Natural History Journal

Herons and egrets are some of Eric's favorite birds, and for many years, he and I have both been eager to see two species in particular that are not at all common in California: Reddish Egret and Roseate Spoonbill.   Happily, the Gulf Coast of Texas is an excellent place to find both of these species (and many more), so it was with great excitement that we made our way out to South Padre Island, to spend the day birding the boardwalks and mudflats along the Laguna Madre.    In case you missed it, check out the birds that we saw in the woodlands along the Rio Grande , and out on the coastal prairie on our April birding trip to South Texas! White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill and Snowy Egret, living life along the edges of the Laguna Madre Tucked amongst the dune buggy rental shops, tacky tourist traps and high-rises that thickly cover most of the southern end of South Padre Island, the aptly-named South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center is a hidden gem for birders....

On the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, the forests around 4,000 feet in elevation are excellent places to enjoy a wide variety of birds and other wildlife.  The mid-montane coniferous forests of this "lower conifer zone," as it is known, occur at elevations just above the oak woodlands and chaparral of the foothills, and just below the upper conifer zone.  Here, at this meeting place of plant communities, pockets of black oak and bigleaf maple mixed in among stands of ponderosa pines and other conifers add to the abundant species diversity.  Cooler, north-facing slopes hold stands of white fir, while live oak thrives in warmer, drier microclimates on south-facing slopes.  Sugar pine are common at this elevation as well, along with incense cedar and Douglas fir.   And, most importantly for birders, this zone of abundance offers an enticing mix of bird species from both lower and higher elevations. Trail from Twain Harte to Lyon's Reservoir In the Centra...

After moving down the Rio Grande River toward the Gulf of Mexico, we left the woodlands behind us and ventured out onto the coastal prairie of South Texas.   Here, we spent an incredibly windy April morning birding along Old Port Isabel Road, at Palo Alto National Battlefield, and, briefly, Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge.  Read about the South Texas "Specialty Birds" we saw in the Lower Rio Grande Valley here! The beautiful flowers of a prickly pear cactus In the open country of the coastal prairies, we spotted Scissor-tailed Flycatchers hanging out on barbed wire fences and powerlines.  This gorgeous flycatcher, with its long, elegant tail feathers and salmon pink underwings, was one of my very favorite species of the entire trip!  A bird of the central prairies, the summer breeding range of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher extends across most of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, as well as the western portions of Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana.  ...

During the first week in April, Eric and I spent six amazing days birding in South Texas, starting in the McAllen area and ending on South Padre Island.  One of the most famed birding destinations in North America, the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas enjoys a warm subtropical climate where plant communities found nowhere else in the U.S. thrive.  Here, elements from the Chihuahuan Desert to the west and the coastal prairies to the east blend, meeting along the Rio Grande River where Tamaulipan thornscrub and subtropical woodlands once flourished.  Due to this unique climate and combination of habitat types, an impressive list of bird species native to Mexico and farther south extend their range north across the border into the southern tip of Texas, making South Texas the only place in the U.S. to see a handful of amazing birds.  These "South Texas specialties," as they are known to birders, are highly coveted species amongst North American birders, and a trip...