phone-icon 1-888-990-5552 email-icon info@rockjumper.com
user-icon
Log in / Register

USA - Texas: Winter: Whooping Cranes and the Lower Rio Grande

© Hook-billed Kite by Dusan Brinkhuizen
USA - Texas: Winter: Whooping Cranes and the Lower Rio Grande

USD3,800 NO SPACES AVAILABLE

client-img

Tour Leader: Local Leader

Wait List

Tour Price (Per person): USD3,800 (GBP2,853 * EUR3,268 * AUD5,478)

Pricing notes : Please see BirdingDirect link for spaces and updated pricing.

For enquiries & bookings, please following this link:  Birding Direct - United States

This tour is operated by High Lonesome BirdTours in partnership with BirdingDirect.
These are large group tours (up to 16 guests with multiple tour leaders), and will have guests from both Highlonesome as well as BirdingDirect.

South Texas is a birder's paradise at any time of the year, but especially during late winter when the spectacular array of resident birds in south Texas are joined by an abundance of wintering shorebirds and waterfowl. This 9day tour begins and ends in Corpus Christi with a leisurely swing through the birding hot spots of the lower Rio Grande Valley.

 

Top Birds

Whooping Crane; Roseate Spoonbill; Mottled Duck, Masked Duck (rare); Plain Chachalaca; Least Grebe; White-tipped Dove; Buff-bellied Hummingbird; Ringed & Green Kingfishers; Hook-billed Kite; Grey & Harris’s Hawks; Great Kiskadee; Tropical & Couch’s Kingbirds; Scissor-tailed Flycatcher; Green & Brown Jays; Clay-colored Thrush; Long-billed Thrasher, Olive Sparrow; Altamira & Audubon’s Orioles, many others including rare vagrants in the winter.

Top Mammals

Ocelot (rare), Eastern Cottontail, Eastern Fox Squirrel, White-tailed Deer​

Habitats Covered

Sub-tropical, seaside, marsh, lagood, desert

Expected Climate

Moderate to hot

Max Group Size

14 with 2 Tour Leaders

Tour Pace & Walking

Our days will begin anywhere from 5:00 to 7:00, depending upon the destination.

Accommodation

Very comfortable hotels & excellent Texas restaurants

Ease of Birding

mostly easy

Number of Species Expected

185

Photographic Opportunities

outstanding

What our clients say about us

Stephan Lorenz
WW, Texas 2021

Stephan Lorenz is a fantastic leader. This is my second trip with him and the reason I booked this trip. His attention to details and relentless searching for sought after birds makes any trip with him well worth the time. He and his wife, Claudia work well together as a dynamic team solving any problem that arise. We missed our connections and were late for the first day and efforts were made and resolved for us to join the group quickly. Despite the stormy weather we were able to see the target birds. This trip was selected because of the shorter amount of days making it easier to fit into our schedule. During this pandemic we felt safe traveling with this group and with the conditions of lodging and take out meal dining. I look forward to my next trip with Stephan.

Forrest Rowland
AH, Montana

Our guide was superb. The experience was really beyond my expectations. This was “awesome” in the traditional sense of awesome not the common vernacular.

Stephan Lorenz
DH, Texas 2021

This was my 4th tour with Stephan, and he continues to be welcoming, caring, and on-point the entire trip. He always goes the extra mile to ensure everyone has a chance to see the birds and is very informative throughout the tour, always slipping in identification characteristics, sounds, or habitats that will help us in the future. He does all this with a very easy-going manner despite his high energy level and excellent people skills to ensure comraderie within the group. Despite the varied skill levels of the group’s participants, he is able to make each of us feel special, whether it is for me as a beginner birder with limited name associations to the species and a brain that doesn’t recall the information from day to day, all the way for those who are excellent at spotting birds and already knowing the species, perhaps due to a career in the field. This tour provided more challenges with some restaurants and toilets closed due to the pandemic or limited hours which did not mesh with the tour route, but Stephan and Claudia did an excellent job of rounding up food, supplies, meals, drinks, and toilet breaks. Because of the intense nature and number of miles/hours required each day to see the target species, they arranged for one vehicle to return to lodging each night at dinner time to provide an early night for those of us who needed a bit more sleep or for those whose abilities limited nighttime walking on uneven surfaces! I really appreciated that effort and concern, even though I love to see owls, etc. They are wonderful guides and friends!!!

Stephan Lorenz
BS, Texas 2021

An excellent tour, and Stephan and Claudia were both very knowledgeable guides. I was also very grateful to them for so conscientiously researching the options for the Covid test I needed to travel back to the UK (following the UK Government’s announcement after I had already left for the tour) and ensuring I got the test. All in all a very enjoyable experience and with lots of good birds!

Stephan Lorenz
KS, Alaska 2021

It really was a great trip with some difficult developments handled well. Flights out of Barrow were cancelled due to fog and Leader Stephan Lorenz and Claudia worked hours to get booked on a replacement charter flight by Alaska air. While doing so Stephan also added birding drives which were productive. As usual on tours led by Stephan he persisted to track down every possible bird. I have done two tours with Stephan and Claudia and have been extremely pleased with there professionalism and dedication to providing a satisfying experience.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

  • Your details

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form

  • Contact permission

    We would love to send you Newsletters (twice yearly).via Type a message, Promotions/Discounts (weekly), Blog Articles/Image of the Month (monthly) and other content that we think you would find interesting. If you are happy with this then please select your preferences below. If you would like to unsubscribe from previous subscriptions, or leave our mailing list entirely, then please do so by visiting the Preference Centre link at the bottom of these emails.