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SOUTH TEXAS RARITIES IN 2018 with MAINE AUDUBON

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Escape the winter birding doldrums on our week-long tour to the bird-rich Rio Grande Valley, with specialties from kiskadees and Green Jays to Hook-billed Kites and Altamira Orioles. And the winter potential for Mexican vagrants is terrific! And to top it off the tour will generate a $100-per-person donation to Maine Audubon, at no additional cost to you.

Subtropical habitats along the lower Rio Grande are like a part of Mexico north of the border and the northernmost extension of the Tamaulipan Biotic Province. The bird life of South Texas is thus characteristic of northeastern Mexico, and within the United States many resident species and Mexican vagrants are known only from South Texas. For this reason, South Texas has long been a "must" for every North American birder!

We offer our South Texas Rarities tours in mid-winter, the season most likely to produce unpredictable vagrants to spice up the already extremely rich resident avifauna, and we can never be sure what species may turn up next. One past season brought a scattering of Masked Ducks and Northern Jacanas; others a fresh supply of one or more species never before recorded north of the Mexican border (one year yielded North America's first Masked Tityra, White-throated Thrush, and Yellow-faced Grassquit!). In fact, during the past 20 years or so an average of one species per year new to the ABA Area list has been added from the region.

Supplement the vagrants and rarities with large numbers of wintering waterfowl, sparrows, warblers, raptors, and coastal birds present and you have a winter birding adventure of major proportions! During six days of birding along the lower Rio Grande, we'll look for all the specialties for which South Texas is famous, from such common birds as the striking Great Kiskadee to outstanding rarities like the Hook-billed Kite.

Resident species include Least Grebe, Neotropic Cormorant, White-tailed Kite, White-tailed and Harris's hawks, Crested Caracara, Plain Chachalaca, Ringed and Green kingfishers, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Green Jay, Clay-colored Thrush, Long-billed Thrasher, Tropical Parula, Olive Sparrow, White-collared Seedeater, and Altamira and Audubon's orioles. In past years, rarities have included Roadside, Short-tailed, and Crane hawks, Green-breasted Mango, Green Violet-ear, Golden-crowned Warbler, Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, Crimson-collared Grosbeak, and Blue Bunting.

Click to...

...download the ITINERARY for this tour.

...see the illustrated 2018 TRIPLIST for the MAINE AUDUBON tour.

And for additional reference of species seen and experiences encountered:

...see the illustrated triplist for the 2017 Field Guides departure of this itinerary.

...see the illustrated triplist for the first 2016 Field Guides departure of this itinerary.

...see the illustrated triplist for the second 2016 Field Guides departure of this itinerary.

...download our REGISTRATION FORM.

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2018 Departure
Jan 27-Feb 2 ($1975)

Your Guides
Doug Gochfeld
Doug Hitchcox

Tour Itinerary
Click for PDF file

Past Triplists
2018 MAS with photos

Other Field Guides examples:
2017 with photos
2016 (I) with photos
2016 (II) with photos

Register
Registration Form

What to Expect
Good accommodations, cool to warm climate, easy terrain.

Our staff travel agents can assist you with tour information, flight reservations and tour bookings. Contact us at (800) 728-4953

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