By mid-April, pre-breeding migration is in full swing along the Texas coast. This itinerary places you in prime locations at prime time. Warblers, vireos, tanagers, orioles, grosbeaks, buntings, thrushes, cuckoos, and more are arriving daily from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Shorebirds are present in large numbers. Some awaiting the thaw in their arctic breeding grounds, while others have started breeding on the Texas coast. Waders are abundant, too. Many of them already in breeding mode and our visit to Smith Oaks rookery at High Island will showcase this annual spectacle. Wetland-loving species at Cattail Marsh and Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge are sure to thrill. Piney Woods species at W.G. Jones will wrap up this spring bird bonanza. This six-day trip includes birding at legendary hotspots for an unrivaled avian migration spectacle. 

Chip Clouse is a long-time bird tour leader and Reefs to Rockies’ Lead Naturalist Guide. He’s also ProStaff for Opticron optics.  Originally enamored with tooth and claw predators, his fascination with birds started by volunteering with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to monitor Peregrine Falcon nest sites.  The “Bird Bug" was cemented once he saw his first Western Tanager while working for the Peregrine Fund in Oregon. Chip’s career includes 20+ years of bird research and project management experience in nine states and the Caribbean nation of Grenada, a Masters in Conservation Biology from Colorado State University, five years with the American Birding Association, four years as an optics and accessory rep, and stints guiding at 15+ US birding festivals. He’s excited to share his love of birds, habitats, and natural history at places he first fell in love with in 2003. That love is what draws him back on an almost annual basis.

Late-morning arrival to Houston Hobby Airport (HOU) followed by a short drive to the coast for afternoon birding at Galveston area hotspots. Likely stops include Lafitte’s Cove, Dos Vacas Muertas Bird Sanctuary, 8 Mile and Sportsman’s Roads, and East End Lagoon Nature Preserve. With any luck, we’ll get excellent looks at warblers, buntings, rails, raptors, plovers, and more before checking into our hotel. Our incredible time birding together begins!

Accommodations: Homewood Suites by Hilton Galveston

Meals: Lunch and Welcome Dinner

Plan to arrive to Houston Hobby Airport (HOU) by 11:30 am today.

Our first full day in Texas begins with birding at Corps Woods, a heavily wooded area along a narrow waterway that’s a major feeding area for pre-breeding migrants and unusual birds year-round. From there, we’ll continue to the Bolivar Peninsula, a short ferry ride away.  We’ll first visit Frenchtown Road saltmarsh habitat and Fort Travis Seashore Park to see what we can find. The Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary is a unique area combining salt marsh, intertidal mudflats, beach, and uplands. Each habitat is different from the other. Every year during migration, hundreds of thousands of shorebirds converge here to feed on a nutrient-rich supply of food needed for their journey further north. We’ll stop at 17th Street Jetty and Rettilon Road where Gull-billed Tern is possible. We’ll scan flocks for species like Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, Roseate Spoonbill, plovers, peeps, dowitchers, gulls, terns, pelicans, and more. This afternoon, we’ll continue birding additional Bolivar Peninsula hotspots before continuing to Winnie where we’ll spend the next four nights.

Accommodations: Hampton Inn and Suites – Winnie

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

We’ll start the day with a visit to Cattail Marsh Scenic Wetlands in nearby Beaumont. The extensive marsh houses scores of Purple Gallinules, Purple Martins, Least and American bitterns, waterfowl, and an active Bald Eagle nest. It’s also the best place to find Fish Crows in Texas. From Beaumont, we’ll continue to Sabine Woods Sanctuary,arguably the best migration hotspot on the Upper Texas Coast. This wooded sanctuary adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico and surrounded by fields attracts migrants of all types. Mowed trails and benches provide access to freshwater drippers which are magnets for birds fresh in from their flight across the Gulf. Additional stops possible depending on recent sightings and group’s interests.

Accommodations: Hampton Inn and Suites – Winnie

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

High Island is known around the world for the migration spectacle that occurs here each spring. Houston Audubon has four sanctuaries at High Island – Boy Scout Woods, Smith Oaks, Eubank Woods, and S.E. Gast Red Bay. Oak and hackberry trees situated atop a salt dome surrounded by coastal prairie at Boy Scout Woods is the first patch of woods birds see after their 600-mile, 18-hour flight across the Gulf of Mexico. Hooks Woods is another incredible birding hotspot at High Island. We’ll spend almost all day birding the area hoping for some rarities, and maybe even a fallout. Regular crowd pleasers include Painted and Indigo buntings, woodland warblers, vireos, grosbeaks, tanagers, thrushes, and Roseate Spoonbills.

Accommodations: Hampton Inn and Suites – Winnie

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

First up today is Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge located on the eastern end of Galveston Bay. During spring, the sound of migrating songbirds is complimented by the bellow of alligators trying to attract a mate. Anahuac’s Skillern Tract is an excellent migrant trap. Shoveler Pond Wildlife Loop allows up close views of waders, ducks, shorebirds and, hopefully rails and bitterns. Songbirds abound at Willows Observation Deck and Trail.  Most new arrivals crossing the Gulf of Mexico arrive in the afternoon so there’s time to revisit High Island before heading back to our hotel.

Accommodations: Hampton Inn and Suites – Winnie

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Farewell Dinner

As we make our way back toward Houston this morning, we’ll spend time scanning rice fields and pastures in Chambers County for waterfowl, waders, shorebirds (“grasspipers” like Upland and Buff-breasted sandpipers specifically), and more. This might be our best opportunity for King Rail, too. We’ll then continue to W. G. Jones State Forestnorth of Houston, a woodland haven for pine-loving wildlife. Spanning more than 1700 acres and boasting an impressive list of more than 250 bird species, this loblolly pine forest is home to numerous southern specialties like Brown-headed Nuthatch, Carolina Chickadee, Pine Warbler, Eastern Bluebird, and Northern Cardinal. We’ll keep an eye out for woodpeckers here, too and we may get lucky with a glimpse of an endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker. A walk here offers a wonderful change of scenery at the end of our trip. Return to Houston Hobby Airport (HOU) for our early evening flight home.

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Plan to depart Houston Hobby Airport (HOU) after 6:30 pm today.