What Kind of Birds Are Found in West Texas?

Hummingbirds, Swallows and Jays

• Several hummingbird species find West Texas a suitable habitat, including the white-eared hummingbird, broad-billed hummingbird, blue-throated hummingbird and the magnificent hummingbird. These species usually reside in the region only during the summer months and only in years when vegetation is plentiful. Of the swallow genus, the violet-green swallow, rufous-crowned sparrow, Brewer's sparrow, black-chinned sparrow, black-throated sparrow make a home in West Texas, mostly in summer months. The Mexican jay is the only jaybird that is a common, year-round resident of West Texas.

Songbirds

• Vireos are a genus of small songbirds, birds that have a melodic call. A few species of vireos live in the wooded areas of West Texas during the summer months - Bell's vireo, gray vireo and plumbeous vireo. There are also a few species of wrens common to West Texas including the rock wren, canyon wren and cactus wren. Additionally, the warbler, a migrating bird that has a very sharp, high-pitched song, has several species that are occasional summer visitors to West Texas. These are the Colima warbler, Lucy's warbler, Townsend's warbler, hermit warbler and MacGillivray's warbler.

Flycatcher, Sapsucker and Woodpeckers

• The flycatcher is an insectivorous bird (as its name implies) that prefers arid regions. West Texas has three species of flycatchers; the gray flycatcher, which is fairly common in the summer; the vermilion flycatcher, which is common year-round; and the dusky-capped flycatcher, which is a rare resident in summer. Sapsuckers, which are related to woodpeckers and feed on sap, are represented in West Texas by two species, red-naped sapsucker (common in winter) and Williamson's sapsucker (rare in winter). The acorn woodpecker is the only woodpecker species that is common in the wooded areas of the region.

Birds of Prey

• Several species of carnivorous birds live in West Texas. The gray hawk, common black-hawk, zone-tailed hawk and the ferruginous hawk are a few hawks species that occasionally make a home in the desert and mountain areas of West Texas during the summer and winter. The golden eagle and prairie falcon also sometimes reside in West Texas during the winter months. The western screech-owl, elf owl and flammulated owl are the owl species that sometimes live in West Texas.

Game Birds and Water Fowl

• The game birds of West Texas that are often hunted for food and sport include the scaled quail, Montezuma quail and the band-tailed pigeon. A few species of water fowl also live or are occasionally found near the large rivers and lakes of West Texas. These include the western grebe, Clark's grebe and the Mexican mallard.