Events Listing

Apr 25, 2021 – 7:30 am

This is a guided birding trip along the upper Texas coast with Cin-Ty Lee and Mary Ann Beauchemin. For bios of your guides, click here.

The last week of April typically experiences the greatest flux of migrants. We will spend the day birding hotspots in Brazoria County.

We will begin the day at the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory’s Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary. This sanctuary is a little oasis along the rather barren coast here and thus tends to attract numerous migrants. Most of the vegetation at Quintana are bushes or small trees, making it much easier to see many of the neotropical migrants. If conditions are right, we may see 20 species of warblers as well many tanagers, orioles, thrushes, and buntings.

After Quintana, we will explore the Bryan Beach area for coastal shorebirds and waders. We will then head over to Brazoria NWR and drive the auto tour loop. This is a good place to see shorebird migration up close. If we are lucky, we may stumble across a group of Hudsonian Godwits.

For those who still have energy later in the day, we will return to Quintana to see what birds have come in from the Gulf.

Age Range: 16+ 

Cost: $75 for members, $95 for non-members

Size Limit: 20 people total

Advanced registration is required.

REGISTER

Note: Participants must follow the Harris County COVID protocols that are advised at the time of the field trip, including wearing masks and maintaining safe social distance when possible, etc. You’ll also be asked to bring an NDC COVID screening form with you the day of the event. This form will be emailed to you after registration.

Apr 18, 2021 – 7:30 am

This is a guided birding trip along the upper Texas coast with Cin-Ty Lee and Mary Ann Beauchemin. For bios of your guides, click here.

Join us for another whole day outing along the upper Texas coast. We are almost at the peak of spring migration, so we have the potential to see many birds today. In fact, we hope to see more than 100 species of birds.

We will begin on the Bolivar Peninsula, where we will focus on shorebirds and waders as they stage before they head north to their northerly breeding grounds. The third week of April is probably the best time of the year to see every shorebird that passes through the Texas coast. Orioles, tanagers, warblers, and buntings should be passing through wherever there are trees. If conditions are right, we could see 20 different species of warblers.

Our tentative plan is to head up to High Island around noon, where the rookery will be in full swing and the trees will be filled with a dazzling array of neotropical migrants.

If there is time, we’ll swing by Anahuac NWR.

Age Range: 16+ 

Cost: $75 for members, $95 for non-members

Size Limit: 20 people total

Advanced registration is required.

REGISTER

Note: Participants must follow the Harris County COVID protocols that are advised at the time of the field trip, including wearing masks and maintaining safe social distance when possible, etc. You’ll also be asked to bring an NDC COVID screening form with you the day of the event. This form will be emailed to you after registration.

Apr 11, 2021 – 7:30 am

This is a guided birding trip along the upper Texas coast with Cin-Ty Lee and Mary Ann Beauchemin. For bios of your guides, click here.

Join us for another whole day outing along the upper Texas coast where we will teach the basics of finding and identifying shorebirds and warblers.

We are nearing the peak of spring migration and our goal is to see as many migrating songbirds and shorebirds as we can. If the stars are aligned, we should see more than 100 species.

We will begin on the Bolivar Peninsula, where we will focus initially on shorebirds and waders. This is where we can see thousands of American Avocets moving together through the water in search of floating invertebrates. All the shorebirds will be in full breeding plumage, so be prepared for the dazzling plumages of dowitchers, western sandpipers, dunlins, and more. We will see thousands of black skimmers and terns (Royal, Caspian, Forster’s, Least, Common and Black). In the shrubby areas around the Bolivar Peninsula, we will keep an eye out for any songbirds that have come in off the gulf, such as orioles, tanagers and buntings. We will also stop to look for Nelson’s and Seaside Sparrows in the saltmarshes.

We will head up to High Island at noon or in the early afternoon to see the Roseate Spoonbills up close at the heron rookery. If the weather conditions are right, we should expect to see numerous warblers, vireos, tanagers, and orioles arriving off the gulf.

Age Range: 16+ 

Cost: $75 for members, $95 for non-members

Size Limit: 20 people total

Advanced registration is required.

REGISTER

Note: Participants must follow the Harris County COVID protocols that are advised at the time of the field trip, including wearing masks and maintaining safe social distance when possible, etc. You’ll also be asked to bring an NDC COVID screening form with you the day of the event. This form will be emailed to you after registration.

Apr 4, 2021 – 7:30 am

This is a guided birding trip along the upper Texas coast with Cin-Ty Lee and Mary Ann Beauchemin. For bios of your guides, click here.

Join us for a whole day outing from Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge to the heron rookery at Houston Audubon’s High Island Bird Sanctuary.

This trip will focus on waders and early songbird migrants. We will begin at Anahuac NWR, where we will get to see a wide variety of waders, from spoonbills to tricolored herons to possibly three different species of ibis. If we’re lucky, we may chance upon a King or Virginia Rail in the reeds, while Pied-billed Grebes are yodeling in the background. There will be a variety of waterfowl and early migrating shorebirds to study. Red-winged Blackbirds, Eastern Meadowlarks, swallows, and some of the early warblers will be passing through.

After Anahuac, we will head down to High Island, where will get up close and personal with the herons, egrets and cormorants at the rookery. We will scan the trees for any early songbird migrants, such as orioles, tanagers, buntings and grosbeaks.

Our goal will be to try to see 100 species of birds. Early April provides an ideal baseline to compare the peak of migration, which comes in late April.

Age Range: 16+ 

Cost: $75 for members, $95 for non-members

Size Limit: 20 people total

Advanced registration is required.

REGISTER

Note: Participants must follow the Harris County COVID protocols that are advised at the time of the field trip, including wearing masks and maintaining safe social distance when possible, etc. You’ll also be asked to bring an NDC COVID screening form with you the day of the event. This form will be emailed to you after registration.