South Padre Island is a barrier island on the southern Texas coast that punches far above its size for birding, especially during migration. When spring weather forces migrants down, the island's small patches of cover can be packed with warblers, tanagers, and buntings, while the surrounding flats and wetlands stay busy with shorebirds and wading birds all year. The boardwalks put you eye-level with the action, a photographer's dream.
Birds to look for: Migrant songbirds in spring, plus Roseate Spoonbill, herons, egrets, shorebirds, and terns year-round.
Best time to visit: Spring migration (April to May) is the highlight; fall and winter for waterbirds.
The South Padre Island Birding, Nature Center and Alligator Sanctuary is the island's premier birding site. It offers 43 acres of protected coastal wetland habitat comprised of both saltwater and freshwater marsh. The dual wetland ecosystem attracts an incredible diversity of birds as well as other animals such as fish, turtles, crabs, pollinators, dragonflies, mammals, and alligators.
The Valley Land Fund, a local land trust dedicated to the preservation of native habitats, purchased six lots on W. Sheepshead Street in 1999 to serve as an important neotropical migratory bird stop-over site. These wooded lots are especially important to trans-gulf migratory songbird species, which can be seen utilizing the lots during spring migration (March-May) and fall migration (September-November).
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