Hi Tweets:
This isn't spam, but it is about a birding tour in Texas, and about how they
are filling up quickly. I'm an intermediate birder who loves to go to south
Texas in the spring. Over 600 species of birds have been seen in Texas
(I've seen a few of them), and more new species for the U.S. are being
discovered there all the time. 50 spp are birds that are Texas specialties,
in that they can only be seen in Texas. Texas claims (and rightly so ) it's
the number one
birding state in the U.S. I find the airfares to be low from Seattle, and
the trip doesn't take too long. In the past I have combined birding and
windsurfing down in the Corpus Christi or So. Padre Island areas. But I
have been frustrated trying to find certain bird species on my own.
Several birder friends in Seattle had told me about the birding tours they
took down there and about how great they were. The 2 companies that I heard
most about were VENT, Victor Emanuel Nature Tours; and FIELD GUIDES. I got
on that wonderful birding site WWW.birdzilla.com and looked up tours.
(Actually birdzilla.com offers lots more than that. It even offers lists
you can use for your own records, and lots of other goodies and info.)
There are quite a few trips listed in Texas as introductory tours and they
tend to run about 5 days. But I was interested in a intermediate tour that
would include hawk migration and the birds of the Rio Grande Valley. I
settled on a 9-day tour offered by Field Guides Company. They'll pick me up
in a van on Mar. 25th, and bring me back there Apr. 2. It is not cheap.
Total cost is $1450. and it includes food and lodging. It's limited to 16
people. I'm first on the waiting list so I'm not worried. I was surprised
to find out that the trip was already filled when I called on Jan. 7, 2000.
Anyway, I'm really excited. Last year my husband and I saw and took
pictures of an Aplomado Falcon in South Texas. I don't know if any of this
year's birds
can top that.
Looking forward to spring.
Yours, Carol Schulz
DesMoines