What to look for in nature in Texas this May

Which Texas birds are nesting in May?

• Scissor-tailed flycatchers on the wires

  Nesting from late March to late August, with young leaving the nest about two weeks after hatching · Open country, ranchland, pastures and suburban edges

  The Texas Breeding Bird Atlas says these flycatchers raise their families in semi-open country with scattered trees, from near sea level to about 4,000 feet. The female may finish a nest in as little as two to four days, and she often builds on a horizontal limb or on a utility pole or bridge girder. She usually lays four or five eggs, incubates them for 13 to 16 days, and the young leave the nest 14 to 17 days after hatching. Watch a fence post at dawn for the long forked tail and for the flycatcher sallying out to catch a grasshopper.

• Painted buntings in brushy edges

  Breeding from late March to late August; egg dates in the atlas run from April 27 to August 19 · Roadsides, stream edges and thickets with scattered trees

  Painted buntings favor open ground with scattered shrubs and trees, and they nest low, on average about three feet off the ground. The atlas treats the western population, which includes Texas birds, as distinct from the one on the southeastern Atlantic coast. The male looks painted, with blue, green and red, while the female is plain green.

• Mississippi kites over the northern plains

  Breeding season runs April to August; one brood a year · North-central Texas and the Panhandle, including towns such as Lubbock

  The atlas calls the Mississippi kite fairly common in the north-central part of the state and records regular breeding in the Panhandle. It tolerates cities, and Lubbock is one of the places it names. Egg-laying to fledging takes close to three months, so a nest started in late spring is still occupied in July. Give any nest tree plenty of room.

Is spring migration over in Texas by May?

• The latest flycatchers

  Olive-sided and Traill’s flycatchers are listed from early to late May · Edges of woods and open perches almost anywhere in the state

  The department’s list puts the olive-sided flycatcher and the Alder and Willow flycatchers, grouped as “Traill’s,” in a window from early May to late May, the latest end dates on the page. Eastern wood-pewees and yellow-billed cuckoos have windows running to mid-May. A late May bird in a Texas oak could well be on its way to a nesting spot in Canada. Silent “empid” flycatchers are notoriously hard to name, so a song is what settles it.

• Warblers that finish by mid-May

  Magnolia, Blackburnian and bay-breasted warblers are listed from late April to mid-May · Wooded sanctuaries on the upper coast and well-treed parks inland

  These three warblers all end their Texas windows by mid-May on the department’s list. Birds Houston, whose sanctuaries host many of these migrants, says fallouts can happen at any time from early March to mid-May, usually after a strong, fast front crosses the coast around midday. If such a front arrives in the first half of May, the last good fallout of the year may follow. Visitors are asked to stay back from tired birds so they can feed and rest.

• Ruby-throated hummingbirds heading north

  Listed from late March to mid-May · Gardens and woodland edges in the east, and the coast

  Birds Houston describes the ruby-throated hummingbird as common in spring migration (March to May) and again in fall, with a few staying to nest. Only the adult male has the crimson throat, and the female builds the nest and raises the young alone. Keep a feeder clean, since sugar water spoils quickly in humid heat.

Are Texas bats in their nursery season in May?

• Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin

  Bats are at the bridge from March through October; the refuge calls any visit from May to September excellent · Under the bridge in downtown Austin, with a free lawn on the south bank

  The Austin Bat Refuge says the colony reaches “up to 1.5 million” bats. Females give birth in June, the pups are flying by July, and July and August hold the biggest numbers. In May the colony is still growing, so the flight is smaller than in midsummer. The refuge posts a daily start-time prediction, and it suggests arriving 30 to 45 minutes early on a weekend. Bats usually stay in on cold or rainy nights, and a bat found on the ground should never be touched.

• Bracken Cave near San Antonio

  Bat Conservation International lists flights from May through September; best in July and August · The cave, by reservation only

  Bat Conservation International says expectant females return in March and April and each bears a single pup in late June. Reservations are required for every visitor, including children. The organization posts its season schedule each March, and its members’ registration opens on April 1, 2027, so no 2027 flight dates were available when we read the page. Check with the organization before planning, and expect popular dates to sell out.

• Bat etiquette

  Any evening flight · Anywhere bats leave a roost

  Use your phone’s night mode rather than a flash, which does not help from a distance and disturbs both the animals and the crowd. Stay behind rails and signs, bring a light jacket for the cool air after sunset, and arrive before the predicted time.

What is Big Bend like in May?

• How hot, and where

  Five-year averages for May, per the park · Chisos Basin, Panther Junction and Rio Grande Village

  The park lists average May highs of 84 °F in the Chisos Basin at 5,401 feet, 90 °F at Panther Junction at 3,750 feet, and 102 °F at Rio Grande Village at 1,850 feet. Lows run from 62 °F in the Basin to 67 °F at the other two. The park says desert temperatures are usually well above 100 °F by late morning, and the Chisos run about 10 to 15 degrees cooler. Plan your hikes for sunrise, rest in the middle of the day, and bring at least one gallon of water for each person, every day.

• A warbler that nests on the ground

  Usually arrives in late April and is gone by August · Boot Canyon and the Laguna Meadows trail in the Chisos Mountains

  The park’s bird page describes the Colima warbler’s nest as a cup of rootlets and fine grass placed on the ground under a rock, an arch of grasses or dry leaves. The best chance of seeing one is the steep 4.5 miles up to Boot Canyon or along Laguna Meadows. You may also find one on the Lost Mine Trail or near the Basin campground. Listen first, because the song often comes before the bird, and do not play recordings in its territory; the park warns that doing so can drive birds off their nests.

• Desert flowers

  Ocotillo flowers in mid-spring, and yuccas bloom in late spring in wetter years · Along park roads and trails at lower elevations

  The park says ocotillo shows fiery red-orange tubular flowers at the stem tips in mid-spring, and that yuccas bloom in late spring only when there has been enough rain. Agaves flower just once in a lifetime, and the century plant takes decades. Do not count on a bloom date, and do not break stems or pick flowers.

What is hatching along Texas rivers, bayous and beaches in May?

• Alligators

  Peak breeding and nesting runs from March 1 through May 30 · Bayous, swamps and refuges in the east and along the coast

  Texas Parks and Wildlife says the female builds a mound of vegetation up to six feet across and lays more than 35 eggs. The eggs incubate for about two months while she guards the nest. Hatchlings are about nine inches long and stay close to her for up to two years. Alligators four to five feet long often wander during breeding season looking for territory, so a small alligator on a trail is not necessarily lost. Keep pets away from the water’s edge and give a nesting mound a very wide berth.

• Sea turtles on Padre Island

  Nesting season is mid-March through August · Padre Island National Seashore

  The National Park Service says a Kemp’s ridley may lay one to four clutches in a season, with about 100 eggs in a clutch and six to eight weeks until hatching. Turtles nest in the spring and summer, and park staff move nests to protected areas. Hatchling releases are open to the public when possible, but the park gives no fixed start date, so call the Malaquite Visitor Center at (361) 949-8068 or check its alerts before driving out.

• Least terns on sandbars

  Terns arrive between early April and early June; egg-laying starts in late May · Sandbars, gravel bars and similar open ground inland

  The state’s species page for the interior least tern says the birds stay three to five months, that incubation takes about 20 to 22 days, and that breeding is usually done by late August. A lost nest can be replaced until late July. Fishing, camping and off-road vehicles near sandbars are threats, and human presence has been linked to lower success. If you see signs or fencing near a bar, keep outside it.

Which wildflowers bloom in Texas in May?

• Indian blanket

  Blooms May through August, the Wildflower Center says, and longer with plentiful rain · Prairies and sandy or calcareous soils across the western two-thirds of Texas

  The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center describes Indian blanket as an annual up to about two feet tall with hairy branched stems. The flower heads are one to two inches across, red at the center and yellow at the edges, with three-toothed rays. It is also called firewheel. It spreads thickly after rain, and the same patches you photographed in blue in April may turn red and gold.

• What is left of the bluebonnets

  Most bloom is finished by May, with a few late flowers · Central and East Texas fields, plus higher or cooler spots

  The Wildflower Center notes that bluebonnets are annuals that germinate in fall and spend winter as rosettes, bloom mainly from late March to mid- or late April in the Central and East Texas belt, and are only occasionally found blooming in May. The seed pods that follow dry and open to scatter the seeds for next year. Leaving them standing, and not mowing them early, helps next year’s flowers.

• Prickly pear and cactus wrens

  Cactus wrens nest in prickly pear at Santa Ana · South Texas brush country and the Rio Grande Valley

  Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge says cactus wrens nest in the prickly pear and chachalacas are noisy at dawn. It warns that heat exhaustion can come on quickly, and the refuge says animals are busiest from first light until ten and again in the last hours before sunset.

How hot and wet is May in Texas, and is tornado season over?

Can Texas still get a freeze in May?

How much daylight do Texas cities gain in May?

What is in the Texas night sky in May 2027?

• The Eta Aquariid meteors, at a new moon

  Active from about April 19 to May 28; peak night May 5 to 6, with the best mornings May 5, 6 and 7 · Look east, in the hours before dawn

  The American Meteor Society lists May 5 to 6 as the peak night and calls the Moon, a 2 percent waning crescent, very favorable. The meteors appear to stream from the constellation Aquarius, which is a pre-dawn arrival, so the hour or two before first light matters most. The Society puts the rate at about 10 to 30 meteors per hour near daybreak; the peak itself falls in the daytime on May 6, so the nights either side are close to equal. Texas, in the southern part of the country, sees more of them than the northern states do. The meteors are debris from Halley’s comet.

• The Flower Moon, and a seasonal Blue Moon

  Full at 5:59 a.m. CDT on Thursday, May 20 (4:59 a.m. MDT in El Paso) · Rising in the east on the evening of May 19

  The full Moon of May is traditionally called the Flower Moon, and sky calendars also tag it a seasonal Blue Moon this year: counted from equinox to solstice, it is the third full Moon in a set of four. Counting by calendar months, 2027 has no Blue Moon at all. The Moon is full just before sunrise, so Wednesday evening, May 19, is the one to pick, with moonrise at about 7:50 p.m. in Houston by our calculations. It also looks full on the evening after.

• Mercury in the evening

  Greatest eastern elongation on May 28; the evenings of May 27 and 28 are the best · Low in the west-northwest, after sunset

  Mercury’s widest evening separation from the Sun, about 23 degrees, comes on Friday, May 28, so the final days of the month favor a look at the planet. Look low in the west-northwest from roughly 45 to 90 minutes after sunset. It fades quickly in June. A flat western horizon and binoculars help.

• Venus, Saturn and the Moon with Jupiter

  Venus and Saturn are about a degree apart on the mornings of May 6 and 8; the Moon is beside Jupiter on the evening of May 12 · Low in the east before sunrise; high in the south after dark

  Venus and Saturn stand very close together, about 0.6 degrees at the closest on May 7, but the pair is very low, because Venus clears the horizon barely an hour ahead of sunrise, so find a flat eastern horizon and take binoculars. After dark on May 12, a half-lit Moon sits beside Jupiter, a pairing that is simple to spot. By our calculations Jupiter sets around seven hours after sunset on May 1.

• The Milky Way

  The first two weeks of May and the last week · Dark skies in the Hill Country and West Texas, in the hours before dawn

  Seen from Texas, the galaxy’s brightest region hangs low over the southern horizon, and showing it takes a dark site with no moonlight. For the central part of the country, we calculate good pre-dawn nights from May 1 through 14 and again from May 25 through 31. Texas lies farther south, so its windows should be at least that long. Try the Hill Country, the Davis Mountains or Big Bend, and look up the Moon first.

What can Texas families do outdoors in May 2027?

Safety notes for May in Texas