Bird City Menard

Bird City Menard Bird City Menard

Bird Alert 🦅If you've driven the 2092 east of Menard lately, keep your eyes on the fence posts and trees. A Swainson's H...
08/26/2026

Bird Alert 🦅

If you've driven the 2092 east of Menard lately, keep your eyes on the fence posts and trees. A Swainson's Hawk has been regularly patrolling that stretch, and it's a great bird to learn to identify.

These photos were taken by Kristin on a recent trip to Colorado, where Swainson's Hawks are a common sight, and they're a perfect reference for what to look for. The soaring shot is a great look at the underwing pattern in flight: pale wing linings with darker flight feathers along the back edge, one of the easiest ways to tell this hawk apart from our more common Red-tailed Hawk. In the close up, the hawk's back is to the camera but its head is turned to look straight at you, a great chance to study the facial markings up close.

We're still working on getting a photo of our own local visitor. Have you spotted this hawk out on 2092? Snap a photo if you can and send it our way.

If you're new here, follow along for more Bird Alerts, Presidio blind updates, and everything happening in Menard's birding world.

📸 Kristin Wilson

Menard's youngest bird watchers had some help this week! Sarah Thigpen and Linda Ray Myers visited the Menard Boys & Gir...
08/25/2026

Menard's youngest bird watchers had some help this week! Sarah Thigpen and Linda Ray Myers visited the Menard Boys & Girls Club yesterday to help kids add more bird feeders to their garden.

The kids got hands on experience setting up the new feeders and learned a little about what keeps backyard birds coming back, from choosing the right seed mix to how often to check and refill the feeders so the birds keep returning. It will not be long before their garden is buzzing with activity.

A big thank you to Sarah and Linda for spending their time investing in the next generation of Menard birders, and to the Boys & Girls Club for welcoming BCM into their garden.

What is the first bird you think will show up at their new feeders?

What a Saturday morning, Menard! Our Intro to Birding workshop, last Saturday, with Tom and Patsy Inglet was everything ...
08/25/2026

What a Saturday morning, Menard! Our Intro to Birding workshop, last Saturday, with Tom and Patsy Inglet was everything we hoped for and more.

After hands on instruction at the Menard Library, our attendees grabbed their binoculars and put their new skills to work around the Library Garden and the Courthouse Lawn. It did not take long for the group to start spotting birds using the tips Tom and Patsy had just taught them.

Among the highlights were a Carolina Chickadee flitting through the lawns, a female Summer Tanager showing off her warm yellow feathers, and a House Finch perched nearby, a reminder that even our most familiar backyard birds are worth a closer look once you know what to notice.

In all, our group spotted 19 species and 55 individual birds that morning:

Inca Dove, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, Western Kingbird, Bell's Vireo, Blue Jay, Carolina Chickadee, Barn Swallow, European Starling, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, House Sparrow, House Finch, Summer Tanager, and Northern Cardinal.

A huge thank you to Tom and Patsy Inglet, Alamo Chapter Texas Master Naturalists, for making the trip to Menard and sharing their expertise with our community. And thank you to everyone who came out ready to learn something new.

Menard, would you like to see BCM host another birding workshop like this one?

08/23/2026

Behind the Bird Blind 📸

What happens when you put a photographer in the Presidio Bird Blind?

You get some pretty great results.

Kristin Wilson put the new blind to the test, and these are a few of the visitors she was able to capture from the photographer’s perspective:

🐦 Canyon Wren visiting the water feature
🐦 Canyon Wren working the rocks
🐦 Vermilion Flycatcher in the trees
🐦 Scissor tailed Flycatcher on the Presidio grounds

The blind gives photographers and birders a place to slow down, stay hidden, and observe birds without disturbing them.

And judging by these shots, it looks like the blind is doing its job. 👏📷

08/21/2026

New series alert. We're digging into invasive species around Menard and what they mean for our birds, starting with feral hogs.

Billy Kniffen breaks down how hogs damage habitat and threaten ground nesting birds like Wild Turkey and Bobwhite, plus a simple fencing tip to help protect the areas that matter most.

Watch the video below, and let us know: What invasive species do you deal with most around your place?

When Lamoine Tedrow's birdbath got an unexpected visitor, it turned into one of the best backyard shots we've seen. Thes...
08/20/2026

When Lamoine Tedrow's birdbath got an unexpected visitor, it turned into one of the best backyard shots we've seen.

These hawks are quiet hunters. They rely on patience and a burst of speed to catch songbirds, often using yards, brush piles, and birdbaths just like this one as a perfect ambush spot.

Menard backyards are full of surprises like this one. Got a photo of a bird that stopped you in your tracks? Send it our way, you might be our next feature.

📷 Lamoine Tedrow

Merlin Was Trying to Tell Me Something Yesterday, I was out looking for birds around my property when Merlin suggested I...
08/20/2026

Merlin Was Trying to Tell Me Something

Yesterday, I was out looking for birds around my property when Merlin suggested I might be hearing a Gray Catbird.

If you’re not familiar with Merlin, it’s a free bird identification app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. One of its features can listen to the birds around you and suggest which species might be singing or calling.

I dismissed it.

“Gray Catbird? Around here? Nah.” 😂

Well… this morning I checked the Bird Migration Report, and apparently Merlin may have known what it was talking about. Gray Catbirds are showing up on the migration report and may be moving through our area.

And here’s the fun part: Gray Catbird was first documented here in Menard in 2023.

I have NOT seen a Gray Catbird here yet. The photo in this post was taken by us at High Island, Texas, in 2024.

So keep your eyes AND ears open! 👀👂

And if Merlin suggests a Gray Catbird next time…

I’m listening. 😆

Have you seen or heard a Gray Catbird around Menard? Let us know where you spotted it!

08/19/2026

Ever walked past the Chamber office and noticed something different about the front window? That subtle tint is doing more than you might think.

Did you know a window can be one of the most dangerous things in a bird's world? Birds do not see glass, they see reflections of sky and trees, and it sends millions of them into fatal collisions every year.

Cherry shows us a simple fix already making a difference right here in Menard. This window tint from local business J&K Creations is installed on the Menard Chamber of Commerce office and helps birds recognize the glass before it is too late.

Fall migration is already underway, which means more birds than ever are passing through Menard right now, so there is no better time to bird-proof your windows. Want to make your own windows safer? J&K Creations can help, and it is one more way to support both a local business and the birds passing through our area.

Is your house or business ready for fall migration?

Last chance. Sign-ups for Saturday's Intro to Birding class close Wednesday, August 19.Tom and Patsy Inglet are teaching...
08/18/2026

Last chance. Sign-ups for Saturday's Intro to Birding class close Wednesday, August 19.

Tom and Patsy Inglet are teaching the basics at the Menard Library, 8:30 AM, free admission. Register by the 19th and we'll email you class materials ahead of time so you're ready to go.

Scan the QR code to save your spot. See you Saturday!

Fall migration starts August 15, and Menard is right in the flight path. Millions of birds will pass overhead at night, ...
08/17/2026

Fall migration starts August 15, and Menard is right in the flight path. Millions of birds will pass overhead at night, guided by starlight, not streetlight.

Help them find their way. Dim outdoor lights from 11pm to 6am through November 30.

Small change, big impact for the birds passing through our skies.

Address

Menard, TX
76859

Telephone

+13253962365

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Bird City Menard posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Bird City Menard:

Shortcuts

Share

Category