A Birder’s Look at Franklin County

Located in the heart of northeast Texas, Franklin County was carved from the hilly woodlands and prairies by pioneer folk interested in local jurisdiction in governmental matters in an era when proximity to the county seat was important.  Although one of the smallest Texas counties, it more than makes up in quality what it lacks in size.  Well-watered, with deep sands in its southern reaches, and prairie soils to the north, the habitats contained in tiny slice of Texas are actually some of the most diverse in all of Texas 254 counties. 

          This fact alone means that it will be very attractive to birds—but more on that in a moment.

Bounded on the north by the serpentine Sulphur River, whose muddy floodwaters originate 80 miles west and periodically overflow into a wide river bottom once covered with massive trees, and on the south by the Little Cypress, a once dainty spring-fed creek flowing out of deep sands and now largely underneath Lake Cypress Springs.

But this technical description of the land and its endowments should not overlook the fact that it is a beautiful land as well.  Within its borders the east Texas piney woods become the post oak savannah before finally giving in to a vast grassy area known as the blackland prairie.  In most places the transition from trees to grasslands is complete in 60 or 100 miles or so, but in Franklin County the geological forces that formed this land compressed the underlying geology so the entire the entire spectrum of trees to grasses is realized in less than 10 miles.  Landscape ecologists would call this area an ecotone (which means that it is the border between two major vegetational communities), though to the average east Texan, it is simply where the east Texas Piney Woods begin.

This, in a nutshell, is what makes Franklin County so incredibly diverse, especially in terms of its birdlife.  Perhaps it goes without saying that most grassland birds are typically unable to thrive in the deep woods, and birds of the forests are not especially fond of wide – open spaces. 

As a result, birds of the piney woods—such as Pine Warblers and Brown-headed Nuthatches particularly, as well as other forest dwellers such as the gaudy Red-headed Woodpecker and the White-breasted Nuthatch rub shoulders, or feathers, at least in the summer when they are nesting with grass – lovers like Grasshopper Sparrows and Dickcissels.   In winter the rare Smith’s Longspur—perhaps one of Texas most sought –after bird species, and the Sprague’s Pipit, another unusual grassland resident, inhabit the grazed grasslands in the northern part of the county while to the south Horned Grebes, Common Loons and Bald Eagles decorate Lake Cypress Springs.  In the woods Rusty Blackbirds and Red-breasted Nuthatches can be found along with probably 100 or more species on the average day. 

          But the real birding asset, perhaps the most overlooked is the fact that there are probably at least thirteen species of warblers breeding in the county—including the Yellow-throated Warbler depicted here.  Delightfully colorful, they are highly sought after by birders because of their intense beauty.  Most spend the winter in the new world tropics and migrate north each spring to our forests, thickets, marshes, swamps, wooded lakes and sloughs.   

However, no portrait of this land would be complete without at least mentioning the land that once was, for this was the land that once hosted Prairie Chickens in the grasslands and Carolina Parakeets and Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the wet swampy river bottoms.  During fall and winter, Passenger Pigeons descended, perhaps by the billions, on the post oak forests of Franklin County to feed on the acorns.   We have lost them, but with a little good stewardship, perhaps we can save what remains.  After all, that is what we are here to do.