Texas
Our favourite place to be for the spring migration is definitely Texas. If the weather conditions are right (for birders and not for birds), there is no better place than High Island to see a wonderful selection of warblers, tanagers, flycatchers, vireos, buntings and more. If the wind is from the north or there's maybe a drop of rain, the coastal woodlands can be simply full of birds. The North American wood warblers are surely one of the world's most attractive groups of birds and there is the possibility to see up to 30 different species here, including the beautiful Blackburnian, Magnolia, Cerulean, Chestnut-sided and Prothonotary Warblers.
What also makes High Island the place to be is that on days when the weather does favour the birds and all those migrants are passing high overhead without stopping, you can simply switch to watching hundreds of shorebirds including Wilson's, Snowy and Piping Plovers along the nearby Bolivar Peninsula or wetland birds such as Least and American Bitterns, Anhinga, American Purple Gallinule and King Rail at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. We might also visit White Memorial Park for Pileated, Red-headed, Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers.
From Rockport, our boat trip to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is always a memorable experience providing close-up views of gulls, terns, pelicans and shorebirds. We should also be able to see one or two remaining Whooping Cranes before they migrate north to breed in Canada.
As always we will spend several days in the Rio Grande Valley, just on the Texas side of the border with Mexico. Species such as Green Jay, Plain Chachalaca, Altamira and Audubon's Orioles and Green Kingfisher occur here and virtually nowhere else in the USA.
There is also likely to be some passage of raptors, mainly Broad-winged and Swainson's Hawks but with a chance also of seeing rarer species such as Hook-billed Kite.
There will also be a visit to W E Jones State Forest to look in particular for Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Brown-headed Nuthatch.
More than half of Peter's dozen trips to Texas have been in April – it is highly recommended!
Texas is also a very worthwhile winter destination with countless wildfowl and shorebirds arriving from the north to take advantage of the relatively mild climate.
What also makes High Island the place to be is that on days when the weather does favour the birds and all those migrants are passing high overhead without stopping, you can simply switch to watching hundreds of shorebirds including Wilson's, Snowy and Piping Plovers along the nearby Bolivar Peninsula or wetland birds such as Least and American Bitterns, Anhinga, American Purple Gallinule and King Rail at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. We might also visit White Memorial Park for Pileated, Red-headed, Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers.
From Rockport, our boat trip to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is always a memorable experience providing close-up views of gulls, terns, pelicans and shorebirds. We should also be able to see one or two remaining Whooping Cranes before they migrate north to breed in Canada.
As always we will spend several days in the Rio Grande Valley, just on the Texas side of the border with Mexico. Species such as Green Jay, Plain Chachalaca, Altamira and Audubon's Orioles and Green Kingfisher occur here and virtually nowhere else in the USA.
There is also likely to be some passage of raptors, mainly Broad-winged and Swainson's Hawks but with a chance also of seeing rarer species such as Hook-billed Kite.
There will also be a visit to W E Jones State Forest to look in particular for Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Brown-headed Nuthatch.
More than half of Peter's dozen trips to Texas have been in April – it is highly recommended!
Texas is also a very worthwhile winter destination with countless wildfowl and shorebirds arriving from the north to take advantage of the relatively mild climate.