Posted by Ed Williams on March 11, 2018 at 12:33 AM
My wife and I will be headed for South Texas in April for a birding trip. I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions they are willing to share for must go places along the Rio Grande from Bentsen-Rio Grande over to Laguna Atascosa? Thank you so much for any input. We are excited about this trip.
Ed, I could write pages and pages in response, but take a look on the Net - "South Texas birding hotspots" "Texas birding trail"
"World Birding Center" "Ten Best birding spots in Texas" etc, - there is loads of information.
In April there will be more birds EVERYWHERE than you can possibly imagine. Your shutter finger will be exhausted.
Good luck, and have fun!
Sandy
Posted by Nate Chappell on March 13, 2018 at 8:47 PM
Hi Ed, Sandy gave you some good resources. The world birding centers of which there are about 10 are usually quite good. My favorite location for walk around photography in South Texas in Estero Llano Grande State Park near Weslaco, Texas. This is a nice mix of wetland and forest, which attract a wide variety of birds. There are boardwalks through the wetlands. They also have some feeders near the visitor station. Some of the Texas specialty birds which this is a good spot for include Kiskadee, Chachalaca, Pauraque, Least Grebe, Green Kingfisher etc.
If you have time I would also recommend visiting one of the several ranches which cater to bird photographers, the 2 most popular might be difficult to get a booking at this time of year, Santa Clara and Laguna Seca but there are others you could check such as Jones/Alta Vista Ranch and the Martin Refuge. Basically these ranches have sunken blinds with water holes close by which are stocked with bird seed etc which get you close to a lot of great birds like Green Jays, Long-billed Thrashers etc.
Thank you Sandy and Nate. We found and fell in love with the South Padre Island Birding Center and Convention Center next door. Fantastic variety of birds, we hit the migration of the warblers full on. Great episodes with the least bittern too. Bentsen-Rio Grande was a bit slow, but Edinburg Wetlands and Hugh Ramsey Nature Center were nice for the Valley species. We added at least twenty new species to our bird list.
Discussion
3 replies"World Birding Center" "Ten Best birding spots in Texas" etc, - there is loads of information.
In April there will be more birds EVERYWHERE than you can possibly imagine. Your shutter finger will be exhausted.
Good luck, and have fun!
Sandy
If you have time I would also recommend visiting one of the several ranches which cater to bird photographers, the 2 most popular might be difficult to get a booking at this time of year, Santa Clara and Laguna Seca but there are others you could check such as Jones/Alta Vista Ranch and the Martin Refuge. Basically these ranches have sunken blinds with water holes close by which are stocked with bird seed etc which get you close to a lot of great birds like Green Jays, Long-billed Thrashers etc.