guide shot. It is clean. It is sharp. It proves, beyond a reasonable doubt, that yes, that was in fact a Yellow-rumped Warbler and not “some kind of little brown job.” But if every bird photo we take looks like it belongs on page 47 of a laminated reference book, we are documenting feathers, not personality. And birds, despite their modest brains and questionable life choices during migration, absolutely have character. If we want to create bird photos that show their character rather than a clinical ID portrait, we must move from documentation…
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Field Notes From Someone Who Was There

Field Notes From Someone Who Was There

Learned the hard way, remembered the next time.The field is a remarkably efficient teacher. It doesn’t explain itself. It doesn’t slow down so you can catch up. It simply lets you get things wrong, sometimes repeatedly, until you either notice or move on. I’ve done both, though not always in the right order. Most of what I know about birds didn’t come from books or charts. It came from standing in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with too much confidence and not enough patience. The field has a way of correcting that. I once spent an entire morning…
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Welcome, Mags – Our Latest Blogger

Welcome, Mags – Our Latest Blogger

Welcome to our latest blogger, Mags Holloway. Stealing from her words, here is her background story. Mags Holloway came to birding the long way around. She grew up in East Texas at the edge of a hay field and a creek that never dried up, even in August. Birds were just “there” when she was a kid, part of the scenery, like cicadas and the smell of warm dust. It wasn’t until college, during a summer job doing habitat surveys, that someone finally handed her a field guide and said, “You should probably learn their names.” That did it. She…
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Texas Birds, No Hurry

Texas Birds, No Hurry

Birding at the speed the birds prefer. Texas is large enough to make people feel rushed. There’s always another county, another hotspot, another direction you could be driving if you weren’t standing where you are. I’ve felt that pull more times than I can count. The urge to cover ground, to “make the most of the day,” to treat birding like a task list instead of an experience. The birds have never shared that urgency. Some of my best mornings in Texas have involved very few miles and even fewer species. A patch of woods. A fence line. The edge…
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Beginner or Expert, Your Texas Birding Experience Matters—Write for Texas Birder

Beginner or Expert, Your Texas Birding Experience Matters—Write for Texas Birder

Texas is big. Really big. Big skies, big backyards, big wetlands, big migration days… and an even bigger supply of bird stories just waiting to be told. That’s where you come in. Texas Birder is actively looking for more bloggers who love birding in Texas and want to share their experiences, knowledge, photos, observations, or even the occasional “you won’t believe what I just saw” moment. If it involves birds, birding, nature, conservation, photography, gear, trips, or learning the ropes, it probably belongs here. Why Write for Texas Birder? Because your words won’t just drift into the internet void like…
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I Didn’t Start Birding to Be Impressive

I Didn’t Start Birding to Be Impressive

I didn’t start birding to build a list, collect accolades, or prove anything to anyone standing next to me on a trail. I started birding because one day I realized I was seeing birds but not actually seeing them. That moment usually sneaks up on you. For me, it happened years ago on a job site in East Texas. I was supposed to be evaluating land. Instead, I stood there far too long watching a bird flick its tail, drop to the ground, hop back up, and repeat the whole routine like it was trying to explain something important. That…
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Gone Birding (Bring a Raft): Snorkeling for Warblers at Cooper Lake

Gone Birding (Bring a Raft): Snorkeling for Warblers at Cooper Lake

Cooper Lake: Now With More Water… and None of It in the Lake Where It BelongsThe location: Sweet Jane HQ, Cooper Lake State Park So I roll into Cooper Lake State Park full of hope, new binoculars polished like fine crystal, field guide riding shotgun, Nikon Z8 with a fresh battery and ready for action. It was my second outing with my new Vortex binoculars. My mission? Spot a few warblers willing to strut their stuff. I had dreams—warbler dreams. The kind that makes you whisper “please be a lifer” every time a leaf twitches. And you know what? Day…
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PSA: The Annual “My Hummingbirds Have Vanished!” Fear Has Returned

PSA: The Annual “My Hummingbirds Have Vanished!” Fear Has Returned

Every year, like clockwork, we enter a very special season in the birding world. No, not migration. Not nesting. I’m talking about the Season of Missing Hummingbirds — also known as “That Time of Year When People Forget What Nature Does.” The posts start rolling in:“Help! All my hummingbirds are gone!”“Is something wrong with my feeder?”“Do hummingbirds even like me anymore?” In our Facebook groups: Texas Birder, Birds of East Texas, Birds of Lake O' the Pines, NETFO, etc as well as other birding groups throughout Texas, we start getting post after post, followed by an avalanche of comments—most of…
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