Guided Birding Around Houston

I wrote this in an email to a friend who asked about cheap guided birding around Houston, and I thought it would be great general knowledge for anyone wanting to know more about birding opportunities in the Houston area. I am the Houston Birder, after all :) Here is what I wrote her:

Field Trips

Field trips are guided tours that, for the most part, leave from Houston and to go to a place outside of Houston for birding.

There are guided field trips through the Houston Audubon Society, usually on the fourth Saturday of the month. The field trips are free for members, and membership to the Houston Audubon is $20 a year. The last trip was last weekend, in which they went to Kleb Woods Nature Preserve, in Tomball. It doesn't look like they have January through May planned out yet for field trips, but here is the link for when they do:
http://www.houstonaudubon.org/index.cfm?MenuItemID=545&MenuGroup=Home

There is another non-audubon Houston group called the "Ornithology Group." They also have field trips the third Saturday of every month. Anyone can go to the monthly field trip for free, but the quarterly field trips (in bold) are for members only (membership is $8 a year).
http://www.ornithologygroup.org/_mgxroot/page_10741.html

There is also the state-wide Texas Ornithological Society, which has various field trips and meetings, some of them close to Houston. I'm going to the field trip to Choke Canyon State Park next month with them, and I'm hoping to go to West Texas Spring meeting with them in May. Membership to the TOS is not required, but non-members have to pay more for the trips. Membership is $25 a year and will get you $15-$20 off each field trip and meeting, as well as a subscription to Texas Birds Annually.
http://texasbirds.org/_mgxroot/page_10755.html

Bird Walks

Bird Walks are casual birding walks through a given location, usually on a regular basis.

The Houston Parks and Recreation Department also has Bird Walks that are free (but I've never tried any): http://www.houstonaudubon.org/index.cfm/MenuItemID/609.htm . Lake Houston Park also has Owl Prowls.

From the HPRD Website:

Third Saturday of the Month at 8:30am at Lake Houston Park ($3 Entrance Fee)
"Peach Creek Peepers Guided Bird Walk
Join fellow birding enthusiasts on this fun & educational walk through the park in search of the many beautiful avian neighbors that call Lake Houston Park home. Ages 13 & up. Reservation required by calling (281) 354-0173. Space is limited. No group reservations please."

Russ Pittman Park in Bellaire does bird walks every Tuesday at noon during migration.

Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary in west Houston has Owl Prowls 4 Friday nights out of the year for $6 a person. I'm signed up for the February one. http://www.houstonaudubon.org/index.cfm/MenuItemID/166.htm

Bird Surveys/Counts

Bird Surveys/Counts are exhaustive counts of a specific area. The count results are submitted to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (through ebird.org) and help to track bird populations and migration patterns.

It's a great way to get a crash course in identification (since you need to identify the bird to count it). Here are the ones I know about in Houston:

• Armand Bayou Nature Center Survey (Clear Lake area) - 7am, second Saturday of the month
• Bolivar Bird Count (shore east of Galveston, across the ferry) - 8am, third Saturday of the month
• W 11th Street Park Survey (in the Heights) - 8:30am, third Tuesday of the month

Then of course, there are Christmas Bird Counts. Every year from December 14th to January 10th there are over a dozen CBCs in the area. They define a specific count circle (15 miles in diameter), then the counters break up the circle into sections and count as many birds and as many species of birds as possible within their section. You can see a list of Houston-area counts here (see Upper Texas Coast): http://www.houstonaudubon.org/index.cfm/MenuItemID/619.htm . Generally, people are appreciated to stay all day, but about half of the counters leave at lunch. It's "guided" in the sense that beginning birders are usually grouped with expert birders. Beginning birders can spot the birds, then the expert birders can identify them :)