My wife and i have the week of feb 10 to 20 off and are going to fly to corpus christi for a week of self guided birding/sightseeing by rental car. I know a number of regulars here (Ted, Paul?) have been to the area before and i am hoping for some advice as to where and what to see. I tried to find paul's trip report online but couldn't, and i have seen ted's pictures, but not blog or description of where. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

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Osprey877
Canon Rebel XSI
70-300 IS USM

Ok will try to jog my memory here.First of all we went end of April for migration so not to sure about Feb. birding.But I am sure you will still see some good birds.Try to find an online checklist for that area and check that month.We got a motel about 15 minutes out and used it for the week.We would start out every morning at Blucher park but it was mostly migratory birds there so not sure in Feburary.Then on to Mustang island and drive to Port Aransas.Along that highway several places to pull into like front lawns and trees of condos and apartments.In Port Aransas Paradise Pond,Leona Turnbull birding center,and Charlies Pasture were all great and all really close together.Then go to the ocean side of Port Aransas great long pier there were lots of Terns and Gulls on beach.Also check out Hazel Bazemore Park.Also a nice drive thru the national park on Padre Island.Corpus Christi always voted each year as birdiest city in North America you won't be disappointed we had a great time.You can see lots of birds with short driving between places really friendly people and always felt safe.I have birded back east,Arizona, California,Mexico and Cuba and when anybody asks me where would I go again and I will go again it's here.I loved it.Have a good time.Ted

thanks Ted. I would rather go in April, but work schedule doesn't allow. Sounds like I can just pick a hotel for the week in CC and use it as a base. Have you ever tried to hook up with anybody on Birdingpal etc., or do you just go on your own?

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Osprey877
Canon Rebel XSI
70-300 IS USM

Ted mentioned Port Aransas but he left out a rather juicy tidbit. You should take a boat trip there to go out and see Whooping Cranes. If you don't want to spend the money (~$45/person), you can always see if there are sightings that are accessible by vehicle. It's worth the money just to get out and see the cranes, though.

The entire Gulf Coast is quite birdy and you'll have lots of great photo opportunities with terns, skimmers, shorebirds, gulls, pelicans, waders, and ducks. If you really want variety, you might want to consider a quick blitz down to the Lower Rio Grande Valley. They have some great parks, such as Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park and Estero Llano Grande State Park, and the birding is great. It appears like it is only a 2.5 hour drive down to that area and the accommodations are quite reasonable. There is a pretty good snowbird birding community down there and there has been a good wave of Mexican rarities this winter! It's something to consider anyways! Green Jays, Altamira Orioles, and Great Kiskadees should be a little incentive to think about!

Jeremy Gatten
Saanichton, B.C.

No my buddy Ed and I do a quite extensive net search and we had a guide book that I forgot to mention It's Birding Corpus Christi and Coastal Bend by Jamie Ritter.You can get good prices for it on Amazon.This book along with stuff from net and people we met we were both able to get a bunch of lifers each.Also on the drive in we did Choke Canyon Park it's north of CC.It was quite birdy and we found the further north we were the more Scissor-tailed Flycatchers there were on the hydro lines.Also on that drive out on Mustang Island check the flats way out on left for White- tailed Hawks and hydro lines for Caracaras.It's quite flat out there and not many shrubs or trees so we scoured any of those we could get access to.Good luck.Hope this helps.Ted

Definitely do what Jeremy suggests if you have the time.If you are there the whole 10 days that's 3 days more than we had we would have done that trip having the extra days.Thanks Ted.

Ted/Jeremy:
Thanks for all your tips. I'll try to post a report when i get back.

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Osprey877
Canon Rebel XSI
70-300 IS USM

I should also add that if you're just touring and interested in another nice habitat, you could consider heading north into the piney woods. I went to W.G. Jones State Forest (approx. 4 hours north of Corpus Christi) and easily found Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Brown-headed Nuthatch. I think you can also see Bachman's Sparrows there but they are excessively hard to come across in the winter and might be further east. I think Sam Houston National Forest is also supposed to be good for the piney woods specialists. Additionally, I was happy to find loads of Pine Warblers in the area.

I realize you're on finite time budget, but it doesn't hurt to have an extra option!

Jeremy Gatten
Saanichton, B.C.

Hi Osprey: I am one of those " winter texans ", from B.C., in my case based out of Mission in the Lower Rio Grande River Valley. For the reasons stated above, I think you will enjoy the Corpus Christi area. By all means, take one of the Whooping Crane boat tours based out of Rockport; very informative, and a lot of fun. Also a good day trip is to take the free ferry over to Port Aransas. No one has mentioned it, but Sandwich Terns start to show up first here in this area of the Texas Coast around the time of year you will be there. Probably a good idea is to take one of the earlier ferries, as this is definitely a college spring break destination. W.G. Jones State Forest in Houston will yield Red cockaded Woodpecker, Brown crested Nuthatch, Pine Warbler, and Carolina Chickadee.
Last year the area around Galveston State Park hosted a couple of rare birds around that time of year; Fork-tailed Flycatcher, and Yellow faced Grassquit.
If you have time to drive down to the Rio Grande Valley, you will be rewarded with a lot of great birding destinations. This year, rare birds being seen are Golden crowned Warbler, ( Fronter Audubon in Weslaco ), Rose throated Becard, ( Estero Llande in Weslaco ), Crimson collared Grosbeak, ( Allen William's backyard in Pharr ), Brown Jay, ( Salineno ).
Have a great trip, Thor