My Favorite Things through the Four Seasons

Spring 2026

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My first thought of spring usually occurs mid-winter when my sister sends a photo of a small green growth which is a Texas bluebonnet in her yard beginning to awaken. By late February I anticipate the first arriving swallow within a couple of weeks. At the beginning of March, my sister and I take a coastal birding trip on her spring break from work. The further south we get, we begin to see spring’s inevitable northward march across the landscape. Bluebonnets, primrose, firewheel, and paintbrush are in bloom weeks before they are in DFW. On this trip, we added a Merlin to our life bird lists.

Within a week of returning home, the first Northern rough-Winged and Barn Swallows had returned. At this time, I headed out to see if the Yellow-crowned Night-Herons had returned to the local rookery. While observing my first Coral Honeysuckles in bloom, I heard the comforting and familiar heron call. I eventually located the first night-heron of the season. The annual first night-heron sighting is one of my favorite nature moments. I will admit that I verbally greet them. 

Soon after, migrating White-eyed Vireos, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, and even a rare visitor to the United States, a Fork-tailed Flycatcher, arrived with the southern winds of the warmest March on record in North Texas. The Fork-tailed Flycatcher was another life bird as it is an occasional migration oddity into Texas.

If lucky, we experience a day or two that fits the definition of what one believes a season should feel like. In late March, Jess and I observed our first of the season Little Blue Heron as it searched for food a few feet away. The air that day as we ate lunch under a tree was one of an enveloping comfort of the breeze in the shade against the warmth of a true spring day.

The evening of April 8^th was a magical moment as Jess and I took a walk near sunset. The fragrance of honeysuckle was sweet as we made our way to sit along the creek. Cricket Frogs were in chorus as fireflies flashed on and off as the day’s last remaining light gave way to darkness. Above, silhouetted night-herons moved through the trees.

The end of the month was our first trip together to the Texas Coast to show her my favorite places and look for migratory birds. My sister and I followed suite for our annual spring migration trip. For the first time in all my years of visiting the coast for migration, it was disappointing in terms of migratory songbirds seen. The birds had taken advantage of strong south winds to move further inland after their flight across the gulf before making their first stop.

Though for one brief moment in early May, it felt like migration birding. Jess and I were headed to check on the Red-shouldered Hawk nest and the Merlin App kept picking up a Northern Parula. Its siren call led us to a spot that for what my 2026 spring migration experience was, it was the one moment I felt the excitement of migration.

Red-eyed and Blue Headed Vireos; along with Common Yellowthroat, Nashville, Yellow, Black-and-White, Wilson’s, and Chestnut-sided warblers flittered about. We also saw our first Green Heron arrival to Collin County, as we had seen some previously on the coast. While the species were not numerous, it was a reminder of the magic of migration and how fortunate we are to see even the most common of migrant species through our area. We also heard the first cicadas of the year. Which to me, is the first sound and sign of the summer ahead.

As I write on the first day of June and look forward to the summer ahead; I reflect back on many special moments that have become my favorite things from the spring of 2026.

3/8/26- American Alligator. – Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge., Anahuac, TX.

3/8/26- Neotropic Cormorant in the rain. – Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge, Anahuac, TX.

3/8/26- After many failed searches locally at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge when a Merlin has been around, my sister and I randomly came across our first on this trip. After leaving Jocelyn Nungaray, we headed to Smith Oaks. I always look at every fence and utility pole along the drive. “I think that is a Merlin!!!” I exclaimed and we turned around. – Chambers County, TX.

3/10/26- The young female Cooper’s Hawk of the pair that nested at this location. – Frisco, TX

3/29/26- A Carolina Chickadee grabbing a meal. – Allen, TX.

3/30/26- A Yellow-crowned Night-Heron in a courtship ritual bow. – Frisco, TX.

4/5/26- Female Hooded Merganser. We became quite found of the mergansers and the main pair over the winter through early spring before their departure to their breeding grounds. – McKinney, TX.

4/8/26- Female Belted Kingfisher at sunset. This was the last time we saw her after nearly a year and a half of observing a female kingfisher in the area. I speculated she could have paired up and have been nesting nearby but we have never seen a male. Also, she could possibly be a winter migrant here from northern waters. Though we do not have enough documentation of sightings year-round in both locations to be sure. As I have been late in putting this article together, two months to the day, on June 8th, we heard, then saw a Belted Kingfisher in flight. Though we did not see it land or get that great of view, we felt it was her. – McKinney, TX.

4/11/26- Sanderling at Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary. – Port Bolivar, TX

4/22/26- What is spring without a Mallard duckling and green foilage? – McKinney, TX.