Friday, April 8, 2011
Southern Texas Birding April 25th-May 2nd
Because of its southern latitude, diverse mix of habitats and unique position along a major migration corridor, South Texas offers a nearly unparalleled opportunity to observe birds in North America. Not only are there a suite of resident species with limited North American ranges like Green Jay, Tropical Parula, Ferruginous Pygmy-owl, Great Kiskadee, Altamira Oriole, Olive Sparrow and more, but in late April, a tremendous variety of neoptropical migrants sweep through the area.
The first part of this trip will involve birding the spectacular King Ranch, which, with 825,000 acres, encompasses a whole range of habitats from coastal grassland to thorn-scrub brush to stands of live oak that are home to nearly all of the South Texas specialty birds. The second part of the trip will be in the Rio Grande Valley, home to more birds with slim U.S. ranges.
Throughout the trip we’ll have the flexibility to take advantage of favorable weather patterns to visit coastal migrant traps to see a wealth of migrating songbirds at close range. We should see between 175 and 200 species, possibly more if conditions are good. For a S. Texas Bird Check list click here.
Monday, April 25th:
Arrive in Harlingen, Texas. Overnite stay in Harlingen.
Tuesday, April 26th
Drive to Kingsville, Texas. We'll begin by visiting La Copita, a private ranch in the arid western portion of South Texas to look for Ash-throated Flycatcher, Verdin, Cactus Wren, Roadrunner, Black-throated Sparrow, and Painted Bunting.
In the afternoon, we'll begin touring King Ranch, visiting the Santa Gertrudis Division in Kingsville. Here we should begin seeing unique South Texas birds in abundance including: Black-bellied Whistling Duck; Least Grebe, Neotropic Cormorant, Harris' Hawk, White-tailed Hawk, Crested Caracara, Inca Dove, Common Ground Dove, White-tipped Dove, Groove-billed Ani, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Vermillion Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Couch's Kingbird, Scissor-tail Flycatcher, Green Jay, Black-crested Titmouse, Longbilled Thrasher, Olive Sparrow, Cassin's Sparrow, and Bronzed Cowbird.
Night in Kingsville, Texas.
Wednesday, April 27th:
Today we’ll visit areas along the mid-Texas coast between Corpus Christi and Port Aransas where there are excellent opportunities for viewing neotropical migrants and coastal birds.Several migrant traps in Port Aransas can be spectacular for warblers, vireos and songbirds if the weather conditions are right (and regardless of weather patterns, these areas are quite productive in later April). We’ll also explore the coast line and sand flats for shorebirds, gulls, terns and more.
Thursday, April 28th:
We'll spend today on the Norias Division of King Ranch, home to some of the rarest resident birds in North America. Our targets species will include such rarities as Ferruginous Pygmy-owl, which breeds in fairly good numbers on King Ranch, Tropical Parula, Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Audubon's Oriole, and Botteri's Sparrow as well as Buff-breasted Hummingbird and Brown-crested Flycatcher. After leaving Norias, we'll continue down into the Rio Grand Valley and spend the night in McAllen, which will serve as our base of operations to explore the valley the last three days.
Friday-Sunday, April 29th-May 1st:
These final three days will be spent in the Rio Grande Valley, a long corridor filled with quality birding locations. We’ll leave the itinerary for these days loose to take advantage of weather conditions and rarities that may show up. Over the course of the three days, we may visit upper valley locations to search for such elusive birds as the White-collared Seed-eater, Red-billed Pigeon, Muscovy Duck, and the more common such as Plain Chachalaca, Altamira Oriole, Claycolored Robin, Tropical Kingbird, Common Paraque and possibly Gray Hawk and Hook-billed Kite, and lower valley locations like South Padre Island for Fulvous Whistling-duck, coastal birds, and the possibility of a migrant fallout.
Monday, May 2nd:
Depart from Harlingen.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment