21 Types Of LARGE BIRDS In Texas (ID Guide With Photos)

Did you recently come across a large bird in the state of Texas, and want to know what species it was?

Identifying big birds in Texas is not as easy as it might seem, since there are more than 20 bird species in Texas that are on the large side.

To help you identify the bird you saw, we’ll cover the most common large birds of Texas in this article.

What are the types of large birds in Texas?

The 21 types of large birds that can be seen in Texas are:

• Great Egret
• Great Blue Heron
• White Ibis
• Roseate Spoonbill
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Brown Pelican
• American White Pelican
• Caspian Tern
• Snowy Egret
• Common Loon
• Wood Stork
• Whooping Crane
• White-tailed Kite
• Osprey
• Bald Eagle
• Golden Eagle
• Turkey Vulture
• Great Horned Owl
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Common Raven
• Canada Goose

While many of these birds are year round residents of Texas, others only occur in the state during the winter, as migratory birds that spend the cold months in Texas.

Yet other birds are summer visitors during the breeding season, and some are scarce vagrants that are rarely seen in the state (more on that below).

Now let’s dive into the details, and take a closer look at each of these species in order to get the full scoop:

Great Egret

Scientific name: Ardea alba

The Great Egret has a range that spans nearly the whole planet, and can be found on almost all continents. 

This heron is one of Texas’s biggest birds that is a year-round resident. It is all white, and has long black legs and feet along with a thick, yellow bill.

During the spring and summer breeding seasons, the Great Egret grows a plume on its back that extends all the way to the tip of its tail.

It lives in both saltwater and freshwater habitats in Texas, and often nests in large colonies on the banks of marshes, lakes, and rivers.

Great Egrets forage in any type of shallow water in Texas, including ponds, lakes, rivers, estuaries, as well as rice fields and other flooded areas.

It is especially prevalent in the eastern and central regions of the state throughout the summer. 

Outside of the breeding season it is less common, but where it occurs it can be seen in large flocks.

This species is one of the many white birds commonly found in Texas.

Great Blue Heron

Scientific name: Ardea herodias

The Great Blue Heron is one of the most common herons in Texas, where it can be seen year round.

With a wingspan of up to 6 feet, this heron is one of Texas’s largest birds. It is almost entirely blue gray, except for a white throat and eye stripe, as well as dark gray wing feathers. 

This enormous blue bird in Texas likes to hunt for small fish by wading in the shallows of estuaries, mud flats and marshes along the seaboard.

It waits patiently for a suitably sized fish to come close enough to be grabbed with its long, yellow bill.

White Ibis

Scientific name: Eudocimus albus

This species is easy to recognize due to its entirely white plumage and long orange beak that is curved downwards.

The black wing tips are not really apparent until it takes to the wing.

During the first two years of their lives, immature White Ibises have a chocolate brown body with light streaks and a pale orange beak.

While it is most commonly found in coastal areas of Texas, the White Ibis prefers to forage in freshwater habitats. 

This Texas bird feeds on fish, insects, crayfish, and other crustaceans. Crayfish form a large part of its diet in areas where they are common.

These birds nest in large colonies in Texas forests located close to wetlands. They are extremely social, and like to forage in groups of 20 birds or more. In fact, it’s rare to see a solitary White Ibis.

Roseate Spoonbill

Scientific name: Platalea Ajaja

Roseate spoonbills are wading birds in Texas, similar to storks but slightly smaller. The adults are white on their backs, neck, and face, while the rest of their plumage is bright pink.

The Roseate Spoonbill is a large pink bird that can be seen in Texas coastal areas. However, the exact shade of pink can vary a lot, depending on its diet. 

The more shrimp it eats, the more pink its plumage becomes, due to the carotenoid substances found in shrimp.

These Texas birds are sometimes mistaken for flamingos because they look similar, but keen ornithologists will notice that flamingos have a short, angled bill, while spoonbills have a long, spatulate bill that has a broad “spoon” at its end.

The best place to see these gorgeous pink birds in Texas is in the Port Aransas Nature Preserve..

Double-crested Cormorant

Scientific name: Phalacrocorax auritus

The Double-crested Cormorant is a large, dark waterbird with a long neck and blue eyes. It is a year-round resident in Texas, and is commonly found on coastal waters. 

This cormorant likes to gather in large flocks that roost on trees close to water. It is a skilled diver and hunts fish with its large, hooked bill. 

When a group of cormorants flies together, they like to form up in a V shaped formation.

Often these V-shaped formations can be seen in the evening, when the birds fly to their roosting spots in Texas.

Brown Pelican

Scientific name: Pelecanus occidentalis

Brown Pelicans are the most common pelicans found in Texas, where they hunt fish by plunging head-first into the water.

Adult Brown Pelicans are grayish brown with a dark belly, and can be easily recognized by their massive bill.

While this pelican species was endangered a few decades ago due to pesticide poisoning, it has now recovered and is once more a common breeding bird and year-round resident in the state.

American White Pelican

Scientific name: Pelecanus erythrorhynchos

The American White Pelican is the biggest bird in Texas, and is a lot larger than the Bald Eagle.

It is almost entirely white, except for black primary and secondary feathers on its wings. 

Its huge beak is bright orange, and has a flat plate protruding from the upper part of the beak during the summer breeding season.

Outside of the breeding season, the bill changes its color from orange to pale yellowish. 

American White Pelicans are observed in Texas during the winter months, as they make Texas their home during the cold season.

Its preferred habitat in Texas are estuaries, shallow bays, and coastal inlets, as well as freshwater lakes further inland. 

This huge bird feeds almost exclusively on fish, but unlike other pelican species it doesn’t dive in order to catch them. Instead it submerges its head down into the water, and grabs fish with its big beak.

American White Pelicans are most often seen in groups that like to cooperate with each other when foraging for fish. 

Caspian Tern

Scientific name: Hydroprogne caspia

The Caspian tern is the largest tern species in the world, and a rare winter visitor in Texas.

It superficially resembles the Forster’s Tern, but it is a much bigger bird and has a thicker bill, broader wings, and a less forked tail.

Also, during winter the Caspian Tern doesn’t lose its black cap completely, but always retains a streaked, dark crown.

Forster’s Terns, on the other hand, lose their cap entirely during winter, which becomes completely white.

The Caspian Tern is not only a skilled hunter, but this bird also steals food from other terns and gulls. It catches fish by diving into the water with astonishing precision.

The Caspian Tern breeds in freshwater habitats in Canada and northern USA, and winters in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Snowy Egret

Scientific name: Egretta thula

The Snowy Egret has become an increasingly common breeding bird in Texas. 

This is due to aggressive conservation efforts that were necessary because this Egret species was systematically hunted in previous centuries.

This white heron stands out due to its slim black bill and bright area between the eyes and nostrils. It has long legs and yellow feet, which distinguish it from other herons.

In adult birds, the feet are a brilliant golden yellow, while the legs are totally black. It is thought that the brightly colored feet help to attract small fish and other prey.

The legs of juvenile birds have a predominant greenish yellow color, with some black areas on the front of the leg.

It is found in practically all types of wetland environments, from small ponds to saltwater and everything in between.

During the summer, the Snowy Egret is a rare to relatively common breeding bird in the state.

It is much more common during the winter months, when large numbers can be observed in coastal Texas.

Common Loon

Scientific name: Gavia immer

If you spotted a black waterbird with white dots, it is most likely the Common Loon (also known as the Great Northern Diver).

These water birds breed in northern areas of North America and can be seen along the coastline of Texas during the winter.

They have big rounded heads with sharp beaks that resemble a dagger.

In the summer months, the birds have black heads, white chests, and lots of white spots on their black-colored plumage. In the winter or autumn months, their color dulls and turns into a pale gray. 

The common loon is a fantastic diver and is super stealthy when it hunts underwater, allowing it to sneak up on fish without even a splash. It can dive to depths of up to two-hundred fifty feet.

To top that off, these birds can stay submerged for up to five minutes and even swallow their prey while they are still underwater. 

They have a wingspan of between forty and fifty inches and can live for up to thirty years of age.

Wood Stork

Scientific name: Mycteria americana

It’s easy to identify a Wood Stork if you can see it up close, due to its entirely white body combined with a bald, black head.

Similar to the White Ibis, the Wood Stork has a bill that curves slightly downwards. However, in contrast to the White Ibis, this big bird has a black bill. 

While the tail and wing tips are black, this is usually only apparent when you see a Wood Stork in flight.

The Wood Stork is a large bird, similar in size to a Great Egret, but is easily distinguishable from that species by its curved beak.

Unfortunately, Wood Stork populations have been in decline over the past decades, which is a trend that it shares with many other wading birds.

This Texas bird feeds on frogs and other amphibians, fish, and aquatic invertebrates. It likes to nest in big colonies in old trees close to foraging areas.

Whooping Crane

Scientific name: Grus americana

The Whooping Crane was almost at the edge of extinction in the 1930s, with less than 20 birds remaining.

However, sustained conservation efforts have brought it back to a current population that numbers 600 birds. 

Adult Whooping Cranes have a completely white body, with a red cap that consists of bare skin. In contrast to adults, juvenile birds have a reddish brown color. 

Whooping Cranes are found mostly wintering in Texas during the cold season, in mixed flocks with Sandhill Cranes.

However, there is also a non-migratory population of these birds in central Texas that has been introduced. These birds breed from February to May.

During the non-breeding season, the preferred habitat of Whooping Cranes in Texas are swamps, estuaries, and salt flats.

These birds feed mainly on crustaceans and mollusks, with blue crabs making up the largest part of their diet. 

While the population of Whooping Cranes has made an amazing comeback from the edge of extinction, it is still a critically endangered species, and in need of continued conservation efforts.

White-tailed Kite

Scientific name: Elanus leucurus

The White-tailed Kite is also known as the Black-shouldered Kite, and both of these are apt names for it.

Adult White-tailed Kites have an entirely white underside, head, and tail. Their upper side is light gray, with dark gray patches on the shoulders. The eyes are deep red. 

Juvenile birds, on the other hand, have a more brownish color with light streaks.

White-tailed Kites hunt for small rodents, insects and reptiles in open grassland, either from a perch or on the wing.

Similar to kestrels, these birds like to hover in the air over a specific spot, while waiting for a rodent to come out of its burrow.

White-tailed Kites are scarce breeding residents along the coast of Texas, where these birds can be seen year-round.

Osprey

Scientific name: Pandion haliaetus

The Osprey is one of the largest Texas birds of prey, and with a wingspan of up to 69 inches (5 1/2 feet) it resembles an eagle in size. 

It is usually easy to identify the Osprey due white belly and chest, which contrast with its blackish gray upperparts and black wrist patches on its lower wings.

This Texas bird is the only raptor species that plunges into the water in order to catch fish, often becoming entirely submerged in water as it attempts to grab a fish with its feet.

Ospreys are almost always found close to water, except during migration, when they will cross areas without water.

It is a common breeding bird and year-round resident in Texas, where it can be found in both freshwater and saltwater habitats, such as the Texas Keys.

Bald Eagle

Scientific name: Haliaeetus leucocephalus 

With a wingspan of up to 8 feet, the Bald Eagle is the largest bird of prey in Texas.

Apart from its size, it is also one of the most easily recognizable birds in Texas, due to its white head and tail, which contrast sharply with the uniformly dark brown body. 

Juvenile birds are dark brown all over, with light irregular streaks all over the body, as well as a buff white belly.

This huge raptor is a year-round resident found throughout Texas, although it isn’t common anywhere in the state.

Bald Eagles spend a lot of their time soaring on thermal currents with their wings held flat. They feed on fish, birds, and small mammals, although a big part of their diet consists of carrion.

Golden Eagle

Scientific name: Aquila chrysaetos

The Golden Eagle is one the most impressive eagle species in North America, and is a breeding bird in the western parts of the United States. 

In the Lone Star state, the Golden Eagle is a rare resident species that can be found breeding in remote montane habitats of west and north Texas.

Golden Eagles can be distinguished from Bald Eagles by their lack of white coloration on their heads. 

The Golden Eagle is one of few circumpolar raptor species, and can be found in both the New World and the Old World.

Turkey Vulture

Scientific name: Cathartes aura

The Turkey Vulture is the largest vulture species in Texas, and can reach a wingspan of up to 6 feet. 

It is a big black raptor with a naked head, and dark gray rear margins on their wings, which can be seen in flight.

A soaring Turkey Vulture is easily identifiable due to the fact that it holds its wings in an upright V shape.

This bird is a year-round resident throughout the Texas peninsula, where it favors open country interspersed with woodland.

Similar to other vulture species in Texas, this bird is specialized in feeding on carrion, and will often congregate in flocks around roadkill.

Great Horned Owl

Scientific name: Bubo virginianus

The Great Horned Owl is the largest owl species in Texas, with a wingspan up to 4 feet. It is a large rufous brown bird with two horns and big bright yellow eyes. 

In Texas, this owl starts its nesting very early in the year, laying its eggs in January or February. 

It is almost entirely nocturnal, and can hunt in complete darkness by relying on its keen sense of hearing.

The Great Horned Owl doesn’t build its own nest, but instead occupies the nests of other large birds, such as herons or raptors.

It is found year-round throughout Texas, and can be found in a wide variety of habitats in Texas, from woodlands to urban areas.

This owl is a fierce hunter, catching birds up to the size of ducks, and mammals up to the size of foxes.

Red-tailed Hawk

Scientific name: Buteo jamaicensis

With a wingspan of up to 52 inches (4 1/2 feet), the Red-tailed Hawk is the largest hawk species in Texas.

It has variable coloration, ranging from dark brown to almost entirely white, but can be readily recognized by its rusty red tail.

This large hawk is common in open areas and even in cities. It is most often seen perched on roadside posts or fences, waiting for prey.

The Red-tailed Hawk is one of the most common hawk species in Texas, and can be seen in the Lone Star state year-round.

It feeds on rodents and other small animals that it catches by swooping down from its perch when they venture out into the open.

Common Raven

Scientific name: Corvus corax

The Common Raven is a very large corvid, with a wingspan of up to 4.9 feet. In fact, it’s the largest songbird in North America.

Ravens mate for life, and an established pair will defend its territory all year round. As a result of this behavior, they are very rarely observed in flocks, which distinguishes them from other corvids.

The Common Raven is primarily found in the mountainous regions of Texas in the Trans Pecos. Their preferred habitat is oak forest and mesquite shrubland. 

Canada Goose

Scientific name: Branta canadensis

The Canada Goose is one of the most easily recognizable aquatic birds, due to its white cheeks that contrast with its jet black neck and head. 

They are breeding birds in Canada and northern States, and fly south every fall in large V formations that herald the start of the cold season.

Canada Geese are winter visitors in northern Texas that can be observed from October through April. 

These Geese like to forage on grain fields after they have been harvested, and are sometimes seen together with Snow Geese.

What are the large black birds in Texas?

The large black birds found in Texas are Turkey Vultures, which have a wingspan up to 6 feet. 

These black-colored vultures are commonly seen in Texas soaring on thermal currents, or gathering in small groups at roadkill sites.

Another Texas bird that’s large and black is the Common Raven, which is a rare breeding bird in the mountainous areas of west and central Texas. 

What is the largest bird in Texas?

The largest bird in Texas is the American White Pelican, which has a wingspan of up to 10 feet (120 inches) and a weight of up to 30 lb. It also has a huge beak, measuring up to 15 inches in length.

In spite of its large body weight, the American White Pelican is able to soar effortlessly on thermal currents, due to the enormous length of its wings.

The best place to see these birds in Texas is at North and South Birds Islands in Kleberg County, where they congregate in big groups during the winter months.