The Lower Rio Grande Valley is the crown jewel of American birding, a subtropical corner of deep South Texas where dozens of species reach the northern edge of their range and occur nowhere else in the country. Remnant thorn forest, resacas, and river woodlands hold a dazzling, colorful cast of birds, and rarities from Mexico turn up regularly. For a bird photographer, it's simply hard to beat.
Birds to look for: Green Jay, Great Kiskadee, Altamira Oriole, Plain Chachalaca, Green Kingfisher, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, and Least Grebe.
Best time to visit: Year-round; winter adds rarities and the biggest variety.
Altamira Oriole
Altamira x Audubon's Oriole
American Kestrel
Anhinga
Audubon's Oriole
Bat Falcon
Black Skimmer
Black-bellied Plover
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Black-crested Titmouse
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Black-necked Stilt
Blue Grosbeak
Blue-headed Vireo
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown Jay
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Caspian Tern
Clay-colored Thrush
Common Gallinule
Common Pauraque
Cooper's Hawk
Crested Caracara
Crimson-collared Grosbeak
Curve-billed Thrasher
Dickcissel
Dunlin
Eastern Screech-Owl
Fan-tailed Warbler
Gadwall x Northern Pintail
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Gray Catbird
Gray Hawk
Great Blue Heron
Great Kiskadee
Great-tailed Grackle
Greater Roadrunner
Greater Yellowlegs
Green Heron
Green Jay
Groove-billed Ani
Gull-billed Tern
Harris's Hawk
Hooded Oriole
Hook-billed Kite
Inca Dove
Laughing Gull
Least Grebe
Least Tern
Lesser Nighthawk
Long-billed Thrasher
Marbled Godwit
Merlin
Mottled Duck
Mottled Owl
Mourning Dove
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Northern Bobwhite
Northern Cardinal
Northern Harrier
Northern House Wren
Olive Sparrow
Orange-crowned Warbler
Plain Chachalaca
Pyrrhuloxia
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-crowned Parrot
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-winged Blackbird
Reddish Egret
Ring-billed Gull
Roadside Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Roseate Spoonbill
Royal Tern
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Say's Phoebe
Social Flycatcher
Summer Tanager
Swainson's Hawk
Tricolored Heron
Tropical Kingbird
Tropical Parula
Verdin
Vesper Sparrow
White-eyed Vireo
White-tailed Hawk
White-tailed Kite
White-tipped Dove
White-winged Dove
Wild Turkey
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Zone-tailed Hawk
Blue Crab
Fiddler Crab
American Bird Grasshopper
American Snout Butterfly
Bee Fly
Brown Longtail
Common Green Darner
Common Mestra
Empress Leilia
Giant Swallowtail
Great Southern White
Green Jewel Fly
Hairy Panther Ant
Mimosa Yellow
Needham's Skimmer
Northern Sicklewing
Queen Butterfly
Saropogon Robber Fly
Swift Setwing Dragonfly
Thistle Grasshopper
Tiger Beetle
White Peacock
Woodlouse
Castor Oil Plant Seeds
Mexican Olive
Screwbean Mesquite
Yellowbells
Blackbuck
Cottontail Rabbit
Nilgai
Nine-banded Armadillo
Texas Dall
Blue Spiny Lizard
Brown Anole
Red-eared Slider
Texas Horned Lizard
Texas Spiny Lizard
Texas Spotted Whiptail
Texas Tortoise
Spider Web
One of my favorite places in the valley because I believe it has the most variety of birds and probably the best chance at the rarest of birds.
The NBC is a 100-acre nature preserve with cultivated gardens and wildscape, navigable through woodland and savannah trails. This ever-changing landscape is a work in progress. Once an onion field in commercial production, this area is being restored to native habitat to support wildlife.
The Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge is a 2,088-acre "jewel" of the refuge system located in Alamo, Texas. Established in 1943, it sits at the intersection of major migratory flyways, protecting native subtropical woodlands. It is internationally renowned for birdwatching and features over 400 bird species and 300 butterfly varieties.
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