The Texas coast offers rich avian treasures for expert birders and beginners alike, if only they know where to look. For those familiar with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s maps to the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, this book on the Upper Texas Coast offers more—more information, more convenient and detailed maps, more pictures, more finding tips, and more birding advice from one of the trail’s creators, Ted Lee Eubanks Jr., and trail experts Robert A. Behrstock and Seth Davidson. For those new to the trail, the book is the perfect companion for learning where to find and how to bird the very best venues on this part of the Texas coast. In an opening tutorial on habitat and seasonal strategies for birding the Upper Texas Coast, the authors include tips on how to take advantage of the famous (but elusive) fallouts of birds that happen here. They then briefly discuss the basics of birding by ear and the rewards of passive birding before turning to the trail itself and each of more than 120 birding sites from the Louisiana-Texas border, through Galveston and Houston, to just south of Freeport. Advice oninding bird groups While not intended as a field identification guide, the book contains more than 175 color photographs of birds and their coastal habitat, giving readers an excellent feel for the trail’s diversity and abundance. Whether you are making your annual spring pilgrimage to Texas, leisurely traveling with the family along the coast, or wondering what to do during a layover in Houston, using this book as your guide to the trail will greatly enhance your birding experience.

This birding guide profiles more than 80 of the best sites and attractions along this approximately 2,110-mile trail which covers more over 41 counties along Texas's Gulf Coast, and hosts half of the 600 species found in the state.

In the last thirty years, the Upper Texas Coast has become a “must go” destination for birders around the globe. This book will serve as an essential companion to the customary field guide and pair of binoculars for all visitors to Houston, High Island, Galveston, Freeport, or any of the area’s other exciting birding spots. It also places the birdlife of the region, a seven-county area with a larger bird list than forty-three states, into historical and ecological contexts. Authors Eubanks, Behrstock, and Weeks—all recognized authorities on the migrant and resident birds of this region—present a thorough introduction to the area’s history, physiography, and avifauna. Then, in generous discussions of bird families and species, they synthesize years of records, tracking the comings and goings of more than 480 birds and incorporating their own lifetimes of experience to create an “ornithological mosaic” of lasting significance.

The Texas Gulf Coast is one of the most outstanding birding locations in North America. From whooping cranes to sandhill cranes, ducks, geese, raptors and the hundreds of song birds that migrate every year to the Texas Gulf make this a birder's paradise. There are numerous public sites that make for easy birding. Each year, during the last week of February, there is a Whooping Crane Festival in Port Aransas and Mustang Island that attracts thousands of birders. It features workshops, demonstrations, speakers, and many guided birding trips to local birding locations. Jim Foster is a noted birder. He describes each birding trail with a list of key birds, the best time of year to visit each trail, the type of terrain, size, and complete directions to each area, many with maps of each trail. Texas is one of the four best birding states in the U.S. with over 2.5 million resident birders and thousands of non-resident birders who visit the state each year. Currently there are over 51 million birders in the United States and over 20 million travel out of their state each year to view birds. Birding Trails Texas: Gulf Coast is a must book for all birders.

This birding guide profiles more than 80 of the best sites and attractions along this approximately 2,110-mile trail which covers more over 41 counties along Texas's Gulf Coast, and hosts half of the 600 species found in the state.

The Texas coast offers rich avian treasures for expert birders and beginners alike, if only they know where to look. For those familiar with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s maps to the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, this book on the Upper Texas Coast offers more—more information, more convenient and detailed maps, more pictures, more finding tips, and more birding advice from one of the trail’s creators, Ted Lee Eubanks Jr., and trail experts Robert A. Behrstock and Seth Davidson. For those new to the trail, the book is the perfect companion for learning where to find and how to bird the very best venues on this part of the Texas coast. In an opening tutorial on habitat and seasonal strategies for birding the Upper Texas Coast, the authors include tips on how to take advantage of the famous (but elusive) fallouts of birds that happen here. They then briefly discuss the basics of birding by ear and the rewards of passive birding before turning to the trail itself and each of more than 120 birding sites from the Louisiana-Texas border, through Galveston and Houston, to just south of Freeport. Advice oninding bird groups While not intended as a field identification guide, the book contains more than 175 color photographs of birds and their coastal habitat, giving readers an excellent feel for the trail’s diversity and abundance. Whether you are making your annual spring pilgrimage to Texas, leisurely traveling with the family along the coast, or wondering what to do during a layover in Houston, using this book as your guide to the trail will greatly enhance your birding experience.

A Birder's Guide to the Texas Coast will be indispensable as your field guide to one of the world's premier birding destinations. The Texas coast is home to an amazing number of migrating and wintering birds, as well as many specialty resident and nesting species. The habitat diversity ranges from the Pineywoods to the Gulf prairies, from the coastal wetlands to the South Texas subtropics. The spring migration of neotropical birds along the coast is one of North America's most remarkable birding spectacles. And the region is host to some of the nation's largest congregations of herons, egrets, rails, shorebirds, gulls, and terns at any season. A Birder's Guide to the Texas Coast includes Species Accounts for over 170 Texas specialties, and more than 70 new sites, for a total of over 200 birding stops, as well as bar-graphs for 388 regularly occurring Texas Coast species.