This trip can be run at any time of the year but offers the most variety during the spring.  Suggested timing is from April through mid-June.

Spring is a wonderful time for birding and bird photography in Southeast Texas. Migrant song and shorebirds are still moving through the area in large numbers and the local breeders are singing on territory.

On this trip we will seek out migrants when weather conditions are favorable and when the weather doesn’t favor seeing migrants along the coast we can concentrate on photographing the local breeding birds so there will never be a dull moment.

 Participants will be able to experience a large variety of different habitats that make bird photography in SE Texas so special.  During our time we will visit riparian habitats, salt-marshes, sandy beeches, coastal woodlots and will end up in the piney woods of east Texas.

Most of the birding will be close to the van resulting in a trip that isn’t very physically demanding. There will be one approximately 1.5 mile walk along level and well-maintained trails but we will take them slow.

Some of the birds we hope to photograph include Prothonotary Warbler, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Tricolored Heron, Northern Parula, Roseate Spoonbill, Reddish Egret, Black-throated Green Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Baltimore Oriole, Orchard Oriole, Purple Gallinule, Cave Swallow, Kentucky Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Bachman’s Sparrow, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, White-tailed Hawk, Painted Bunting, Crested Caracara, Clapper Rail, Wilson’s Plover, Solitary Sandpiper, Hudsonian Godwit, White-rumped Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Least Tern, Sandwich Tern, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Barred Owl, Common Nighthawk, Least Bittern, Pileated Woodpecker, Acadian Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Great-crested Flycatcher, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Anhinga, Veery, Wood Thrush, Summer Tanager, Magnolia Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Pine Warbler, American Redstart, Yellow-breasted Chat, Neotropic Cormorant, Boat-tailed Grackle, Fulvous Whistling-Duck and more.

This trip will be an excellent opportunity to build both your birding and photography skills. The trip will be limited to four participants in order to make the most of the photo opportunities.

This trip is typically geared toward getting good photos of the birds we encounter and is appropriate for photographers of all skill levels or can be run as a pure birding trip if desired.  Our efforts are typically focused on the harder to find birds as well as any species specifically requested by tour participants. When a promising opportunity presents its self we make every effort to take advantage of it. This means that we usually tend to spend more time on each bird than the typical birding tour.

The cost of the trip as presented is $1400 per person for a shared room. For a private room add $200. This cost covers all transportation, park entrance fees, guide fees, and lodging during the duration of the trip. Guests will be responsible for their meals. The trip will start and end in Houston (pick up and drop off at the airport is available for those coming from out of town).

This trip can be run with as few as two people and as many as six.