April 18-24, 2026 with Alex Sundvall
The Texas Coast is well known amongst birders for its migration phenomenon, being the first stopping location for millions of birds as they journey northward from their overwintering zones in Central and South America. As they make the jump from the Yucatán Peninsula across the mighty Gulf of Mexico, the woodlots along the Upper Texas Coast are their first resting place to bathe, drink, and feed. This tour is situated to try and experience migration at its finest, birding those coastal woodlots and beaches during peak migration. And we did just that, with a couple of absolutely sublime days of birding along the Texas Coast, seeing over 200 species in just 5 full days of birding. We also spent some time birding in the Big Thicket Preserve searching for Swainson’s Warblers, and Longleaf Pine Savannas, seeing some of the trickier breeding species and US endemics like Bachman’s Sparrow, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, and Brown-headed Nuthatch.
From myself and all of us at Field Guides, we would like to thank you for taking this tour of the Upper Texas Coast with us. This was a really great group that really got along with each other well, and tolerated some pretty long days of birding! We wish you all happy birding, and we’ll hopefully see you again somewhere along the birding trail soon!
Here is a day by day breakdown of the things we did and some of the highlight species we found along the way!
Day 1: We started our first morning of birding at the WG Jones State Forest looking for some of the more famous longleaf pine savanna specialists. Almost as soon as we stepped out of the van, we were greeted with the sounds of Brown-headed Nuthatches and Red-cockaded Woodpeckers: our two main targets of the morning! While the nuthatches proved a little shyer, the Woodpeckers were marvelously cooperative, with fantastic looks at a couple pairs. This species was and still is an imperiled endemic to the United States. Bottoming out at about 3000 individuals in the 70s, the species has now rebounded to nearly 20,000 individuals throughout the southeastern US. However, the longleaf pine savanna that it needs to survive is also an imperiled ecosystem with <3% of the historical range still existing. The woodpeckers are highly managed for, with both habitat conservation and artificial holes created for them to encourage nesting. We found both pairs near artificial holes, including one of them actively interacting with one so they seem to be working! Some other highlights along this stretch were some incredibly great views of Pine Warbler, Eastern Bluebird, and Red-headed Woodpecker; with our first tastes of some quintessential eastern species like Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, and Blue Jay. From here, we headed away from the savannas and deeper into the forests towards the Big Thicket Preserve. Before lunch, we stopped briefly along the river-bottoms of the Trinity River where we had our first encounters with Acadian Flycatcher, Prothonotary Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Northern Parula, and Pileated Woodpecker. We even had a couple of Yellow-billed Cuckoos and White-eyed Vireos. We spent a lot of time trying to get views of all of these birds, which at the time seemed worthwhile, but knowing what we know now seems a bit silly! After lunch we headed into Big Thicket proper, birding along Gore Store Road. Our main targets here were species that we might have a harder time finding along the coast, like Swainson’s and Prairie Warblers. We put in a lot of effort, and it paid off handsomely with a wonderful Swainson’s Warbler right on the side of the road! While it preferred to stay mostly hidden, we all eventually got some good views. This is one of the harder species to encounter on the tour route, so it’s great to check off early! The Prairie Warbler behaved quite a lot better, perching up at the top of a short conifer not too far off the road allowing everyone to get scope views. How often can you say you’ve gotten scope views of a singing warbler? We also had a marvelous experience with Yellow-throated Warbler, although true to their nature it decided to stay fairly high in the trees along Turkey Creek. Here we also had our only Eastern Towhee of the tour, along with a calling Yellow-breasted Chat that just didn’t want to show itself. On our way to the hotel, we made a quick stop at Martin Dies State Park where we had our first few real looks at some waterbirds, including both Common and Purple Gallinules, Little Blue Herons, Anhinga, Green Herons, and a great flyover of a Bald Eagle! After we crossed the bridge, we pulled over to watch a pair of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers on a barbed wire fence. These are truly one of the most spectacular birds that the US has to offer in my opinion, and getting to watch a pair at close range for a long time is pretty magical! After dinner we decided to try our luck at finding some Chuck-will’s-widows in the nearby bigwoods, and in what might be my most successful attempt yet we could hear them without even rolling the windows down and cutting the engine; they were so close! While views were a little more challenging, having our eardrums nearly blown out by them was an experience all in itself.
Day 2: This morning was all about finding Bachman’s Sparrow. This US endemic has a fairly small range, and is tied to the same longleaf pine savannas that it shares with Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and Brown-headed Nuthatches. The sparrows however are very picky about the understory contents and prefer forests without shrubby encroachment. After finding a particularly good stretch of forest and hearing one calling off in the distance, we decided to trek into the forest to attempt to track down this incredibly shy bird. Thankfully, once inside its territory it didn’t take us too long to track down its song perch and we all had prolonged scope views of this intricately plumaged sparrow. While tromping around in the forest, we also had additional encounters with Blue Grosbeak and Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, some vastly improved views of a nesting Brown-headed Nuthatch, and a magical moment with an eye level Red-headed Woodpecker. We also managed to track down a couple of Sedge Wrens that seemed to have taken up residency in a roadside ditch for some spectacular views of this normally very skulky species. Some of the group also got to see a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Yellow-breasted Chat, but neither performed well for the entire group. From here, we headed back south to check out of the hotel and race towards the coast! We made a brief stop in Beaumont at Tyrrell Park, getting our first experiences with some coastal and marsh birds like Boat-tailed Grackles, Yellow-crowned Night Herons, fabulous looks at Least Bitterns, Sora, and both Fulvous and Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks. We also heard our first couple King Rails, but unfortunately they just wouldn’t be seen in the dense cattails! On our way out of the park towards lunch, we managed to track down a Fish Crow and a migrating Mississippi Kite. After lunch, we headed down towards the coast where we would spend the next few days searching the coastal woodlots for migrating birds. As birds come across the Gulf of Mexico on their way north from the Yucatán Peninsula, these coastal woodlots are their first resting points after miles of ocean. All day we had been hearing about fantastic conditions all along the coast, with strong north winds and light rain halting birds’ progress and grounding them. We arrived at Boy Scout Woods in the early afternoon with the hopes some birds would still be around. As soon as I stepped out of the van, I picked up my binoculars and had Eastern Wood-Pewee, Prothonotary and Hooded Warblers, Scarlet and Summer Tanagers, Orchard Oriole, and Indigo Bunting all in one binocular view. We had parked under a huge fruiting mulberry that was acting as an absolute magnet for birds! Incredible numbers of Gray Catbirds, Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, Summer and Scarlet Tanagers, Swainson’s Thrushes, and Tennessee Warblers were all gorging themselves on the fruit. Eventually we decided to head into the preserve proper to see what birds were visiting the water drips or along the trails. We were greeted almost immediately by a Black-billed Cuckoo that had been catching caterpillars all day right across from the entrance. There were birds everywhere, with 14 species of warblers visiting the main drip and along a small loop of trails. Large numbers of Prothonotary and Hooded Warblers were incredibly easy to see, often perching on the ground or right out in the open as they were foraging on the many bugs around. Golden-winged Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, and Ovenbird provided some additional warbler highlights, with amazing views of all of them. Wood Thrushes were also everywhere in the woodlot, constantly singing and seemingly everywhere you looked! Unfortunately we couldn’t stay forever, but while looping back towards the parking lot we picked up Veery and Gray-cheeked Thrush, and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo to complete the set. It was a pretty mind-numbing afternoon of birding in near fallout conditions, and one I’ll remember for a very long time.
Day 3: With favorable conditions continuing into today, we headed to another woodlot farther up the coast toward the Louisiana border called Sabine Woods. To test the waters and see how the migration was going, we started at a small woodlot in Sabine Pass right on the coast. The trees were buzzing with activity, with Gray Catbirds everywhere and a decent amount of Indigo Buntings for such a small area (and TWO Yellow-billed Cuckoos!). Knowing that the migration was strong overnight and there were still birds coming in, we headed back to the van only to be interrupted by a Great Horned Owl flying over and landing right by the side of the road! It didn’t last long there however as the shape of a Peregrine Falcon flashed towards it, pushing it off its perch. It took shelter from the falcon (and the beginning drizzle) on a window air-conditioner unit of a nearby house. Imagine seeing that view as you stared out your bedroom window! Looping around this neighborhood, we quickly stopped on the side of the road for a handful of Seaside Sparrows and Clapper Rails I had spotted before continuing on to Sabine Woods for the rest of the morning. Again, the trees were alive with migrating birds everywhere you looked. In less than a mile of trails, we managed to record nearly 90 species between the forest and surrounding marshland. 17 species of warblers darted between the trees gleaning insects and collecting rainwater from the leaves. Prothonotary and Hooded Warblers continued to be everywhere, even capturing mosquitos that had landed on our clothing at times! Along with more Golden-winged Warblers; we also had Blue-winged, Cerulean, Bay-breasted, Black-throated Green, and Worm-eating Warblers along with fantastic comparisons of both Northern and Louisiana Waterthrushes. Impressive numbers of both Scarlet and Summer Tanagers continued in the many mulberry trees, and flocks of Indigo Buntings and Blue Grosbeaks flitted between the taller grasses and shrubbier bushes in the clearings. While scanning the outer edges of the fields, we also got on our first Loggerhead Shrike of the tour. Thrushes continued to show well in the woodlot with Wood and Swainson’s Thrushes nearly everywhere you looked. Vireos had moved in with force, with good numbers of Red-eyed, Yellow-throated, and Blue-headed Vireos hanging around. For lunch, we decided to head down the road for a slightly damp picnic at Sea Rim State Park. Thankfully the birds followed us here and there were loads of shorebirds visiting the ponds and seashore. The ponds provided us with our first views of American Avocets, Wilson’s Plovers, Dunlins, and Stilt, Least, Western, Semipalmated, and Solitary Sandpipers. We also spotted our first Crested Caracara perched up on a distant telephone post. Heading to the actual beach, the conditions had gotten quite poor with the high winds and light rain, so we weren’t able to get out of the van to enjoy the Piping and Snowy Plovers, but thankfully we’d see them again in the following days! On our way back to the woods for the late afternoon, we stopped briefly to enjoy another Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and the resident Great Kiskadee. The woods continued to be amazing in the early evening, with Gray-cheeked Thrushes joining the rest of the thrush party, the additions of Blackburnian and Blackpoll Warblers, more Yellow-billed Cuckoos, an exciting flyover of a Roseate Spoonbill, and a fantastic roosting Common Nighthawk! The numbers had more than doubled to well over 100 individuals, and a stunner of a male Painted Bunting had found its way in with the group! What an incredible day of birding! Just today we found 130 species of birds between the couple locations we stopped at. While we were in the woods, news broke of a female type Ruff that had been found back in Winnie. Unfortunately, with the traffic from the refineries we would be unable to make it there before dark, so we enjoyed the migrants some more and made the plan to look in the morning.
Day 4: Despite our best efforts this morning with crews of other hopeful birders, we were unable to relocate the Ruff anywhere around its former field. We decided to spread out, continuing to stop for birds along the road on our way to the famous Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. While we were unsuccessful in finding a Ruff, we did have quite a number of shorebirds including Hudsonian Whimbrels (the recent American split of the global Whimbrel complex), American Golden-Plovers, White-faced Ibis, and a field chock full of Upland and Buff-breasted Sandpipers. We estimated around 100 Buff-breasted, and even got to watch a handful of them displaying to one another. Before entering the refuge, we stopped along a bridge crossing to study Cliff and Cave Swallows here where they overlap. Along the entrance road to the Wildlife Refuge, we stopped to view a continuing pair of Least Grebes that had been discovered on the Christmas Bird Count, and also enjoyed some flyby Gull-billed Terns and assorted waterfowl. We spent the rest of the morning birding the refuge proper, driving along the Shoveler Loop getting out of the van at various pulloffs to scope and search for birds. First stop was at the bathrooms and picnic area, which just so happened to have an incredibly visible American Barn Owl nest, which we enjoyed for several minutes and even got to watch the babies eat some food that had been recently brought by one of the parents. Along the loop itself, shorebirds continued to show well, with large numbers of Dunlin, Long-billed Dowitchers, and Semipalmated Plovers creating the bulk of the individuals. New for us were a small group of Wilson’s Phalaropes, including some real bright adult females! King Rail was a big target to try to get eyes on after our more frustrating experience in Beaumont, and thankfully we didn’t have to try hard at all as one walked around in the open mud near the cattails. Even though we already had some amazing views, we stopped again for a Least Bittern hanging out in the open right on the side of the road. We were able to watch it maneuver between the reeds with surprising grace despite its gangly proportions. Also present at the refuge were more American Alligators than we could count! The more we looked, the more we saw and piles of them lined the banks and ditches. After lunch and a brief siesta, we decided to end our day at Smith Oaks Sanctuary, another one of the coastal woodlots that also hosts an incredible mixed species rookery. With improved overnight conditions, many of the migrating birds had thinned out compared to the previous days’ madness, but there were still fair numbers of pretty birds to distract us, including some amazing views of Scarlet Tanager and Blue-winged Warbler. The main attraction here however, is the rookery, where we spent most of our time gawking at the nesting waders. The rookery here contained Great and Snowy Egrets, Tricolored and Little Blue Herons, Roseate Spoonbills, Neotropic Cormorants, and Anhingas. We even had a magical moment of watching a Tricolored Heron lay an egg right underneath the viewing platform! The sights and sounds of the rookery provided a spectacular closer for the day, or so we thought! On our way back towards Winnie we found out that the Ruff had been refound, and considering it was right on our way to the hotel we decided to stop and try to spot it. It took quite a lot of effort as it had the nasty habit of disappearing for long periods of time, but eventually we tracked down this incredible bird, and not even too far into the field getting really great scope views of this Asian vagrant. It’s fun to ponder where a bird like this must have overwintered for it to be here now, likely somewhere in Central or South America.
Day 5: Our final full day of birding had us going down the coast of the Bolivar peninsula to try to track down some of the remaining species for us. The first stop of the morning was a short side road leading into the coastal saltmarshes of Galveston Bay. Here we had some of the local breeding Eastern Willets, a whole pile more Seaside Sparrows, more Clapper Rails, and our first Nelson’s Sparrows. These lingering migrants were likely to leave any day now, so we were very fortunate to still connect with a few! While scoping the shipping canal we spotted a few Black Terns and Black Skimmers transiting behind some of the barges. Heading over to nearby Rollover Pass we found a nice group of roosting terns to pick through: finding more Black Terns, but also many Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Common Terns. Wading in the water were Reddish Egrets, American Oystercatchers, and a single Marbled Godwit. After leaving the pass, we found a White-tailed Kite nest right on the side of the road! We enjoyed the nest and watched the pair interact for a few minutes before heading towards Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary. Unfortunately the coast was pretty windy, and by the time we got to the sanctuary the tide had really blown in despite supposedly being low tide! We still did the best we could, walking out the beach as far as we could to try to scope some more shorebirds. We were successful in finding some small groups of Sanderlings, Short-billed Dowitchers, Ruddy Turnstones, and Stilt Sandpipers. Mixed in with the Sanderlings were good numbers of Least, Western, and Semipalmated Sandpipers providing excellent study and comparisons. Heading back towards the van, we found a couple beefy American Herring Gulls perched on some pylons, dwarfing the Laughing Gulls, and found our three small beach plovers all hanging out around the same puddle. While we had technically seen all of them from the van at Sea Rim State Park, it was really nice to get some better views of Snowy and Piping Plovers in good breeding condition. After leaving the sanctuary, we headed toward the ferry terminal where we found large numbers of American Avocets and Black Skimmers roosting, sheltering from the high offshore winds. We even spotted a few dolphins riding the wake of the ferry! From there, we headed to lunch and back down to the woodlots of High Island for the afternoon just to see if anything else had arrived. It was pretty evident that the conditions for migration had improved greatly and there were very few birds around. Just as we were about to leave however, we spotted a Swallow-tailed Kite right over the treetops on its journey northward! It didn’t stick around long unfortunately, but what a glorious few seconds it was to see such a graceful bird! We ended our day at the Smith Oaks Rookery again, with our only new bird being a Black-crowned Night Heron which completed our wader sweep for the tour.
Day 6: Today was primarily a transit day to make sure everyone got to the airport on time, but we still managed to squeeze a few hours of birding in before we needed to really get underway. We started the morning driving some marshy and brushy roads hoping for American Bittern or Dickcissel, two of the only remaining birds we had left to find. The Bittern was a bit of a white whale for us, but we were successful in finding the Dickcissel! On our way back to the airport, we stopped briefly at the Wallisville Lake Project and while we didn’t have anything new here, we did have some nice final views of Carolina Chickadee and Tufted Titmouse. As a special surprise, right before getting to the airport we made a quick stop at Sheldon Lake State Park where we were entertained by a handful of Limpkin raucously calling and flying around everywhere! This is a relatively new species to Texas, only having been in the state for 5 or 6 years. The species absolutely exploded beyond their typical Florida marshes and colonized much of the upper Gulf Coast. We spent a few minutes watching these strange birds forage for Apple Snails before heading over to the airport and departing for home!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/503662
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/mig26bTRIPLIST.pdf
-- Alex