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 to the region is well worth adding to any birding bucket list!
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| Green Jay, one of the many "Valley Specialty" species to be seen in South Texas. |
Unfortunately, due to extensive habitat loss to industrial, commercial, residential and agricultural development, only a small fraction of thornscrub and semitropical woodland habitat remains in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Thankfully, a number of properties preserve this habitat, concentrating all of the "best" birds into a handful of key locations that are beloved by birders. Residents of the region have cottoned on to the economic benefits of its winged wildlife, and many parks and preserves have been established and designed specifically to cater to birders, providing birder-friendly lodging, tour guides, birding walks, festivals and more.
Bleary-eyed from our overnight flights from Fresno to Dallas to McAllen, but bursting with enthusiasm, our first stop on Monday afternoon was at Edinburg Scenic Wetlands, where I absent-mindedly consumed a Subway sandwich while listening to lifer White-eyed Vireos and Couch's Kingbirds in the parking lot. After seeing over 40 species (9 of which were lifers!), we made our way to our room at the Alamo Inn B&B, a famed lodging place for birders visiting the Valley. There, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks loafed on the roof and Buff-bellied Hummingbirds visited feeders on the porch, and we were able to enjoy 11 hours of much-needed sleep!
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| Our lodging place, the Alamo Inn B&B - a birding hotspot in itself! |
Dawn on our first full day in Alamo, Texas found us at the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, trekking through 2,000 acres of prime habitat, including semitropical thorn forest, riparian and wetland habitats, and tallying up a list of nearly 80 species (many of which were lifers!)
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| An excellent morning of birding at Santa Ana NWR |
Our second day was spent at Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park and the National Butterfly Center next door to the park (which we visited specifically to see the somewhat rare Audubon's Oriole that had been hanging out at the feeders there). Late in the afternoon, we paid our second visit to Edinburg Scenic Wetlands, well-known as a good location for all three species of kingfishers that are resident in the Valley.
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| Relaxed, end-of-the-day birding at Edinburg Scenic Wetlands. |
Farther down the Rio, we spent time on our third day at Estero Llano Grande State Park, with a frustratingly mosquito-heavy and bird-light visit to the nearby Frontera Audubon Center around noon. Unfortunately, the wetlands at Estero were dry, though it still ended up being our second-favorite birding spot in the Valley (after Santa Ana). We ended our third day with a fly-by Green Kingfisher sighting at Hugh Ramsey Nature Park in Harlingen before heading toward the coast.
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| The feeder set-up and water feature, all visible from inside a blind, at Estero Llano Grande State Park. |
And now, here are the "Valley Specialty" species that we were able to see and photograph!
Dazzling Green Jays were seen at nearly all of the locations mentioned above, though they were seen to best advantage at bird feeder set-ups at the National Butterfly Center and Estero Llano Grande State Park. Many of the parks and wildlife refuges in South Texas maintain bird feeding stations throughout the winter, when most birders visit the region. By early April, as the weather warms up, fewer feeding stations are stocked, but we did find some that birds were still visiting.
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| Green Jay |
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| Green Jay |
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| Green Jay |
Two bold and brilliantly-colored flycatchers, Great Kiskadee and Couch's Kingbird, are common "specialties" across the Valley. Kiskadees are distinct, with their loud "kis-ka-dee" call, but Couch's Kingbirds look extremely similar to the more widespread Tropical Kingbird, and are best separated by their calls.
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| Great Kiskadee |
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| Couch's Kingbird |
Another brilliant Valley specialty is the Altamira Oriole, which is considerably larger and stockier than the similarly-colored Hooded Oriole. While studying bird songs and calls preparatory for this trip, I thought that the song of the Altamira Oriole sounded a bit like "that one opera piece that's used in all the things" (which turns out to be Mozart's Queen of the Night aria from The Magic Flute). Have a listen here and see if you agree with me!
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| Altamira Oriole |
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| Hooded Oriole (left) and Altamira Oriole (right) |
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| Altamira Oriole |
Plain in color and secretive in its habits, we heard the robin-like song of the Clay-colored Thrush rising up from dense tangles of vegetation long before we managed to get a glimpse of this species. Our best looks were from the hide at Estero Llano Grande State Park, where this individual came into the open at the edge of the water feature. In the thick vegetation of thornscrub and semitropical woodland habitats, birding by ear is essential!
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| Clay-colored Thrush |
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| Clay-colored Thrush |
Another ground-dwelling bird often seen scuttling off the trail into the brush was the Long-billed Thrasher, similar in appearance to the more widespread Brown Thrasher.
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| Long-billed Thrasher |
Well-suited to thickets of dense and thorny vegetation along the Rio Grande, Olive Sparrows were heard nearly everywhere we birded in the Valley, though I only managed to actually see one once! Knowing the songs and calls of birds is immensely helpful when birding no matter where you are, but in a new location, with only limited time to find your target species, it is essential. That way, you know when you need to take the time to seek out a certain secretive songster, and when you can put it down as yet another such-and-such and move on to find something new!
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| Olive Sparrow |
Like most doves, the White-tipped Dove tends to be found on the ground, picking at seeds and other such foodstuffs. And like many Valley species, this dove tends to keep to dense vegetation. This is another species that was heard often and seen just a handful of times. But when they do emerge into the open (around feeding stations, for example), they are strikingly beautiful!
Speaking of birds that were heard often... The Plain Chachalaca is hands-down the noisiest bird in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, where the screeching cacophony of calls created by a pair of these garrulous birds fills the woodlands with what can only be described as a joyful noise, despite its nails-on-a-chalkboard-like quality. I'm fairly confident it is nearly guaranteed to make any birder smile (at least the first time it's heard)! Truly, this is the sound of birding in South Texas woodlands! (Have a listen here.) Plain in appearance, perhaps, the antics of this distant chicken relative are certainly entertaining to watch!
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| Plain Chachalaca |
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| Plain Chachalaca |
The most numerous hummingbird we encountered in South Texas in April, the Buff-bellied Hummingbird is truly a little gem. We enjoyed watching them visit feeders right on our own front porch!
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| Buff-bellied Hummingbird |
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| Buff-bellied Hummingbird |
High on my list of target species for this trip were both the Ringed Kingfisher and Green Kingfisher. I was fortunate enough to have two fly-by sightings of the tiny Green Kingfisher, and just as we were about to leave the range of the Ringed Kingfisher to move east toward the Gulf Coast, I spotted one sitting quietly along the edge of the pond at Edinburg Scenic Wetlands. Significantly larger and bulkier than our common and widespread Belted Kingfisher, the range of the Ringed Kingfisher covers much of Central America and nearly all of South America. But in North America, it is found only in South Texas.
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| A poor, distant photo of my highly sought-after Ringed Kingfisher |
Wetlands in the Lower Rio Grande Valley hold a few special species as well, including the Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Mottled Duck and Least Grebe. Both ducks have a wider range along the Gulf Coast, and we saw many on South Padre Island, but the Least Grebe is a South Texas specialty confined to freshwater wetlands.
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| Black-bellied Whistling Ducks |
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| Mottled Duck |
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| Least Grebe |
A couple of species whose ranges stretch beyond South Texas into a greater part of the state were still new to me on this trip, and therefore a delight to find. These were the
Golden-fronted Woodpecker and
Black-crested Titmouse. The Golden-fronted Woodpecker was the last of North America's 22 [extant] species of woodpeckers I needed to see, so it was exciting to spend time watching this species and tick it off my list!
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| Golden-fronted Woodpecker |
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| Black-crested Titmouse |
But, after all of these amazing subtropical beauties, the award for "Bird of the Trip," the species that we encountered in great numbers absolutely everywhere we went, must go the the Great-tailed Grackle. These crazy blackbird relatives are almost as noisy as Chachalacas, and were absolutely everywhere: airports, parking lots, city parks, residential neighborhoods, and just about every birding spot we visited on the whole trip were bursting with the weird, screechy, metallic songs of hundreds of Great-tailed Grackles.
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| Great-tailed Grackles posturing |
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| Great-tailed Grackle |
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| Great-tailed Grackle |
What else is there??The Lower Rio Grande Valley is an incredible birding destination, and my few days there were just enough to scratch the surface! It was certainly enough time to see the majority of the common Valley Specialty species, and I am thankful we were able to squeeze in this quick spring break trip. But there is always more...
Valley Specialty species that I failed to photograph, but did see, were the Northern Beardless Tyrannulet, Green Kingfisher and Common Paraque.
A few that unfortunately did not make an appearance during our visit included the highly sought-after Hook-billed Kite and the Groove-billed Ani. I would also have dearly loved to have been able to find a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, Tropical Parula and Rose-throated Becard!
South Texas is a hotbed of rare bird sightings as well, especially in the winter. Somewhat regularly, species like Fantailed Warbler and Crimson-collared Grosbeak turn up, and earlier this year some truly amazing rarities, including a Mottled Owl, Bare-throated Tiger Heron and Roadside Hawk, were seen by many birders; in 2022, the first Bat Falcon ever seen in the U.S. was discovered at Santa Ana NWR.
Clearly, there is good reason why so many birders dream of visiting the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas!
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