Central Texas' July bird forecast: Rare coastal birds visit

Here’s the Central Texas bird forecast for the month, courtesy of Travis Audubon. Learn more about Central Texas birds and bird-related events for all ages at travisaudubon.org or by calling 512-300-BIRD.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Two rare coastal birds, the Piping Plover and the Brown Booby, are expected to be in Central Texas this July. Here's where you can look for them.

The Piping Plover is a small shorebird that infrequently shows up in Austin in spring and fall migration. Bob Wentz Park on Lake Travis is a good place to look for southbound migrants in mid to late July.

Mid-July might seem awfully early for fall migration, but adult shorebirds are known to move south early if their nesting efforts fail. Also, it’s not unusual for one adult (and it can be the male) to stay with the young on the breeding grounds while its mate moves south.

Lakeside walkers have the best chance of stumbling on this bird as the Piping Plover likes sand without much vegetation. Look for a small plump plover with a characteristic run and stop style of foraging. It’s about seven inches tall, with bright yellow legs, a pale gray back and large black eyes that give it an endearing look.

In Austin, we usually see Piping Plovers sporting their breeding plumage (since most records are from mid-April to early May, and then again from July through August.) The breeding male has a black, narrow collar usually broken at the neck, a thick black line across the forehead, and an orange bill with a black tip. Adult females are drabber.

In non-breeding plumage, the collar fades away to gray, the bill is black and the black bar across the forehead disappears.

Piping Plovers use a variety of habitats for breeding, with a preference for those with less than 20% vegetation. Examples include sand and gravel beaches on the coast, sand flats on natural islands, and mud flats.

In the fall, all the populations move south to winter along the southern Atlantic and Gulf Coast, with some to Cuba, the Bahamas and the Yucatan. There they can be found on beaches, sandflats and mudflats.

Like many shorebirds the Piping Plover is in trouble -- it’s listed as endangered around the Great Lakes, where there were 81 nesting pairs at the last count in 2024. It needs safe nesting sites free of human disturbance, which is hard to come by on many beaches. With only 7,600-8,400 birds left in the world, the Piping Plover is classified as near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and efforts continue to increase the population. 

Texas is critically important to the lives of Piping Plovers, with approximately 50% of the world’s population spending their winter here! When you take a beach holiday inland or at the coast, remember to give all shorebirds space, and keep your dog on a leash. Check out the American Bird Conservancy for more tips to help shorebirds.

Fun Facts about the Piping Plover

It has a sand-colored back to blend in with the scenery and foil avian predators like falcons, gulls, crows, ravens and owls. If it senses trouble overhead, it flattens itself against the ground and seems to disappear.

At coastal sites when a wave comes in and the sand is saturated with water, watch for “foot trembling” behavior. The Piping Plover will put one foot a little forward and rapidly tap it against the sand. This may bring prey items like marine worms to the surface.

Piping Plovers nest in shallow depressions they create called scrapes, sometimes adding multiple small stones and shells to them. One female in the Great Lakes region was seen excavating her eggs which had been covered with 2 inches of sand in a storm, and then resuming incubation.

The young are precocial, meaning they can move around on their own within hours after hatching. They have to return frequently to the parents to be brooded for the first 21 days or so to help with temperature regulation.

A Seabird at Lake Travis’ Windy Point

A local birder who regularly can be found scanning the skies and water at Bob Wentz Park (Windy Point) on Lake Travis was surprised to spot a Brown Booby there on April 4, and it was still there on June 27.

This large seabird is typically found in tropical waters around the globe, where it dives for fish and squid. In our area Brown Boobies breed on islands in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea and winter up the Atlantic Coast as far as Newfoundland and Labrador. Over the past twenty-one years they have been popping up on inland lakes and reservoirs as one-day wonders or as long-staying birds.

In Texas they have been found in places like Lake Ray Roberts, Lake Whitney, Lake Waco, Canyon Lake, Calaveras Lake and Lake Travis to name a few spots.

The reason why this typically offshore bird is coming inland is unknown, but it could be due to prey scarcity where it normally occurs. Perhaps there is an increase in the bird’s abundance. So far, the one at Lake Travis has found enough food that it hasn’t moved on.

If you want to look for it, the bird can be seen flying along the main channel west of the point, but it also seems to disappear up the Cypress Creek arm periodically. It will rest on the water too. Look for a 30-inch bird with very angular wings, a brown back and tail, a brown neck, large long yellowish bill and white underparts. It often approaches the water at a shallow angle, then closes its wings and plunges into the water to catch fish closer to the surface, but also will dive from heights of up to 50 feet!

How did the Booby get its name? When early explorers encountered this bird and related species like the Masked Booby, they found it unafraid of humans and easily caught for food. So it earned the name bobo, Spanish for stupid, naive or silly.