Enjoy a 3-hour boat trip through the coastal waterways of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge to get close views of Whooping Cranes. Look for Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Tropical Parula, and Northern Beardless Tyrannulet in the oak mottes and mesquite savannas of the legendary King Ranch. Look for desert species such as Black-throated Sparrow, Scaled Quail, Cactus Wren and Greater Roadrunner at Falcon State Park. Enjoy panoramic views from the Santa Margarita Ranch bluffs overseeing the Rio Grande River and adjacent riparian woodlands, scanning for specialties like Audubon’s Oriole, Green Kingfisher, Red-billed Pigeon, Morelet’s Seedeater, Muscovy Duck, and Brown Jay. Marvel at the variety of tropical bird species that reach their northernmost range in this region including Green Jay, Altamira Oriole, Ringed Kingfisher, Plain Chachalaca, Great Kiskadee, and Buff-bellied Hummingbird. Spot several raptor species including Gray Hawk, White-tailed Hawk, Harris’s Hawk, Crested Caracara, Hook-billed Kite, and Aplomado Falcon. Witness the nightly flight of Amazon parrots and Green Parakeets as they come to their evening roost. Welcome the possibility of seeing rare vagrant birds from south of the border.

The tour package includes: Expert guiding service Ground transportation during the tour Entrance fees to parks/preserves Accommodations as stated in the itinerary 3-hour boat tour to Aransas NWR to see Whooping Cranes King Ranch Norias Division tour Santa Margarita Ranch tour It does not include meals, travel expenses including but not limited to airfare to and from the tour destination, travel insurance, extended stays (before and/or after the tour), alcoholic beverages, gratuities, and items/expenses of personal nature. About Meals:  Although this tour does not include meals in the tour package; all the hotels on this tour include complimentary breakfasts. Depending on the day’s route, lunches will be combination of quick “grab and-go” fast food or sit-down at a casual cafe with dinners at a local restaurant. Evenings are left open so you can choose from the restaurants near our lodging or explore local dining on your own. You are always welcome to join us for dinner. Joining the group is completely optional; your tour leader will share where they’re heading for dinner so you can join if you’d like. We will carry light snacks and water daily.

CAMERON COX

Moderate (2-3 miles of daily walking). Field time each day is typically between 7-10 hours (weather permitting). Most of the birding is done on trails, boardwalks, and along the road as we drive to various birding locations. Walking on uneven, soggy terrain, or in the rain is possible. Days start with breakfast at the hotel and departure for the field between 6:30 to 7:00 am, except for an earlier morning start for the King Ranch Tour and a pre-dawn departure for the Santa Margarita Ranch tour. We bird throughout the morning, take a break for lunch and resume birding until around 5:00 pm followed by dinner at a local restaurant.   The itinerary also includes a 3-hour boat excursion to Aransas NWR, offering exceptional opportunities to observe Whooping Cranes in their natural coastal marsh habitat. The vessel is stable and comfortable, with indoor seating available throughout the cruise. Guests should be prepared for varied weather and water conditions. Sea sickness medicine is highly recommended. Our days on this tour follow a comfortable, well‑paced rhythm designed to maximize birding opportunities while keeping the experience relaxed and enjoyable. Our daily itinerary will remain flexible to accommodate changes in weather, local conditions, and patterns of bird activity. This flexibility allows us to adjust both the timing and the order of locations visited, ensuring that participants experience the best possible birding opportunities throughout the trip.

While we cannot guarantee sightings of the birds listed below, we believe that encountering these species is quite likely during this tour. Whooping Crane Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl Tropical Parula Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet Muscovy Duck Plain Chachalaca Common Pauraque Buff-bellied Hummingbird Hook-billed Kite Ringed Kingfisher Green Kingfisher Aplomado Falcon Great Kiskadee Green Jay Brown Jay Altamira Oriole Olive Sparrow Audubon's Oriole Morelet's Seedeater Green Kingfisher and much more!

Day 1: Arrive at Corpus Christi International Airport (CRP) before 2 pm. After meeting everyone at the airport, we head north to Rockport to check in to our hotel. If time allows, we try to get in a few hours of birding at local sites before the evening orientation session and welcome dinner. Overnight: Hampton Inn & Suites, Rockport-Fulton.   Day 2: Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Mustang Island, and Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. This morning, we take a boat trip to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge to see the Whooping Cranes and a variety of other wading, shore, and water birds. We have the opportunity to get close looks at family groups of Whooping Cranes as we cruise through these marshes that are brimming with bird activity. We are likely to see a large variety of waterfowl including Brown and American White Pelicans, White Ibis, Tricolored Heron, among others.  After the boat trip, we spend the remainder of the day birding in the Rockport area and Mustang Island where we will search for Aplomado Falcon. The Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center is a great location with boardwalks going through coastal marshes where we will see a large variety of bird species including Roseate Spoonbill, Reddish Egret as well as a variety of migrating ducks, shorebirds and passerines. Overnight: Hampton Inn and Suites, Rockport-Fulton.   Day 3: King Ranch and Drive to Rio Grande Valley. Today is dedicated to one of the most iconic private birding locations in Texas — the legendary King Ranch — followed by our transition south into the Rio Grande Valley, which will serve as our base for the remainder of the tour. We spend the day birding the southern portion of the vast King Ranch, specifically the Norias Division. Covering thousands of acres, this area supports a mosaic of habitats including: mesquite brushlands, live oak mottes, coastal prairie, freshwater wetlands, and thornscrub. These varied habitats make Norias one of the most productive sites in Texas for a number of highly sought-after South Texas species. Our primary target for the day is the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, one of the most localized and sought-after birds in the United States. While not guaranteed due to its secretive nature, Norias offers one of the best chances in the country to encounter this species. Other key species of interest we will actively search for include Tropical Parula, Audubon’s Oriole, Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, and Botteri’s Sparrow. Additional species that we may encounter throughout the day include: Harris’s Hawk, White-tailed Hawk, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Hooded Oriole, Green Jay, Olive Sparrow and Long-billed Thrasher. The King Ranch is also a haven for wildlife; we have a good chance of seeing White-tailed Deer, Wild Turkey, Javelina, and exotic Nilgai antelope. We then start our journey southward to the Rio Grande Valley which will be our base for the next six days of the tour.  Overnight: Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites, Harlingen.   Day 4: South Padre Island, Coastal Plains, and Brownsville. Today we depart for South Padre Island to visit the Convention Center Boardwalk as well as the Valley Land Fund Migratory Bird Sanctuary lots which provide habitat for neotropical migrants and overwintering species. The coastal marshes, mudflats, and mangroves are brimming with birds including Wilson’s Plover, Snowy Plover, Reddish Egret, Brown Pelican, Mangrove Yellow Warbler, among others.  We also spend time along the Gulf beach looking for any ducks, shorebirds or pelagic species. The island can be full of avian surprises as there have been a number of rare visitors including Great Black-Hawk, Yellow-billed Loon, Slate-throated Redstart, and Flame-colored Tanager. In the afternoon we bird the coastal prairies located between Brownsville and Port Isabel. Our main target in this location will be the Aplomado Falcon, which has re-established a small population in this area after disappearing in the 1930s. Other birds we may see in the coastal prairies include White-tailed Hawk, Chihuahuan Raven and a variety of shorebirds and sparrows. We end our day in Brownsville visiting Oliveira Park to witness the nightly flight of Amazon parrots coming into the park to roost. Here we can observe Red-crowned, Red-lored, Yellow-headed and White-fronted Amazons in addition to Green Parakeet. Overnight: Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites, Harlingen.   Day 5: Estero Llano Grande State Park and Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. We focus our efforts on the mid-valley visiting Estero Llano Grande State Park and Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. Estero Llano Grande State Park is a small park offering a variety of habitats and with that a large array of bird species. We can find Common Pauraque and Plain Chachalaca in the wooded areas as well as White-tailed Kite, Least Grebe, and Black-bellied Whistling-Duck in the open fields and wetlands. We continue west to the iconic Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge has a long history of being one of the top birding spots in the country and has hosted such rarities as Crane Hawk and Bat Falcon. We spend a few hours exploring the subtropical woodlands and ponds in the refuge where we may see Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Clay-colored Thrush, and Green Kingfisher.  The refuge has a hawk watch tower which we visit to get a bird’s eye view of the park’s canopy and open skies. Overnight: Home2 Suites, McAllen.   Day 6: Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park and Other Mid- Valley Locations.  Today we start the day at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, which has hosted many rarities in the past including Masked Tityra, Stygian Owl, and Collared Forest-Falcon. Here we have a chance to see an extensive list of Valley specialties including White-tipped Dove, Green Jay, Olive Sparrow, Altamira Oriole, Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet and more. Like Santa Ana, Bentsen has a hawk watch tower which is an excellent place to scan the treetops and sky above the park for both Hook-billed Kite and Gray Hawk. We spend the afternoon visiting local sites including Frontera Audubon Nature Preserve in Weslaco and Quinta Mazatlán in McAllen. Although both sites are in residential areas, these locations offer a surprising variety of bird species with vagrants like Crimson-collared Grosbeak and Mexican Violetear reported in recent years. We end the day in McAllen visiting a local Green Parakeet roosting location. In addition to seeing a number of these tropical parakeets, we may also see a few Bronzed Cowbirds amongst the hundreds of Great-tailed Grackles. Overnight: Home2 Suites, McAllen.   Day 7: Falcon State Park, Starr County Park, and Fronton. We head upriver to the western end of the Rio Grande Valley to bird the arid thorn scrub and riparian areas along the Rio Grande River. Our first stop is Falcon State Park, which sits on the shores of Falcon Lake. We explore the location in search of Black-throated Sparrow, Cactus Wren, Pyrrhuloxia, Greater Roadrunner and other desert birds. The lake can also be a good place to see American White Pelican, Neotropic Cormorant and a variety of migrating ducks. The nearby Starr County Park offers many of the same bird species as Falcon State Park but provides us a second chance to pick up species we may have not seen at Falcon including Vermilion Flycatcher, Cassin’s Sparrow, and Black-tailed Gnatcatcher. Later in the day we visit Fronton, which is located along the Rio Grande River below Falcon Dam. The extensive river cane and brush in this location provide a great habitat for the highly localized Morelet’s Seedeater.  We drive some of the back roads in the area where we may add Scaled Quail, Rock Wren, and Lark Bunting. If time allows, we may spend some late afternoon time at Salineño to scan the Rio Grande River for Muscovy Duck, Mexican Duck and kingfishers. Overnight: Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Rio Grande City.   Day 8: Santa Margarita Ranch and Salineño. We return to the Upper Valley to pick up where we left off. Our first stop is Santa Margarita Ranch, which is a private ranch located downriver from Falcon Dam. This location offers a unique birding experience as you stand on high bluffs overlooking the Rio Grande River and the riparian woodlands of the property. Currently, the ranch is the only location in the United States where Brown Jay is a possibility. In addition to the jays, we have a good chance to see Muscovy Duck, Red-billed Pigeon, Hook-billed Kite, Ringed Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher and a large number of ducks in the river below. In recent years, several rare bird species have been observed on the ranch, including Crane Hawk, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Rose-throated Becard, and Mottled Owl. Depending on what we saw yesterday and this morning, we may either spend time at Salineño or drive northwest to Zapata if we still need to locate Morelet’s Seedeater to finish our day. Overnight: Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Rio Grande City.   Day 9: Tour Conclusion and Departures. Today we leave Rio Grande City and make the drive to McAllen. We will arrive at the airport by no later than 12 pm. Participants may arrange departing flights from McAllen International Airport (MFE) after 2 pm.