Mark W. Lockwood - Birds of the Texas Hill Country

ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES

9. Montezuma Quail

10. Greater Roadrunner

11. Eastern Screech-Owl

12. Common Poorwill

13. Black-chinned Hummingbird

14. Green Kingfisher

15. Vermilion Flycatcher

16. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

17. Bell's Vireo

18. Black-capped Vireo

19. Western Scrub-Jay

20. Cave Swallow

21. Verdin

22. Cactus Wren

23. Bewick's Wren

24. Golden-cheeked Warblermale

25. Golden-cheeked Warblerfemale

26. Summer Tanager

27. Canyon Towhee

28. Harris's Sparrow

29. Pyrrhuloxia

30. Varied Bunting

31. Painted Bunting

32. Lesser Goldfinch

Maps

1. Subregions of the Edwards Plateau 2

2. Counties within the Edwards Plateau Physiographic Region

3. Average Annual Precipitation on the Edwards Plateau 5

4. Birding Locations on the Edwards Plateau 10

Tables

1. Partners in Flight: Priority Bird Species for the Edwards Plateau 9

2. Seasonal Distribution of Edwards Plateau Birds 175

FOREWORD

Since at least the days of the Republic of Texas (1836-1845), when the site of Austin was chosen as the new capital, Texans have revered their Hill Country and Central Mineral Region. German settlement in the mid-nineteenth century gave us a cultural legacy remaining today in New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Boerne, Mason, and many other quaint communities nestled among the wooded hills and spring-fed valleys. The drier western plateau, then part of dreaded Comancheria, was entered only by brave souls indeed.

Modern Texans continue to regard the Edwards Plateau and its Hill Country as the historical and cultural heart of our state. Appropriately, it has in recent decades assumed a new role in step with our nation's rising interest in all things natural. Its legendary streamsGuadalupe, Comal, San Saba, Frio, Llano, Pedernales, Blanco, San Marcos, Devils, Medina, Sabinal, Nueces, whose very names speak to historyare treasured today by growing numbers of residents and ecotourists. Hummingbird feeders that attract such wonderfully improbable sights as Green Violet-ears number in the thousands along these stream valleys. Its life forms and their conservation now often take center stage in Texas biodiversity concerns.

The plateau is of international faunal fame. Blind catfishes and ghostly white salamanders live in an astonishing aquifer, often deep below Earth's surface. Without question though, the star attraction birdsis the point of this book. For example, among the three highest profile endangered birds in Texas (Black-capped Vireo, Goldencheeked Warbler, and Whooping Crane), the first two are specialists of the Edwards Plateau.

We naturalists who live on the Edwards Plateau or who visit it to enjoy the pleasures of its birdlife have, in this book, our first modern description of that fauna. The University of Texas Press has come to our aid for the third time in support of this need. They published Simmons's 1925 Birds of the Austin Region and Oberholser's 1974 The Bird Life of Texas. Both of these works now stand dog-eared on my shelves, and an updated and comprehensive Edwards Plateau focus has been needed for some time.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is a reflection of the efforts of the many ornithologists and birders who have reported their findings on the Edwards Plateau. Over the past 40 years, much of that information was provided to the editors of what is now known as North American Birds. Without this free flow of information and the means with which to archive it, status and distribution works on a landscape scale would be a far more difficult undertaking. I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to submit their sightings to their local birding group, the Texas Ornithological Society, or to North American Birds. Birders who contribute their sightings play an important role in documenting the ornithological history of Texas.

There is a group of people who have spent a considerable amount of time on the Edwards Plateau and who have shared detailed information about sightings from the region with me. I owe a debt of gratitude to John Arvin, Doug Booher, Kelly Bryan, Brush Freeman, Tony Gallucci, John Gee, Nick Jackson, John Karges, Greg Lasley, Terry Maxwell, Art and Hanna Richard, Willie Sekula, Chuck Sexton, Paul Sunby, and Sue Wiedenfeld. Sue Wiedenfeld also shared with me a database of Ernest and Kay Muller's observations. Don Connell provided one of the most significant sources of information about birds on the eastern plateau. He graciously allowed me to examine the banding records from the Driftwood Banding Station. This banding station has been in existence for almost 20 years, and Don's commitment to that effort is to be commended.

Reviewing the manuscript of this book was a daunting task. I would like to thank Brush Freeman, Greg Lasley, Terry Maxwell, Jim Peterson, David Riskind, Chuck Sexton, and Cliff Shackelford for their thoughtful comments. Their careful review greatly improved the final product. Dr. Stan Casto was instrumental in the development of the early history of ornithological investigation on the plateau section of the introduction. Stan provided me with details on many of these men as well as the photos that appear in that section of the book.