Southern Texas is an extremely prolific region for bird and wildlife photography. A wide variety of species inhabit this relatively small area which is bounded inland by the Rio Grande Valley to the waters of the Gulf Of Mexico. Not only can travel be accomplished in a timely fashion but also camping sites are easy to find, making this a relaxing area to traverse and explore. Although the locations we recommend are fairly representative of what south Texas has to offer, we can assure you that they in no way exhaust the potential of this area.

Here you will find a well organized mixture of public and private locations with one notable exception. Many south Texas ranches cater specifically to nature photographers through the Lens And Land program. For a fee, locations are available where birds and wildlife are attracted year round to regular feed and water, most with well established blind setups. Although opportunities vary by time of year, it is worth at least two days at selected locations as the perch photography is second to none. We visited the Ramirez Ranch in Roma and the Martin Homestead in Edinburg, specifically for Harris's Hawk and Crested Caracara at the former and Great Kiskadee at the latter. Our results are in Galleries 9 and 11 respectively. We strongly advise that you search for photographers who have organized photo tours in this area as most of the programs offered are informative and very cost effective. A good starting point would be the workshops offered by Greg Downing Photography that target this area.

South Padre Island

The RV park at Destination South Padre Resort next to the Black Mangrove Tidal Flats across from Port Isabel was our home base while in this area. It's a great place to stay and central to the locations we frequented. A good place to start is right next door at either Fish Bones pier or the inner harbour at the rear of Dirty Al's Bait Stand And Seafood Kitchen. Here, portraits of Pacific Brown Pelican are easy to capture as they preen and roost on the pylons or simply sit lazily in the water awaiting a fish entrails handout. Just up the road at the Convention Center is the boardwalk at the Laguna Madre Nature Trail where we found Clapper Rail, White Ibis and Little Blue Heron to be quite compliant. The pier is also one of the best locations for flight shots of Black Skimmer as they cruise for dinner in the late afternoon. We found the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge near Rio Hondo to be a great drive through but disappointing from a photography perspective as much of what we saw was from quite a distance. However, this is a must location as Greater Roadrunner make an appearance at roadside in late afternoon next to the Refuge entrance and Aplomado Falcon and other raptors are abundant on all the surrounding farm roads. We spent little time at the photography blind as it was overgrown, shrounded in low light and so cluttered that isolating a subject with a good background was impossible. Although we found similar heavy vegetation at the Sabal Palm Audubon Center And Sanctuary at Brownsville, there were many birds and it is a good location to isolate Black-Crowned Night-Heron and Belted Kingfisher as the boardwalk and photography blind provide many relatively open access points. Gallery 10 contains our output from this area.

Rockport

If you decide to try the upper island, Lagoons RV Resort is a good place to stay. Our favourite location is the Port Aransas Birding Center where we enjoyed flight shots of Black-Bellied Whistling Duck and Roseate Spoonbill. Although the nearby Paradise Pond was fairly overgrown, it is a great place to find roosting Great Blue Heron or various Passerines such as the Yellow-Rumped Warbler. If you have time, a drive along the beach at Mustang Island will definitely provide opportunities for various shorebirds. Many photographers also frequent the causeway access to the Port Aransas ferry. As we headed home, the area surrounding Sandy Hook Beach on Route 36 South either at roadside or near the shoreline was usually quite productive. In town, Fulton Harbour is a hangout for American White Pelican as fisherman often dole out buckets of fish guts in late afternoon. The pier is always great for practising flights shots of Laughing Gulls and a walk around Rockport Beach Park usually produces something of interest. Goose Island, especially near the pier, is a good place for Willet and Long-Billed Curlew. A great day trip is the Aransas And Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge as Wild Turkey, Javelina and Armadillo are abundant. Although the attraction here is Whooping Crane, they are simply too far away even from the elevated viewing platform for any realistic photography opportunities. If you want to try and get closer, it's best to book one of the charters specifically designed for photographers. You can find these at Birding Boat Tours. We enjoyed a great day on the "Jack Flash" and the trip provided a opportunity to see the Refuge from a completely different perspective. Our results from this area are in Gallery 12.