Here are the birds observed at the Hermits’ Rest in December 2025. I was gone camping elsewhere in Texas twice. But, these are the birds who showed up. There were four new birds at this location, two of them longspurs: Chestnut-collared Longspur, Thick-billed Longspur, Barn Owl, and Ring-billed Gull. I haven’t gotten four new species here since this time last year.
All the winter songbirds remain, and it’s been great to have my birding station to photograph them. Owls have been quite vociferous this month, too–sometimes I hear pairs of Great Horned and Barred at the same time.

Total species: 96, which is down a little, which makes sense for a non-migration month.
- American Crow
- American Goldfinch
- American Kestrel
- American Pipit
- American Robin
- Barn Owl
- Barred Owl
- Belted Kingfisher
- Bewick’s Wren
- Black Vulture
- Black-bellied Whistling Duck
- Blue Jay
- Blue-headed Vireo
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
- Brewer’s Blackbird
- Brown Creeper
- Brown Thrasher
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Carolina Chickadee
- Carolina Wren
- Cattle Egret
- Cedar Waxwing
- Chestnut-collared Longspur
- Chipping Sparrow
- Common Grackle
- Common Yellowthroat
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Crested Caracara
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Downy Woodpecker
- Eastern Bluebird
- Eastern Meadowlark
- Eastern Phoebe
- Eastern Towhee
- Eurasian Collared Dove
- European Starling
- Field Sparrow
- Fox Sparrow
- Gadwall
- Golden-crowned Kinglet
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Great Horned Owl
- Greater Roadrunner
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Great-tailed Grackle
- Green-winged Teal
- Harris’s Sparrow
- Hermit Thrush
- Horned Lark
- House Finch
- House Sparrow
- House Wren
- Inca Dove
- Killdeer
- Ladder-backed Woodpecker
- Least Sandpiper
- Lincoln’s Sparrow
- Loggerhead Shrike
- Mallard
- Marsh Wren
- Mourning Dove
- Northern Cardinal
- Northen Flicker
- Northern Harrier
- Northern Mockingbird
- Northern Shoveler
- Orange-crowned Warbler
- Osprey
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Pine Siskin
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Red-shouldered Hawk
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Ring-billed Gull
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Ruby-throated Hummimgbird
- Sandhill Crane
- Savannah Sparrow
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Short-eared Owl
- Snow Goose
- Song Sparrow
- Spotted Towhee
- Swamp Sparrow
- Thick=billed Longspur
- Tufted Titmouse
- Turkey Vulture
- Vesper Sparrow
- Western Meadowlark
- White-crowned Sparrow
- White-throated Sparrow
- Winter Wren
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
- Yellow-rumped Warbler