Adult male golden-cheeked warbler singing from the crown of an Ashe juniper against open sky.
© Elizabeth Hingle

Independent field biologist · Central Texas

The bird that can stop your project nests only here

Federally permitted golden-cheeked warbler surveys and habitat assessments. Eleven weeks a year, March 15 to June 1 — and spring is booked in the fall.

Spring 2027 · booking now

USFWS Permit
ESPER32178096-0§10(a)(1)(A) · valid to 2031
On this species
7 seasonsFort Cavazos · Austin Water Wildland Conservation
Nesting bird surveys
Since 2014MBTA pre-construction and monitoring
Avian survey work
15+ years15 U.S. states · fully insured

Who calls me

Two people, two very different problems

01 — Consulting firms

You need permitted capacity for eleven weeks

Five spaced visits per site inside a fixed window means no in-house crew is sized for the peak. I subcontract as a permitted surveyor — insured, W-9 and COI on file, and used to working inside someone else's QA process and deliverable templates.

Subcontract availability and rates →

02 — Landowners and developers

Someone just told you there may be a warbler problem

If your project clears oak-juniper woodland in Central Texas, the question has to be answered before the equipment arrives — and it can only be answered inside eleven weeks each spring. I can tell you whether you need a survey at all.

What the law requires →

Adult male golden-cheeked warbler feeding a fledgling on an oak branch.

Golden-cheeked warblers nest in Central Texas and nowhere else on earth. Eleven weeks a year, in the oak-juniper woodland between Austin and the Balcones escarpment, is the only window in which anyone can legally answer whether they are on your property.

© Elizabeth Hingle

Services

Three things I do

Golden-cheeked warbler

  • Desktop / GIS habitat screening
  • Field habitat assessments
  • Presence/absence surveys to USFWS protocol
  • Territory mapping and agency data reporting

MBTA nesting bird compliance

  • Pre-construction nesting bird surveys
  • Active nest monitoring
  • Buffer establishment and release
  • Construction-window guidance

Nationwide. Fifteen states to date, including Texas, Nevada, California and Arizona.

Environmental field support

  • Biological construction monitoring
  • Reconnaissance surveys
  • ArcGIS field data collection
  • Habitat and vegetation assessment

The constraint

Eleven weeks, front-loaded

This is why spring capacity is committed in the fall, and why a project that misses the window waits a full year.

123 45 MAR 15 MAY 15 JUN 1 Window opens 60% of visits done by here Window closes Minimum 5 visits per site · no two within any 5-day period
Required survey visit Front-loaded half of the season Open window
Effort
1 hr / 25 acper visit, one-hour floor
Time of day
Dawn + 7 hrsfrom 30 min before sunrise
Weather limits
45–80°Fno wind over 12 mph, fog or rain
To infer absence
3 yearsof negative surveys, in most cases
Elizabeth Hingle in oak-juniper woodland holding a golden-cheeked warbler in a bander's grip.
Elizabeth Hingle · golden-cheeked warbler in hand, Central Texas

About

One permitted biologist, not a call centre

I'm Elizabeth Hingle. I've spent seven seasons on the golden-cheeked warbler in Central Texas — territory mapping, point counts, nest searching and monitoring at Fort Cavazos, and five seasons of resighting for Austin Water's Wildland Conservation Division on the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve.

When you hire me you get me: the same person on the phone, in the field, and on the report. Fifteen-plus years of avian survey work across fifteen states, and nesting bird surveys since 2014.

Banding and nest work pictured was conducted under the monitoring programme's permit. My own permit authorises presence/absence surveys and habitat assessments.

HaysComal BlancoKendall BurnetBandera KerrBell CoryellTravis WilliamsonBexar

References

“Elizabeth brought an important voice of leadership in the field and helped create an environment where team members felt empowered to speak up.”

Anna GlavanProject Manager · Utility transmission project, Nevada

“I trusted Elizabeth to serve as field lead while I was away and knew the team and project would be in good hands.”

Cynthia NicelySenior Botanist · Natural gas infrastructure project, California

Spring 2027

Planning a project in warbler habitat?

The window opens March 15 and closes June 1. Firms commit their spring surveyors in the fall — if your project may need surveys next spring, now is when to talk.