Leader: Diane Williams

March 29: Arrive Corpus Christi, stay near Rockport, just north of Corpus Christi.
March 30: Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.
March 31: Rockport.
Boat trip to see the whooping crane area on barrier islands.
Connie Hagar Preserve (downtown Rockport) on the coast.
Drive to Kingsville.
April 1: Bird Kingsville area (heavy rain), drive to San Benito, South of Harlingen.
April 2: Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge & Bensten Rio Grande Valley State Park.
April 3: Local birding, then drive to the Hill Country (~5 hr). Stay at Neal's Lodges.
April 4: Bird around Neal's Lodges and Concan, and visit a birder's home on a cliff.
April 5: Bird at Neal's, then drive to Lost Maples State Park (arrived at noon, no birds).
Drive back to Corpus Christi (~4 hr).
April 6: Visit birder's home with many feeders, then visit the birders' park downtown.
Leave for home in late afternoon. Saw Upland sandpiper at airport!

I saw 154 species. (Previous trips with better weather saw over 200.)
Of my total, 11 were U.S. Lifers (seen previously on a trip to Belize).
Fourteen (14) were life birds. (I had birded at Kingsville in '92, and saw 30 lifers.)

Whooping crane
American oystercatcher
Solitary sandpiper
Stilt sandpiper
Upland sandpiper
Black tern
White-tipped dove
Chuck-will's-widow
Buff-bellied hummingbird
Ruby-throated hummingbird
Cave swallow
Long-billed thrasher
Yellow-throated vireo
Altamira oriole

We had a good itinerary, but because of the bad weather, we saw very few warblers, etc. One day the clouds lifted and the Broad-winged hawks took off. Their kettle stretched from horizon to horizon; an impressive sight. We missed the fly-out of the bats in the Hill Country; the road to the cave was washed out. We didn't see the comet either, but the lightning was spectacular. The Rio Grande area was bad for mosquitoes, but we weren't all that bothered with ticks or chiggers. If I had to live in Texas, I would pick the Hill Country (~100 miles West of San Antonio).