What to look for in nature in Texas this November

When do whooping cranes and sandhill cranes get to Texas?

• Whooping cranes, in transit

  Through November; most on the coast by December · North and Central Texas skies, then Aransas

  The only wild migratory flock of whooping cranes spends the summer in and around Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Canada and flies roughly 2,500 miles to the Texas coast, a trip that can take up to 50 days. In a Texas Parks and Wildlife release, the federal whooping crane coordinator called November the big month for migration sightings in Texas and said the whole flock is usually not on the coast until December. The route often passes Dallas–Fort Worth, Waco and Austin. The birds rarely stay put for more than a day, resting on wetlands and farm fields. The first arrivals at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge typically show up in late October, and the refuge expects them to leave by mid-April.

• How many there are

  Latest count: winter 2025–26 · Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and the bays around it

  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s aerial survey last January estimated about 540 whooping cranes in the primary survey area, including at least 57 young of the year, essentially unchanged from the 557 of the winter before. Another 52 turned up outside the survey zone, eight of them spending the whole winter at Salt Plains refuge in Oklahoma, a first. The flock has now stayed above 500 for more than nine years running; at listing in 1967 it was about 50 birds.

• Telling them apart

  Whenever big white birds fly over · Statewide

  Whooping cranes are pure white with black wingtips and fly with slow, deep beats, legs trailing. Sandhill cranes are gray. Snow geese also have black wingtips but are much smaller, fly in noisy crowds and flap faster. American white pelicans have black in the wings too, but a huge orange bill gives them away. Photograph what you can and add it to the Texas Whooper Watch project on iNaturalist; those reports feed the federal survey.

• Sandhill cranes on the High Plains

  Building through November; peak December to February · Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge, Panhandle playas, Trans-Pecos salt lakes

  Sandhills begin reaching Muleshoe in September, and the federal refuge puts its peak between December and February, when the salt lakes serve as night roosts. Marfa Public Radio’s Nature Notes says tens of thousands winter on the Llano Estacado and in parts of the Trans-Pecos, with thousands sometimes on a single playa or on the salt lakes west of the Guadalupe Mountains. November is the build-up: fewer birds than January, but the sound of a flock lifting off a roost at first light is the same. Stay on public roads and do not walk toward roosting birds.

Where can you see snow geese in Texas this month?

• Upper coast prairies and refuges

  Mid-November onward · Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge and the coastal prairie west of Houston

  Anahuac is the sure bet, but flocks also work the harvested rice fields of the coastal prairie west of Houston. Look for a white smear on the stubble that turns out to be birds, then wait for something to flush them. A flock rising all at once sounds like surf. Mixed in you may find the blue morph, dark-bodied with a white head, and the smaller Ross’s goose with a stubby bill. Drive slowly on farm roads, pull fully off the pavement, and never cross a fence.

• Ducks behind each front

  All month · Coastal marshes, Panhandle playas, reservoirs

  Pintails, gadwall, green-winged teal, shovelers and wigeon keep arriving on north winds. Muleshoe names pintail, green-winged teal and ruddy ducks among the birds that depend on its saline lakes. A spotting scope earns its weight here, since the ducks mostly sit far out on open water.

Which other winter birds show up in Texas in November?

• Bald eagles, nesting already

  Nesting October to July; eggs peak in December · East Texas and the coastal counties from Rockport to Houston; winter visitors in the Panhandle and Central Texas

  Texas eagles run on a different calendar from northern ones. TPWD says they nest from October to July, with egg-laying peaking in December and most chicks hatching in January, so November is when pairs are carrying sticks and refurbishing old nests in the eastern half of the state. Wintering eagles from farther north also spread across the Panhandle and Central Texas. On Lake Buchanan, eagle-viewing cruises run in winter, though a 2019 Texas Observer report found only a handful of birds a winter there in the late 2010s. Keep well back from any nest; a flushed eagle leaves its eggs exposed.

• Winter hummingbirds

  November to March · Mostly the coast and South Texas; some inland

  The ruby-throats are nearly gone, and any hummingbird at a feeder now deserves a second look. Houston Audubon lists rufous hummingbirds on the upper coast from October to March in small numbers, and black-chinned hummingbirds winter there too. If you put out sugar water this month, keep it fresh through the winter.

• The finch forecast says: not much

  Winter 2026–27 · Statewide feeders

  Writing on September 27, the Finch Research Network forecast that northern finches would mostly remain in Canada and the Northeast this winter, where cone and seed crops are good. Its authors see no large southern invasion; a purple finch flight, if one happens, should be small and late, and red-breasted nuthatches are not expected to repeat last winter’s push south. Pine siskins might trickle south. So a purple finch or a siskin at a Texas feeder this year would be a good record; American goldfinches, which winter here every year, are the dependable yellow-green visitors.

• Project FeederWatch

  November 1 to April 30 · Your yard

  Cornell Lab’s winter feeder count opens its season on November 1. Pick a patch to watch, count on two consecutive days up to once a week, and for each species write down the most individuals in view together. Joining costs a small fee. Ordinary birds in small numbers are the useful part of the data.

Why go birding in the Rio Grande Valley in November?

• Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival

  November 11 to 15, 2026 · Harlingen Convention Center, with field trips across the Valley

  Five days of guided field trips, workshops and talks, with habitats from thornscrub and river woodland to mudflats and open water. The festival’s own agenda confirms the 2026 dates, November 11 to 15, for its 33rd year; check field-trip availability on the festival’s website before you book.

• Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge

  Winter schedule from November · South of Alamo, on the Rio Grande

  In the November to April season the visitor center keeps 9-to-4 hours Tuesday to Saturday, the interpretive tram leaves at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, and the trails stay open every day from first light to dusk. A guided walk leaves at 8 a.m. on the first Saturday of each month, and parking is free on the first Sunday. Green jays and plain chachalacas, birds found in this country only in South Texas, are the refuge’s calling cards; the first hours after dawn are best.

• Butterflies in the late warmth

  Warm November days · Valley gardens and refuges

  Santa Ana lists the malachite, a big green-and-black tropical butterfly, among the things a visitor may meet under its Spanish moss and ebony trees. On a warm afternoon, check any flowering shrub along the trails.

Where is the best fall color in Texas in November?

• Lost Maples State Natural Area

  Usually the first two weeks of November · Sabinal River canyon, near Vanderpool

  The park’s foliage reports say the trees start lighting up as October ends and usually peak in the first two weeks of November, though weather moves that around every year. Cool nights and sunny days hold the color; a dry, hot fall dulls it. The canyon’s Uvalde bigtooth maples share the show with Texas red oak, walnut and sycamore. October and November are the park’s busiest months and it fills every day, so buy a day pass in advance, and call (830) 966-3413, option 3, for the recorded foliage report.

• Bald cypress turning rust

  Late in the season · Guadalupe and Comal rivers; East Texas swamps and lakes

  The Texas A&M Forest Service singles out the cypresses on the Guadalupe and Comal for their rust color. Bald cypress is a needle tree that goes bare in winter, and a line of copper trees above a green river is among the year’s final color displays.

• Piney Woods hardwoods

  Through November in a good year · National forests and state parks of East Texas

  Among the pines, Shumard oak, red maple and sweetgum turn yellow, orange and red. The Forest Service notes that healthy leaves color best: a wet spring and a mild summer help, while drought, heat waves and an early freeze all take the edge off.

• Possumhaw berries

  Showing as the leaves fall; persist into winter · Creek bottoms and woodland edges, Central and East Texas

  Possumhaw is a deciduous holly. Once its leaves drop, female trees stand out with small red berries along bare gray twigs. Songbirds, quail and turkeys, opossums and raccoons all feed on the fruit, the Wildflower Center in Austin says. Find one now and you have a winter landmark.

• Frostweed’s ice ribbons

  The first freezing morning · Shady creek banks and woodland edges, eastern half of the state

  Frostweed fed monarchs and bees all fall. On the year’s first frost, its stems split and the sap freezes into thin curled sheets of ice, which the Native Plant Society of Texas calls ribbon-like sculpture. They melt once the sun reaches them, so look early and bring a camera. In much of North Texas that morning comes in November; in the Hill Country it is often December.

When is the white-tailed deer rut in Texas?

When does the first freeze usually come in Texas?

How much daylight does Texas lose in November?

What will a very strong El Niño mean for Texas this winter?

What can you see in the Texas night sky in November 2026?

• The Leonids

  Pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, November 18 · Anywhere dark; the radiant is in Leo, high in the southeast before dawn

  Fifteen an hour is about the ceiling under a truly dark sky, says the International Meteor Organization, which predicts nothing special this year. The half moon drops below the horizon between about 12:30 and 1 a.m. (12:46 a.m. in Austin) while Leo keeps rising, so watch from moonset until the sky brightens. A morning either side, the 17th or the 19th, can be nearly as good.

• Taurid fireballs and the dark new moon

  Early to mid-November; new moon November 9 · High in the east and south by late evening

  The two Taurid streams peak around November 5 and 12. Only five to ten Taurids an hour show up, yet this shower is famous for slow, brilliant fireballs, and they come from the debris of Comet Encke. New moon on the 9th makes the surrounding week the darkest of the month. That is also when the Palo Pinto Mountains star party falls (November 7).

• The Beaver Moon, a modest supermoon

  Evenings of November 23 and 24 · Low in the east at sunset

  Full at 8:53 a.m. on the 24th, roughly 30 hours ahead of perigee, so EarthSky counts it among the year’s supermoons. Overnight from Monday the 23rd into Tuesday morning, the bright moon drifts across the Seven Sisters star cluster, which mostly vanishes in its glow. The bigger one comes next month: December’s Cold Moon is the nearest full moon of 2026.

• A morning planet parade

  Mid to late November, before dawn · East and south before sunrise

  The dazzling point in the east before sunrise is Venus, which switched to the morning sky in late October and is at peak brightness around Thanksgiving week. On the 9th Venus and Spica sit a little more than one degree apart. In Leo, Mars passes Jupiter at a separation of about 1.2 degrees, nearest each other before sunrise on the 15th and 16th. Little Mercury also shows, hugging the east-southeast horizon, from about the 18th to the 25th. Saturn holds the evening alone, shining without a twinkle in the southern sky after dark.

• No eclipse this month

  Not until 2027 · Not visible from the United States

  There are no eclipses visible from the United States in November or December.

What can Texas families do outside in November 2026?

Safety notes for November in Texas