Painted Bunting
Latin: Passerina ciris
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Long characterized as a land of wide open spaces, the Lone Star State is increasingly defined by its burgeoning cities and suburbs.
Photo: Sean Fitzgerald
Fueled by booming economic growth, Texas is currently the 3rd-fastest growing state in the nation. Eight of the fifteen fastest growing large cities in the United States are in Texas, and today, roughly 85% of Texans live in a major metropolitan area. This unprecedented growth is taking a heavy toll on resources vital to the health and stability of both Texas's urban and natural landscapes.
Texas is critical to North American birds throughout the year, providing vital breeding, wintering, and migratory stopover habitat for 623 different bird species. Reflecting the variation in Texas’s landscape, Texas birds are widely diverse, from tiny Rufous Hummingbirds that weigh less than a nickel to the stately, 5-foot-tall Whooping Cranes that winter on the coast. Texas is the southern gateway to North America’s Central Flyway, a migration corridor that leads from the Texas Gulf Coast through the heart of the continent and up as far as the Canadian tundra. Roughly 98.5% of North America’s long-distance migratory birds pass through Texas; that’s over 330 species!
Learn more about how Audubon is working to build Bird Friendly Communities.
Visit one of Texas's Audubon Centers and explore the beauty of Texas nature.
Audubon Texas is proud to lead the Lights Out Texas coalition.
Spring Migration March 1 - June 15, 2023 Information and Resources Available We encourage everyone to turn off non-essential lights at night!
Over the last 100 years, urban sprawl has transformed 150 million acres of farmland and native habitats across the United States into buildings, hardscape, and 40 million acres of highly manicured lawns. Filled with exotic plants, these urban landscapes no longer support the healthy, functioning ecosystems that birds and wildlife need.
Building strikes are the number two cause of human-related bird mortality, killing millions of birds each year. Bird-friendly Building efforts and Lights Out programs can help us counteract this problem in our urban areas.
Boca Chica: SpaceX continues its extraordinary march toward Mars. Deep in South Texas only a few miles from the Texas-Mexico border, in some of the state’s most pristine shorebird habitat, SpaceX has grand plans for its Starship/Superheavy program, which may one day take people to Mars. Audubon Texas is monitoring the project, focusing on ways to inform the conversation by focusing on evidenced-based conservation, community science, and community engagement.
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