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The Upper Texas Coast during spring is bursting with migrant birds. The celebrity group among these is the warblers, but the coasts are also packed with waterbirds, like terns, shorebirds, skimmers and pelicans, and the freshwater marshes hold rookeries of photogenic spoonbills, elegantly-plumed egrets, and multicolored herons. In this season, over 25 species of shorebird are found along the coast, along with 10 species of tern, and the coastal woodlots hold up to 30 species of warbler, busy working north from their tropical wintering grounds. This tour is dynamic, following the daily-shifting patterns of migrants on the move along the coast, but also taking in specialty birds of the eastern Texas Piney Woods, like Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Bachman’s Sparrow, along with other southern standouts, like Crested Caracara, Reddish Egret, and warblers like Swainson’s, Kentucky, and Hooded Warblers. Our timing allows us not only to pick up these southern-breeding warbler species, but also to see northerly, boreal breeders migrating through; species including Cerulean, Bay-breasted, Blackburnian, and Magnolia Warblers. All of these are in their very best breeding refinery at this time.
The tour visits coastal oak woodlots (which act as migrant traps), the pine forests of the “Pineywoods” in East Texas, freshwater marshes, wetlands, and bayous, coastal flats, and then on the Hill Country extension, much drier country with juniper and cactus-laden slopes, and a completely different bird suite including Texas’s only breeding endemic, the gorgeous Golden-cheeked Warbler. The sheer variety of habitats on this tour, and volume and diversity of birds, will allow us the chance to amass some 150+ bird species days! We will be visiting some of the iconic sites on the Texas birding circuit, like High Island, Sabine Woods, and Bolivar Flats.
One of the final highlights of the tour will be non-avian, with a visit to the Rio Frio Bat Caves, home to over 10 million Mexican Free-tailed Bats. This is the second largest bat concentration on Earth that is publicly accessible, and represents one of the largest gatherings of any mammal on the planet. We will be there in the late afternoon, when these nocturnal creatures emerge, and when the local hawks drop in and take notice too. It is truly one of the most amazing wildlife experiences in North America, and it usually happens in great light, making for impressive photos, videos, and long-lasting memories.