Birding and bird photography in South Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley part 3. Highlights include Aplomado Falcon along Old Port Isabel Road, Red-crowned Parrot pair in Sabal Palm Sanctuary, nine species of wading birds along the boardwalk at South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center. Sparky also visits Laguna Atacosa National Wildlife Refuge and SpaceX along Boca Chica Road. Sparky gets video of a spastically hunting Reddish Egret, White-tailed Hawk, White-tailed Kite, Clay-colored Thrush, Green Jays and Altamira Oriole. January 2023.

And he goes down memory lane to his rarest mammal sighting ever!

Laguna Seca Ranch in south Texas is a unique bird photography destination. For a $280 fee I had a personal guide and use of three different photo blinds. …One for raptors including Crested Caracara, Harris’s Hawks, Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures.The songbird blinds produced goodies like Green Jays, Long-billed and Curve-billed Thrashers, Pyrrhuloxia, Bobwhite, Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, Lesser Goldfinches, Black-crested Titmouse, and Olive Sparrow. A javelina even wanders by!

Part 1—Sparky’s Texas Bird Adventure

Leaving snowy Minnesota behind Sparky returns to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas for some birding and bird photography. 

I explore Estero Llano Grande & Bentsen state parks and find some great stuff including roosting Pauraques, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Tropical Kingbird (what a great name!), Red-crowned Parrots, Gray Hawk, White-tipped Doves, Hook-billed Kite, Least Grebe, White-faced Ibis, Cinnamon Teal

It has been 35 YEARS since my first trip here and 15 years since my last visit, and I share some memories from 2008 when Ryan Marshik and I participated in the Valley Land Fund photo contest. 

One of my goals is to add species to my “Photographed List,” which stands at 525 species for the ABA area (north of Mexico in North America). In this episode I add 4 new species and improve on my photos for 8 more species. I don’t find the Social Flycatcher so I do not add any Lifers to my ABA birding list.

Stay tuned for Part 2 when I rent out an entire Texas ranch for bird photography!