SOUTH TEXAS MBW COMPOSITE LIST

(Total = 360 species: 1988-2024)


• Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

• Fulvous Whistling-Duck

• Snow Goose

• Ross's Goose

• Greater White-fronted Goose

• Canada Goose

• Muscovy Duck (r)

• Wood Duck (r)

• Gadwall

• Blue-winged Teal

• Cinnamon Teal

• Northern Shoveler

• American Wigeon

• Mallard (r)

• Mexican Duck (r)

• Mottled Duck

• Northern Pintail

• Green-winged Teal

• Canvasback

• Redhead

• Ring-necked Duck

• Greater Scaup

• Lesser Scaup

• Surf Scoter (1)

• Black Scoter (1)

• Long-tailed Duck (3)

• Bufflehead

• Common Goldeneye

• Hooded Merganser

• Red-breasted Merganser

• Masked Duck (2)

• Ruddy Duck


• Plain Chachalaca


• Northern Bobwhite

• Scaled Quail (r)


• Wild Turkey


• American Flamingo (1)


• Least Grebe

• Pied-billed Grebe

• Eared Grebe


• Rock Pigeon

• Red-billed Pigeon

• Eurasian Collared-Dove

• Inca Dove

• Common Ground Dove

• White-tipped Dove

• White-winged Dove

• Mourning Dove

• Groove-billed Ani

• Greater Roadrunner

• Lesser Nighthawk (2: incl nighthawk, sp.)

• Common Pauraque

• nightjar, sp. (1: possible Tawny-collared)


• Ruby-throated Hummingbird

• Black-chinned Hummingbird

• Anna's Hummingbird (1)

• Rufous Hummingbird

• Allen's Hummingbird (2)

• Broad-tailed Hummingbird (2)

• Broad-billed Hummingbird (1)

• Buff-bellied Hummingbird


• King Rail

• Clapper Rail

• Virginia Rail

• Sora

• Common Gallinule

• American Coot


• Limpkin (1)


• Sandhill Crane

• Whooping Crane

• Black-necked Stilt

• American Avocet

• American Oystercatcher


• Black-bellied Plover

• Killdeer

• Semipalmated Plover

• Piping Plover

• Mountain Plover (3)          

• Snowy Plover

• Northern Jaçana (5)


• Whimbrel (3)

• Long-billed Curlew

• Bar-tailed Godwit (1)

• Marbled Godwit

• Ruddy Turnstone

• Stilt Sandpiper

• Sanderling

• Dunlin

• Purple Sandpiper (2)

• Least Sandpiper

• Pectoral Sandpiper (2)

• Western Sandpiper

• Short-billed Dowitcher

• Long-billed Dowitcher

• Wilson's Snipe

• Spotted Sandpiper

• Solitary Sandpiper

• Lesser Yellowlegs

• Willet

• Greater Yellowlegs

• Wilson's Phalarope  (1)


• jaeger, sp. (2: probably Pomarine)


• Black-legged Kittiwake (1)

• Bonaparte's Gull

• Little Gull (2)

• Laughing Gull

• Franklin's Gull (2)

• Ring-billed Gull

• Herring Gull

• Iceland Gull (1)

• Lesser Black-backed Gull (r)

• Slaty-backed Gull (1)

• Glaucous Gull (2)

• Gull-billed Tern

• Caspian Tern

• Black Tern (1)

• Common Tern (3)

• Forster's Tern

• Royal Tern

• Sandwich Tern (r)

• Black Skimmer


• Common Loon

• Magnificent Frigatebird (1)


• Brown Booby (1)

• Northern Gannet (r)


• Anhinga


• Double-crested Cormorant

• Neotropic Cormorant


• American White Pelican

• Brown Pelican


• American Bittern

• Least Bittern (3)

• Bare-throated Tiger-Heron (1)

• Great Blue Heron

• Great Egret

• Snowy Egret

• Little Blue Heron

• Tricolored Heron

• Reddish Egret

• Cattle Egret

• Green Heron

• Black-crowned Night Heron

• Yellow-crowned Night Heron


• White Ibis

• White-faced Ibis

• Roseate Spoonbill


• Black Vulture

• Turkey Vulture


• Osprey

• White-tailed Kite

• Hook-billed Kite (r)

• Northern Harrier

• Sharp-shinned Hawk

• Cooper's Hawk

• Crane Hawk (1)

• Common Black Hawk (r)

• Roadside Hawk (3)                    

• Harris's Hawk

• White-tailed Hawk

• Gray Hawk

• Red-shouldered Hawk

• Broad-winged Hawk (r)

• Swainson's Hawk (1)

• Zone-tailed Hawk

• Red-tailed Hawk

• Ferruginous Hawk (r)


• Barn Owl


• Flammulated Owl (1)

• Eastern Screech-Owl

• Great Horned Owl

• Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (r)

• Burrowing Owl

• Barred Owl (3)

• Mottled Owl (1)

• Long-eared Owl (1)

• Short-eared Owl (3)


• Elegant Trogon (1)


• Ringed Kingfisher

• Belted Kingfisher

• Green Kingfisher


• Golden-fronted Woodpecker

• Red-bellied Woodpecker (2)

• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

• Red-naped Sapsucker (3)

• Downy Woodpecker (1)

• Ladder-backed Woodpecker

• Northern Flicker (r)


• Collared Forest-Falcon (1)

• Crested Caracara

• American Kestrel

• Merlin

• Aplomado Falcon

• Peregrine Falcon

• Prairie Falcon (1)


• Monk Parakeet

• Green Parakeet

• Red-crowned Parrot


• Masked Tityra (1)

• Gray-collared Becard (1)

• Rose-throated Becard (r)

• Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet

• Dusky-capped Flycatcher (3)          

• Ash-throated Flycatcher (r)

Myiarchus flycatcher, sp. (1)

• Great Kiskadee

• Cattle Tyrant (1)

• Tropical Kingbird

• Couch's Kingbird

• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (5)

• Greater Pewee (4)

• Least Flycatcher (3: incl Empidonax, sp.)

• Hammond's Flycatcher (1)

• Gray Flycatcher (1)

• Western Flycatcher (1)

• Black Phoebe

• Eastern Phoebe

• Say's Phoebe

• Vermilion Flycatcher


• White-eyed Vireo

• Bell's Vireo (2)

• Blue-headed Vireo


• Loggerhead Shrike


• Brown Jay (r)

• Green Jay

• Blue Jay (1)

• American Crow (3)

• Tamaulipas Crow (r)

• Chihuahuan Raven


• Verdin


• Carolina Chickadee (5)

• Black-crested Titmouse


• Horned Lark


• Bank Swallow (4)

• Tree Swallow

• Northern Rough-winged Swallow

• Purple Martin

• Barn Swallow

• Cliff Swallow (3)

• Cave Swallow

• Ruby-crowned Kinglet

• Golden-crowned Kinglet (r)


• Cedar Waxwing


• Brown Creeper (2)

• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

• Black-tailed Gnatcatcher (r)

• Rock Wren (r)

• Cactus Wren

• Bewick's Wren

• Carolina Wren

• House Wren

• Winter Wren (3)

• Sedge Wren

• Marsh Wren


• Blue Mockingbird (1)

• Gray Catbird

• Curve-billed Thrasher

• Brown Thrasher (4)

• Long-billed Thrasher

• Sage Thrasher (1)

• Northern Mockingbird


• European Starling


• Eastern Bluebird

• Mountain Bluebird (4)

• Townsend's Solitaire (1)

• Hermit Thrush

• Clay-colored Thrush

• White-throated Thrush (5)

• Rufous-backed Robin (1)

• American Robin


• Northern Wheatear (1)


• House Sparrow


• American Pipit                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

• Sprague's Pipit


• House Finch

• Pine Siskin

• Lesser Goldfinch

• American Goldfinch


• Cassin's Sparrow

• Grasshopper Sparrow (r)

• Olive Sparrow

• Black-throated Sparrow

• Lark Sparrow

• Lark Bunting (r)

• Chipping Sparrow

• Clay-colored Sparrow

• Field Sparrow

• Brewer's Sparrow (1)

• White-crowned Sparrow

• Harris's Sparrow (1)

• White-throated Sparrow (r)

• Vesper Sparrow

• LeConte's Sparrow (1)

• Seaside Sparrow

• Nelson's Sparrow (r)

• Savannah Sparrow

• Song Sparrow (1)

• Lincoln's Sparrow

• Swamp Sparrow

• Rufous-crowned Sparrow (1)

• Green-tailed Towhee (r)

• Spotted Towhee (4)

• Eastern Towhee  (4: incl towhee, sp.)

• Yellow-headed Blackbird (r)

• Eastern Meadowlark

• Western Meadowlark

• Black-vented Oriole (2)

• Orchard Oriole (2)

• Hooded Oriole

• Bullock's Oriole (1)

• Altamira Oriole

• Audubon's Oriole

• Baltimore Oriole (2)

• Red-winged Blackbird

• Bronzed Cowbird

• Brown-headed Cowbird

• Brewer's Blackbird

• Common Grackle (5)

• Boat-tailed Grackle

• Great-tailed Grackle


• Ovenbird

• Louisiana Waterthrush (2)

• Northern Waterthrush (2)

• Black-and-white Warbler

• Orange-crowned Warbler

• Nashville Warbler

• Gray-crowned Yellowthroat (4)

• Common Yellowthroat

• American Redstart (1)

• Cape May Warbler (1)

• Northern Parula

• Tropical Parula

• Blackburnian Warbler (2)

• Yellow Warbler (4)

• Palm Warbler (1)

• Pine Warbler

• Yellow-rumped Warbler

• Yellow-throated Warbler

• Prairie Warbler (1)

• Black-throated Gray Warbler

• Townsend's Warbler (1)

• Hermit Warbler (3)                    

• Black-throated Green Warbler

• Fan-tailed Warbler (1)

• Golden-crowned Warbler (r)

• Wilson's Warbler

• Painted Redstart (3)


• Summer Tanager (r)

• Western Tanager (3)

• Crimson-collared Grosbeak (r)

• Northern Cardinal

• Pyrrhuloxia

• Rose-breasted Grosbeak (3)

• Black-headed Grosbeak (r)         

• Blue Bunting (r)

• Lazuli Bunting (2)

• Indigo Bunting

• Painted Bunting (3)

• Dickcissel (4)


• Yellow-faced Grassquit (1)

• Morelet's Seedeater (r)




South Texas MBWeeks Species Totals


• Total = 43 MBWs: incl 2 MBWs in Feb 1990, Feb 1999,  

   Dec 2011-Feb 2012, Feb 2014, Feb 2018, and Feb  

   2019; 3 MBWs in Dec 2015-Feb 2016


• Numbers in parentheses after species = found on 5 or

   fewer South Texas MBWeeks; (r) = rarities on >5

   MBWeeks not seen most years


• exotics = "non-countable" species: mostly escaped/

   released parakeets/parrots; plus flamingo, sp. (1995);

   West Indian Whistling-Duck (2001, 2002); Aplomado

   Falcon (2002, 2007)


• Mexico = seen only on Mexican side of Rio Grande


• 204 = average species total     



Year            Species


1988               213

1989               202

1990a             185

1990b             180

1991               200

1992               194

1993               209

1994               197

1995               197 (+ 4 exotics)

1996               194

1997               206 (+ 2 exotics)

1998               203

1999a             202

1999b             220

2000               209 (+ 3 exotics)

2001               198 (incl 1 Mexico; + 4 exotics)

2002               202 (+ 5 exotics)

2003               201

2004               205 (+ 2 exotics)

2005               216

2006               213 (+ 1 exotic)

2007               208 (incl 1 Mexico; + 2 exotics)

2008               205

2009               221

2010               205 (+ 1 exotic)

2011               224 (+ 1 exotic)

2012a             211

2012b             228

2013               203 (+ 4 exotics)

2014a             206 (+ 1 exotic)

2014b             200

2015               208 (+ 3 exotics)

2016a             193 (+ 1 exotic)

2016b             202

2016c             231 (+ 2 exotics)

2017               198 (incl 1 Mexico; + 2 exotics)

2018a             183 (+ 2 exotics)

2018b             210 (+ 2 exotics)

2019a             207 (+ 2 exotics)

2019b             196 (+ 1 exotic)

2020               205

2023               186 (+ 10 post-MBW)

2024               214 (incl 1 Mexico; + 2 exotics)