Migratory Bird Treaty Act & Eagle Act · Texas
Pre-construction surveys, nest and eagle-nest monitoring, and buffer management — the work that keeps a project moving through nesting season instead of stopping for it, for migratory birds and eagles alike.
Year-round timing · Texas
"Nesting season" is not one window. The general songbird season, the golden-cheeked warbler survey window, bald eagles, and owls and other early-nesting raptors each run on their own calendar — three of the four are already active before most people start thinking about spring. Tap or hover a month for specifics.
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General planning reference, not a site-specific determination — chronology varies by year, region and pair. Confirm current nest status for your project. Sources: TPWD general nesting-season guidance · USFWS golden-cheeked warbler survey protocol · TPWD/USFWS bald eagle biology · published raptor nesting chronologies. Last verified 26 August 2026.
There is no single federal survey protocol for general nesting birds the way there is for the golden-cheeked warbler — requirements come from the agency, client, or lender on your project, and they differ. Use this calendar as a starting point, not a substitute for project-specific direction.
Three protections, one project
01
Almost every wild bird species in Texas is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Harming an active nest — one with eggs or chicks — without authorization can create federal liability. A survey before ground-disturbing work finds active nests early, so your team can plan around them instead of stopping mid-project.
Read the legal detail ↓02
Bald and golden eagles have their own, stricter federal law. Just getting too close to an eagle nest — even without touching it — can count as illegal disturbance. Projects near an eagle nest need a site-specific look at distance, noise, and timing, not a one-size-fits-all rule.
Read the legal detail ↓03
A nesting bird survey is a qualified biologist walking your project area before work starts, documenting any active nests, and giving you a clear, dated record either way. That record lets your team move forward with a defensible answer instead of a guess.
See the services ↓The legal detail, if you want it · verified 26 August 2026
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) protects most wild bird species and their nests, eggs, and young. It does not require every project to run a survey — but current federal interpretation in Texas1,2 limits MBTA liability to deliberate harm aimed directly at birds, not incidental harm from other work. Even so, the Fish and Wildlife Service's current nest policy3 still treats an active nest (one with eggs or chicks) differently from an inactive one: destroying an active nest without authorization can trigger liability, while an inactive nest generally can be removed without it. Texas state law is separate and stricter — it independently prohibits disturbing the nest, eggs, or young of most wild birds4, regardless of federal interpretation.
Bald and golden eagles are protected separately, under the Eagle Act5. Unlike the MBTA, “take” under this law includes disturbance — agitating an eagle enough to risk injury, lower reproduction, or nest abandonment — so you don't have to touch the nest for it to apply. USFWS uses 330-ft and 660-ft reference distances during screening6, but these aren't automatic no-work zones; whether a permit is needed depends on the activity, distance, timing, and site conditions. Removing, destroying, or obstructing an eagle nest always requires a permit, even if the nest isn't currently in use.
Even when nothing requires one, a survey gives your team an early, dated record of what's on site, so planning and avoidance decisions rest on an actual observation instead of a guess. When work will disturb vegetation or ground during a likely nesting period, that record is usually the cheaper option — pausing after work starts costs more than planning around a nest before it does.
Before work
Read the actual permit, approval, or client standard, and follow its timing and reporting language rather than a generic rule.
Nest found
Pause the affected area. Confirm species and status, then apply a project- and species-specific avoidance distance — there's no single buffer that fits every bird.
No nest found
Document the date, area, method, and result. A negative survey is a record of the conditions observed, not permanent clearance.
Sources: 1. United States v. CITGO Petroleum Corp., 801 F.3d 477 (5th Cir. 2015). 2. Solicitor's Opinion M-37085, reinstated April 2025. 3. USFWS nest memorandum, January 2025. 4. Texas Parks & Wildlife Code §64.002(a)(3), §64.003 — applies regardless of intent, unlike current federal MBTA interpretation; see TxDOT Environmental Toolkit 350-01-GUI (“TPW code does not make a distinction between purposeful and non-purposeful killing or destruction”). 5. Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act; 50 C.F.R. Part 22. 6. USFWS eagle-disturbance screening guidance. 7. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds — Bald Eagle Life History. For an eagle nest near your project, contact the USFWS Southwest Region Migratory Bird Permit Office: (505) 248-7882 or PermitsR2MB@fws.gov. This is general information, not a site-specific legal determination.
Eagles keep good notes, too
A bald eagle nest takes roughly a month to build from scratch — and once a pair likes the spot, they will keep adding sticks to the same nest for years, sometimes decades.7
What I do
Survey of the work area and appropriate buffer before clearing, grubbing or construction, timed to your schedule and documented for your file.
Where a nest is found, monitoring through incubation and nestling stages so the buffer can be released as early as is defensible rather than held by default.
Setting a buffer appropriate to species and disturbance type, flagging it in the field, briefing the crew, and documenting the release when the nest is no longer active.
Planning advice before the season starts — what to clear early, what to defer, and where the risk actually sits on your particular site.
On-site monitoring for linear and energy projects, the work I have done across fifteen states on transmission, pipeline and mining projects.
ArcGIS field data collection, nest location and status tracking, and reporting in whatever format your client or agency requires.
Planning a clearing schedule?
Tell me where the project is, what you are clearing and when. If nesting birds are going to be a problem, it is far better to know in January than the morning the crew arrives.