Bird Cities Work!

People, Projects, and Protection

Betsy Cross

In 2018, Audubon Texas partnered with Texas Parks and Wildlife to launch Bird City Texas, a community-focused certification program “created to help people protect birds and their habitats where we live, work, and recreate.”

Through science-based bird conservation initiatives and community-centric action, Bird City Texas aims to:

Enhance and restore habitats
Increase native plant coverage in Texas for the benefit of birds and people
Reduce population-level threats
Increase public awareness of the benefits and challenges of bird conservation
Promote environmental stewardship in Texas cities

People and Projects

To achieve and retain Bird City Texas designation, each community is required to host an annual Migratory Bird Day event on or around the second Saturday of May each year—a time that corresponds to the spring bird migration from South America, Central America, and Mexico to North America and Canada.

Migratory Bird Day Festivities

Dripping Springs Migratory Bird Day
May 2023

Wimberley Migratory Bird Day
May 2023

San Marcos Migratory Bird Day
June 2023 and May 2024

Hays County Projects Support Birds

Hays County Bird Viewing Stations

“Develop a sustainable birding environment in Hays County that creates a destination for birders both locally and nationally. The birding environment should result from beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within Hays County consistent with the County’s long range plans.”—HCMN Project 1306 Description

At Hays County, Bird City network has been on folks' minds for a decade. HCMN Larry Calvert recounts:

“In 2014 Hays County Commissioners Court commissioned the Hays County Chapter of Texas Master Naturalist™ to develop a birding network for Hays County. They saw that having a birding network would encourage increased tourism and that Master Naturalists had the knowledge needed to build it. They agreed that increased tourism would help the County and community financially, environmentally, and socially. Master Naturalists had already worked on Patsy Glenn Refuge and were starting on a bird blind at Charro Ranch Park.
Since then, working with related groups, Master Naturalists have built bird blinds at Jacob’s Well Natural Area, at Dripping Springs Ranch Park, at Schulle Canyon Natural Area, at Driftwood United Methodist Church Natural Area, and at Kyle’s Bunton Park.
In each case, building the bird blinds has encouraged trail building, bluebird nestbox trails, and native plant and pollinator gardens. We’ve identified other sites and plan to start construction in 2025.”

Schulle Canyon Natural Area - San Marcos
Bird Viewing Station

HCMNs Kenneth Dees (far left), Donna Browning (blue shirt), and Jo Korthals (green shirt), along with San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance (SMGA) members, review the planned construction site for a bird viewing station in Schulle Canyon Natural Area, a project funded by a HCMN Firefly Grant and a fundraiser in partnership with SMGA. From San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance: A Project of Hays County Master Naturalist by Dick McBride, Hays Humm August 2024. Photo courtesy Lance Jones

Thanks to the efforts of Hays County Master Naturalists Jo Ellen Korthals and Kenneth Dees, in collaboration with the San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance and the City of San Marcos, a new bird viewing area has been constructed in the heart of this magical 21-acre urban forest.

“Grab your binoculars! We now have a bird viewing station in a San Marcos natural area.”—Jo Korthals, from Schulle Canyon Natural Area by Betsy Cross, Hays Humm May 2022

Dripping Springs Ranch Park
Bird Viewing Station

“In 2023, our Hays County birders spoke, and Hays County Master Naturalists listened. There was a need for durable, colorful signs in the bird blinds at both Dripping Springs Ranch Park (DSRP) and Charro Ranch Park (CRP).” —Tina Adkins. From Modern Pictographs: HCMN Bird Identification Project by Tina Adkins, Hays Humm March 2024

Hays County Master Naturalists enjoy the view from the bird viewing station at Dripping Springs Ranch Park. Photo from Modern Pictographs - HCMN Bird Identification Project by Tina Adkins, Hays Humm March 2024. Tina continues:

“Design of the Bird Identification signage had to fit each of the two bird blinds. Both blinds were open for easy viewing but differed in how they were constructed. … A 6” square sign was needed for CRP and a 4” square sign for DSRP.”

Dripping Springs Ranch Park signage displays

Charro Ranch Park - Dripping Springs
Bird Viewing Station

Charro Ranch Park signage displays

Mike and Sharon Meves complete the installation of bird ID photographs at the bird viewing station in Charro Ranch Park, from Dripping Springs—Bird City! by Mike Meves, Hays Humm October 2024. Photo courtesy Tina Adkins

Patsy Glenn Refuge - Wimberley, Texas

March 25, 2023. A cadre of volunteers had been working whole days and weeks sprucing up the park for the Enhanced Wetlands dedication.

…Bob Currie updates us: “Since the enhanced wetlands’ completion, PGR has seen new arrivals, including raptors and a Night Heron, and the pond is filling up with frogs. It’s something to see.”

“The glen is where the adults in love with Hays County nature came today to see how their combined dedication is repaid in greenspace and birdsong. They saw how Patsy Glenn’s vision continues, protected from flood and erosion. The frogs are singing, and at least one Night Heron is hunting them in the Jerry Lunow Wetlands.”—from Dedication by Mimi Cavender, Hays Humm April 2023

Wimberley Outdoor Educators Host the Annual
Third Grade Birding Field Trip to Patsy Glenn Refuge

“The Birding Field Day for third graders was conceived and founded by Master Naturalists, and Wimberley Birding Society members Jane Little and Cara Wernli in 2006. Their mission was first, to get kids outdoors, and second, to encourage them to learn and appreciate the wonderful variety of birds to be seen right here in their own Wimberley Texas backyards. The event is held in the Spring of every year at the Patsy Glenn Refuge. The children are divided into four groups and pass through four learning stations: number one: bird nesting, number two: learning how to identify bird species (in the bird blind), number three: using binoculars in the field, and number four: habitat and bird adaptations.

Jackie Mattice continued to lead the program after Jane and Cara retired. After a brief suspension in 2021-2022, the program is back and running again…We hope to continue to inspire and educate our children all about birds. Laura Steffy now leads the program.”—from Kids and Birds—We’re Back! by Christine Middleton and Jackie Mattice, Hays Humm May 2022

Station 1: Chimney Swift nesting at the kiosk

Station 2: Identifying birds in the bird blind

Station 3: Binocular use at the field platform

Station 4: Bird habitat and adaptations at the meadow

Blue Hole Regional Park - Wimberly Parks and Recreation
Wild About Nature - Wild About Birds

“It was swimming weather on July 16, 2021, in Wimberley—the heart of beautiful Hays County, Texas. Birds thronging trees and trails in Blue Hole Park were oblivious to their relatives’ photos and nests on display under a tent near the swimmers. These were only eight of the most common species selected from 127 current year-round birds sighted at Blue Hole Park, according to Cornell Ornithology’s citizen science database, eBird. Of course, all of Hays County currently reports 347 year-round species, with its top hot spot at Aquarena Springs in San Marcos. Since Hays County boasts a confluence of riparian, Blackland Prairie, and Edwards Plateau wildlife habitats, it’s a Texas birders’ paradise. Blue Hole’s hiking trails and crystalline 70°F water are open on a schedule to the public. It’s perfect for bathing, birding—and nature education!”—from Wild About Blue Hole by Mimi Cavender, Hays Humm August 2021

Project FeederWatch - Charro Ranch Park - Dripping Springs
Photos courtesy Eva Frost

“I’ve been participating in Project FeederWatch since 2014, and I have only been watching birds since 2013.” —Eva Frost, from Project FeederWatch: Charro Ranch Park by Eva Frost, Hays Humm April 2023

Click on any photo to enlarge it and scroll through the gallery

House Finch

Spotted Towhee

American Robin

Lesser Goldfinch

Northern Cardinal Female

Carolina Chickadee

Northern Cardinal Female

Licoln Sparrow

Northern Cardinal Female

American Cardinal Male

Spotted Towhee

Red-winged Blackbird Female

Spotted Towhee

Bluebird Nest Box Management - Hays County

Bonnie Tull, pictured here, initiated a Master Naturalist project to install and monitor bluebird nest boxes across Hays County.

Bonnie writes:

“Eastern Bluebirds are migratory in the north, but here in Central Texas we have a resident population. They are insect and berry eaters and will come to suet feeders. They prefer mostly insects in the summer and will eat more berries in the winter. Their favorite habitat involves open fields or meadows with bordering trees, where they may find shelter and nest sites. Unfortunately, bluebirds have to compete for natural nest holes with invasive species (such as European Starlings and English House Sparrows) as well as with some native species (such as woodpeckers and other cavity nesting natives).

Bluebirds used to use old woodpecker holes in fence posts until those started disappearing. Thus, the program was born to construct nest box trails to improve habitat options for bluebirds. A nestbox trail consists of a number of boxes spaced at least 100 yards apart in bluebird habitat.”

Read more about nest box construction and other best practices here in Bonnie’s article, Bluebird Nest Box Management, Hays Humm November 2022.

As a volunteer for HCMN Project 702, I’ve documented six native bird species who utilize the bluebird nest boxes at Jacob’s Well Natural Area. See photographs of those birds and other cavity nesting bird in For the Love of Nesting Birds by Betsy Cross in Hays Humm November 2022.