Texas Nature Trackers - Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept Program

Texas Nature Trackers - Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept Program Discovering Populations, Documenting Change
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05/31/2026

Getting Batty today!!! These adorable Mexican free tailed bats were squeaking up a storm!

Happy Photo Friday and belated World Bee Day! Today I would like to highlight the tiny ecosystem engineers that are ofte...
05/22/2026

Happy Photo Friday and belated World Bee Day!
Today I would like to highlight the tiny ecosystem engineers that are often overlooked and underappreciated, our native Texas Bees! With over 800 species of native bees, Texas is queen bee of bee biodiversity.
Native bees pollinate our native plants, as well as our food crops. They are essential for well-functioning ecosystems and for food supply sustainability. Bees are as diverse in their behavior and life history as they are in appearance. I could talk about bees all day and barely scratch the surface.

Learn more by scrolling through iNaturalist and filtering by bees (Anthophila). Only 413 species have been logged on iNat in Texas, so there is still much to be done!

Read about our native bees and how to manage habitat to help them, with this awesome resource from TPWD.
https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/nongame/native-pollinators/media/TPWD-Native-Pollinator-Management.pdf

Native Bees from iNaturalist seen in attached photos: Thanks to all the awesome contributors for your dedication and skills. :-)

Sunflower Chimney Bee (, CC_BY_NC)
Oblique Longhorn Bee (, CC_BY_NC)
Striped Sweat Bee (, CC_BY_NC)
Broad-Banded Longhorn Bee (, CC_BY_NC)
Eastern Carpenter Bee (, CC_BU_NC)
Bristle Sweat Bee (, CC_BY_NC)

05/15/2026

For today's photo Friday we are highlighting the Yellow-billed Cuckoo! I heard my first of the year yesterday. Often heard but not seen, this charismatic bird is sometimes caleld the "rain crow" due to its habit of calling before or during rain storms. Try to go out this weekend and listen for this call or the distcintive knocking call it often makes! I heard it yesterday despite no rain or storms!

Thank you for the CC0 audio recording, and for the beautiful CC0 photo on iNaturalist! We appreciate you providing content in the creative commons license so we may use these media.

05/12/2026

It's a beautiful spring day in Texas!

Happy Photo Friday! With City Nature Challenge complete and the observations pouring in, we often focus on the big numbe...
05/08/2026

Happy Photo Friday! With City Nature Challenge complete and the observations pouring in, we often focus on the big numbers, but I wanted to zoom in a bit closer and highlight some individual observations that were made for Texas SGCN's or, Species of Greatest Conservation Need.

An important goal of Texas Nature Trackers is to help gather data for these species, so we can better support their recovery.

Thank you to the below observers for sharing your time, passion and excellent photography skills!

Black-Tailed Prairie Dog: , CC-BY-NC
Black-Capped Vireo: , CC-BY
Texas Tortoises: , CC-BY-NC
Green Heron: , CC-BY-NC
Western Massasauga: , CC-BY-NC

04/27/2026

Day 4 of city nature challenge had lots of beautiful things to see. 🪲🌻🦇

Today’s the last day to make observations!

Continue uploading and doing identifications until May 10th to contribute. 

04/26/2026

While looking for birds and dragonflies for day three of I came upon this beautiful discovery! Any fish needs out there want to chime in on this?

04/24/2026

Day one of City Nature Challenge! Nature is wherever you look! I got some “lifer” species in this seemingly bare ground area in an Ashe juniper forest!

Today is the day! City Nature Challenge is here, and naturalists are already hard at work observing. Enjoy these observ...
04/24/2026

Today is the day! City Nature Challenge is here, and naturalists are already hard at work observing.

Enjoy these observations from some dedicated naturalists burning the midnight oil, blacklighting for nocturnal insects at Palmetto State Park last night.

Great job y'all!

The first 3 users to post on 4/24 in a CNC area:
Curved-Lined Owlet moth by
Grapevine Beetle by
Hypatopa puntiferella (a Blastoblasid moth) by

Get out there and see what you might discover!

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4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX
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