Birdlife of Houston, Galveston, and the Upper Texas Coast

Birdlife of Houston, Galveston, and the Upper Texas Coast
Author: Ted L. Eubanks
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2006-10-03
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9781585445103

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 Laguna Madre of Texas and Tamaulipas, Revised Edition

The Laguna Madre of Texas and Tamaulipas, Revised Edition
Author: Kim Withers
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 713
Release: 2024-06-03
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1623499925

The Laguna Madre is the only hypersaline coastal lagoon on the North American continent and only one of five worldwide. The lagoon is renowned for its vast seagrass meadows, huge wintering redhead population, and bountiful fishing grounds. In 2000, the Nature Conservancy, whose mission is the conservation of biodiversity through protection of habitat, recognized the need to amass all known information about the Laguna Madre and implement a science-based conservation agenda. From those efforts came the first edition of this book. Now completely revised and updated, this second edition of The Laguna Madre of Texas and Tamaulipas is the culmination of two decades of additional research and continued conservation efforts in the region. Nearly 100 years of literature on the Laguna Madre and surrounding environments has been synthesized here. With 150 figures and illustrations, the book takes a broad and comprehensive look at both the Texan and Tamaulipan Laguna Madre. The value of this book for scientists, conservationists, resource managers, and policy makers involved in the future of the Texas and Mexico coasts is clear. Coastal residents, birders, anglers, and nature lovers who want to learn about and take care of the Laguna Madre will find this to be an indispensable guide.

Nesting Birds of the Coastal Islands

Nesting Birds of the Coastal Islands
Author: John C. Dyes
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2013-09-17
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0292758987

Every year, more than twenty species of terns, gulls, and colonial wading birds raise their young on rookery islands all along the Gulf Coast. Their breeding and nesting activities go on in the wake of passing oil tankers, commercial fishing vessels, and pleasure boats of all kinds—human traffic that threatens their already circumscribed habitats. John C. Dyes has spent more than ten years photographing and observing the birds in their rookeries on the Texas Coast, and, in Nesting Birds of the Coastal Islands, he presents a year in the birds' life through fine photographs and an evocative and informative text. In a month-by-month account, he follows the annual rituals and daily dramas of courtship, mating, and chick rearing among herons, egrets, spoonbills, cormorants, ibises, and other birds that migrate and gather in colonies ranging from half a dozen birds to tens of thousands.