The Heights is Houstons oldest neighborhood-8 minutes from downtown-with massive tree lined boulevards and lovely old Victorian homes and Sears Craftsmen bungalows. 19th street is a bustling scene for art markets, festivals, White Linen Night, vintage shops, and a few bars and restaurants. One evening in January of 2014 I parked at the west end of the strip and I stepped out onto a busy nightlife scene. I realized that I could hear Houston Heights Birdsthe flowing traffic at the intersection, the music and laughter from the open air taco restaurant, or the crowds milling about outside the ice cream shop. It was the birds. Oh my Lord, the birds! Grackles mostly, but I couldn’t make out the others as it was just past dusk and that is poor light for IDing flitting flying shadows in thickly overgrown oak and pecan trees.
I had to record it.
I was on a busy and bustling urban thoroughfare, surrounded on all 4 sides by freeways, in winter, just a quick bicycle ride from a major downtown! It also sounds like this in the morning from our front porch. A help agent on my mothers cell phone once demanded, “Lady, are you at the zoo?”
Our neighborhood is, indeed, a menagerie.Houston Heights BirdsOur neighborhood is, indeed, a menagerie.