Parking Lot Birding : A Fun Guide to Discovering Birds in Texas

Texas boasts greater bird diversity than almost any state, with more than six hundred species living in or passing through during spring and fall migrations. Jennifer L. Bristol’s Parking Lot Birding, now in an updated second edition, speaks to people who would love to observe a wide variety of birds in easy access locations that don’t require arduous hikes or a degree in ornithology. As she explains, “I have personally trudged down hundreds of miles of trails in Texas, loaded down with gear, searching for birds, only to return to the parking lot to find what I was looking for.”

Drawing on her experience as a former park ranger and lifelong nature enthusiast, Bristol explores ninety birding locations that are open to the public and accessible regardless of ability or mobility. Divided by geography, with each of the nine sections centered on a large urban area or defined ecoregion, Parking Lot Birding: A Fun Guide to Discovering Birds in Texas will guide readers to birds in locales from the busy heart of Dallas to the remote Muleshoe Wildlife Refuge in the plains north of Lubbock. Each birding stop includes the name and address of a specific birding location, number of species that have been recorded, and types of birding amenities offered. Locational accounts end with a “Feather Fact” that provides interesting and relevant details about selected birds in a particular region.

You never know what you might see when on the beaten path, especially in a state as big and ecologically diverse as Texas. So grab your binoculars and let’s go birding! 

JENNIFER L. BRISTOL is a bird guide and the executive director of the Victor Emanuel Young Naturalist Scholarship Fund. She is the author of Cemetery Birding: An Unexpected Guide to Discovering Birds in Texas and contributor to Texas State Parks: The First One Hundred Years, 1923–2023. A former park ranger and executive director of Texas Children in Nature Network, she continues to serve on the Environmental Commission for the City of Austin, where she resides.