Hi Tweets,

I returned last week from a one-week birding trip to the central and lower
Texas Gulf Coast and the lower Rio Grande Valley. This is a very doable
trip on your own with the now eleven-year-old "A Birder's Guide to the Texas
Coast" along with the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail Maps published by
Texas Parks & Wildlife. There are three maps--upper, central, and lower
coast. They are available for $3 each, no extra cost for mailing. The
feature I liked about using these maps is that the site numbers on the maps
correspond to road signs that direct you to the desired numbered site.
These are big maps. The central coast map identifies 95 sites. The lower
coast map identifies 88 and takes you a ways away from the coast and up the
Rio Grande Valley. That saved me from having to buy the birder's guide to
the Rio Grande Valley. I picked up the upper coast map just to have a
complete set but did not use it. The central coast map covers Aransas NWR.
Punta Atascosa NWR, the Sabal Palm Audubon Sanctuary, Santa Ana NWR, and
Bentsen State Park are on the lower coast map. These were my principal
destinations and with the maps I was easily able to explore other
interesting sites and byways that I would not otherwise have known about.

As one would expect, local birders were friendly and helpful. They were
also complaining about the lack of songbirds so I didn't feel quite so bad
that the number of species I saw was not in the stratosphere. I did see a
number of life birds and a few that one might not expect to see this late in
the year. Some of my most cherished sightings were Roseate Spoonbill, Wood
Stork, White Isis, Reddish Egret, Little Blue Heron, Black-bellied and
Fulvous Whistling Duck, White-tailed Hawk, Couch's and Tropical Kingbird,
Green Jay, Green Kingfisher, Common Pauraque, Piping Plover, Chihuahuan
Raven, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Great Kiskadee, Bronzed Cowbird, Buff-bellied
and Ruby-throated Hummingbird. A Mango-breasted Hummingbird had been
reported on the Texas listserver as present at the feeders of two different
houses in McAllen, near Bentsen State Park. I followed the directions to
one house, walking up the alley to observe the backyard feeder over the
chain-link fence. There I stood for an hour and a half, patiently watching
the feeder and occasionally talking to Starr, the homeowner's dog. I didn't
see the Mango but enjoyed watching the Buff-bellied hummers for the first
time.

On this first trip for me to that part of Texas, I flew to San Antonio as I
wanted to visit the city for a day or two. For that inland area, Texas
Parks and Wildlife has two maps of interest. They are called Heart of Texas
Wildlife Trail - East and Wildlife Trail - West. The east map offers a lot
of sites between San Antonio and Austin. These two maps are also avaialable
for $3 each. If I were to do this trip again, I'd probably just fly to
Corpus Christi because of its central coastal location and keep working off
of the coastal maps.

Good birding,

Carol Riddell
Edmonds, WA