Central Texas is a gold mine for birders, and the Waco area is no exception to that.
With a diversity of ecosystems that attract many species, it is a prime location on the Central Flyway. Of the four avian superhighways in the United States, the Central Flyway runs through Texas, as well as Colorado, Kansas, Montana, and Wyoming, and is by far the most popular route for the millions of birds that migrate each year.
“You can roughly categorize the birds we get in Central Texas into four groups,” said Charlotte Reemtz, an ecologist and science project director with The Nature Conservancy’s Texas chapter, where she has studied ecosystems across Texas since 2005. “We have woodland forest birds that like big trees, lots of structure. We have shrubland birds, like the black-capped vireo, that want shorter plants. Then we have grassland birds that want open spaces. And finally, there are the waterbirds.”
The Birds at Baylor
The Baylor campus sits within an urban environment, but its location along the Brazos River is a sanctuary for many bird species.
“We have a good habitat here right next to the river and, on the older part of campus, some really old trees that are home to screech owls,” said Dr. Joe C. Yelderman, Jr., professor and chair of the Department of Geosciences. He’s been on the Baylor faculty for 43 years and has been watching birds his whole life.
“I sometimes stumble because I’m always looking up,” Yelderman said.
Some of the birds most often seen around campus include the blackpoll warbler, the neotropic cormorant, the American white pelican, and the barn swallow.
“Another favorite is the black-bellied whistling duck, which will fly low in the sky in the evening right up until it roosts for the night,” said Kyle Melton, a wildlife biologist at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “They have a unique flying call, a whistle, and I’ve seen them land on Baylor’s campus. We also have a lot of hawks that come through. And Franklin’s Gulls. You may not see them landing, but you can hear them honking and chattering overhead.”
The Making of a Good Habitat
The ideal habitat for a bird is one with a plentiful source of food nearby, shelter against bad weather and for protection, and a place to build nests for those species that are in the area during breeding season.
“The large trees and live oaks on Baylor’s campus, plus the Brazos River, establish a very welcoming habitat, especially during migrations,” said Matt York, an avid birder and Baylor alumnus with more than 500 birds on his Life List (that is, a personal record of every bird species positively identified in his lifetime). “If you look at satellite imagery, it’s like a little green ribbon, which is perfect for spring warblers.”
One of the more famous avian residents in nearby Bosque County is the golden-cheeked warbler, the only bird that nests exclusively in Texas. Although rarely seen on the Baylor campus, they enjoy the Ashe juniper woodlands of Meridian State Park. Only an hour’s drive from Waco, the park is worth the drive for its wide variety of birds.
“We also have big reservoirs that provide a habitat for a variety of ducks, loons, and seasonal eagles,” said Rich Kostecke, director of science and stewardship at the Hill Country Conservancy and vice president of the Travis Audubon. “Central Texas eagles have made a comeback, and we have a lot of nesting eagles now. We also have whooping cranes. They’re still listed as endangered — their numbers are recouping, but they still have a way to go until they’re fully recovered.”
Whooping Cranes Over Texas
Dr. Karine Gil regan researching whooping cranes in Texas in 2002 while pursuing her Ph.D. in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries at Texas A&M University. She’s now a lecturer and professional concert pianist, joining the Baylor faculty in 2019.
“I have more than 40 years of experience working with birds,” Gil said. “Whooping cranes live around 32 years, so when you see a flock, it’s probably great grandparents, grandparents, parents, and children. An entire family — that’s so beautiful.”
Whooping cranes have been on the planet for 54 million years. Research from 1938 showed that only 14 remained. Today, there are between 400 and 600 thanks to the work of scientists and conservationists.
“Migratory birds don’t know about the boundaries of a country and use the entire planet for their benefit,” Gil said. “Next semester, I’ll be teaching ecology classes and hope to inspire more bird watchers, encourage Audubon membership, and raise awareness about diversity at Baylor and in the Waco area.”
The Baylor Biodiversity Project
For students, faculty, and campus passersby, there’s the Baylor Biodiversity Project.
“A big topic for the second semester of freshman biology is biodiversity, so I was looking for a way to get the students more engaged in biodiversity in their own backyard,” said Melissa Mullins, an environmental education and outreach coordinator for the Center for Reservoir and Aquatic Systems Research. “As I was already using the iNaturalist app, I decided to create the project there. Every week, the students have to make a number of observations.”
Although students are encouraged to document all animal species living on and passing through campus, there have been many bird sightings.
“I’m proud to say we’ve had 1,700 observations of 70 different species of birds since we started the project in 2023,” Mullins said. “And more than 500 folks on campus have contributed.”
A year after Mullins began her project, the biology department’s Dr. Robert Doyle encouraged his students to contribute to the Baylor Biodiversity Project as part of the upper-level ecology course he taught.
As Mullins stresses: “It’s really there for anyone to use — the perfect citizen science project that’s fun for Baylor students.”
Playing Favorites
Everyone has their favorite bird sightings, including geosciences department chair Yelderman, who saw an eastern kingbird on campus — a bird related to the more common western kingbird.
“Most recently, I saw a double-striped thick-knee, a bird primarily found in Central and South America, and that was one that I was able to register with the American Birding Association,” alumnus York said. “I also drove down to Galveston for a yellow-headed caracara, which is quite rare north of southern Mexico. And, perhaps most noteworthy, was the sighting of a Siberian stonechat, an Old World flycatcher species.”
For wildlife biologist Melton, his favorite bird sightings are memorable.
“On my birthday a couple of years ago, I saw about 50 Mississippi kites fly through, the first time I ever saw one,” Melton said. “And then, just last week, I got some bad news of the passing of a cousin of mine, and within the next quarter of a mile, I saw 15 Mississippi kites overhead. I don’t know what that means, but I’ll cherish it.”
You can increase the odds of seeing a wider variety of birds in your backyard with some feeding and planting strategies.
“Don’t underestimate the power of putting out clean water for the birds, either to just drink or bathe in,” Kostecke said. “And with backyards, it’s nice to have native plants and maybe a little messiness, with shrub-covered areas of thickets, where birds can escape into at all levels from the ground all the way up to the trees.”
The Joys of Birding
Whether you want to see the northern mockingbird — the state bird of Texas since 1927 — or the super-rare cattle tyrant, York has some simple advice for you: “I know it sounds silly, but enjoy the birds.”
Kostecke agrees.
“Don’t be intimidated,” Kostecke said. “It’s a wide spectrum, from those who watch the birds in their backyards to folks who are really hardcore twitchers. It’s a process, and the more you do it, the better you get. Birding is about having fun and enjoying yourself.”
“A bird doesn’t have to be rare or unusual to be really, really beautiful and interesting,” Reemtz said. “They’re like a little piece of the sky that just sat on your feeder or in that tree on campus. Birds are our neighbors, and we should all get to know them better.”
