Archaeopteryx Birding and Nature Tours
Professional Bird, Butterfly, Nature, and Photography Tours Around Central Florida and the World – Creating Lifetime Memories One Tour at a Time
We lead 3 trips for the Bird of a Feather Fest and met lots of new birders and had a great time. Beck got Ruff as a state bird on Saturday’s trip. Friday’s trip nabbed Ash-throated and Vermilion Flycatchers. Got to spend more time with Greg Miller as well.
Join Archaeopteryx Birding and Nature Tours this March for a 6—day tour of the Rio Grande Valley, TX! Starting March 24th through 29th, 2021, we’ll visit such iconic places as the Santa Anna National Wildlife Refuge, the National Butterfly Center, and the Estero Llano Grande State Park. Also included in the cost is a boat tour on the Rio Grande river- the perfect location for viewing and photographing waders, Long-billed Curlew, and Green and Ringed Kingfishers! We’ll also be targeting such local specialties as Great Kiskadee, Plain Chachalaca, Altamira Oriole, Green Jay, Olive Sparrow, and Pyrrhuloxia. Not only is this area unique for birding and butterflying, but it’s also a known source for delicious Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants! Afternoon/evening activities will alternate between the National Butterfly Center and the parrot roost, depending on what we’d like to see. Here’s a breakdown of our daily morning activities:March 24th: Arrival by 3pm at the McAllen airport. Eat dinner and check into hotel. Parrot roost for Red-crowned Parrots and Green Parakeets. Possibility for Yellow-headed and Red-lored Parrots as well.March 25th: Santa Ana NWR for Olive Sparrow. Possibility for Franklin’s Gull, White-faced Ibis, Broad-winged Hawk, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Plain Chachalaca, Inca Dove, Golden-fronted and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Black-crested Titmouse, and Stilt Sandpiper, as well as wintering ducks and shorebirds.March 26th: Estero Llano Grande State Park for Lesser Nighthawk, Common Pauraque, and more wintering ducks and shorebirds.March 27th: Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park for Couch’s Kingbird, Swainson’s Hawk, Verdin, Least Grebe, White-tipped Dove, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Neotropic Cormorant, Curve-billed and Long-billed Thrashers, Lesser Goldfinch, Olive Sparrow, Long-billed Curlew and possibility for Green Kingfisher.March 28th: Rio Grande Riverboat tour for additional waterbird species and possible Ringed Kingfisher!March 29th: Morning birding and butterflying at the National Butterfly Center for Pyrrhuloxia, Green Jay, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Clay-colored Thrush, Hooded Oriole, and Altamira Oriole
Flights home in afternoon or evening.We’ll also attempt to locate any rare birds that are reported in our tour area, or visit the Brownsville area depending on remaining time. Cost per person will be $1729. The price includes professional guide, lodging, transportation, park entry fees, and light snacks/water. Rooms will be double-occupancy. A checklist of all birds and butterflies seen will be provided to each participant upon completion of the tour. Please contact us at archaeopteryxtours@gmail.com or call/text 609-553-0757 if you’re interested in more information or to book a space on this tour. Minimum 2 participants to run this tour.
Spring migration is a great time of the year to be in Texas! We’ll be spending 4 days in the Bolivar peninsula area awaiting our breeding birds to return home for the summer and watching for rarities like the Golden-winged and Cerulean warblers. We’ll spend 4 nights in Galveston and 1 night in the High Island/Smith Oaks Santuary area. Flights will arrive and depart from the Houston airport. Here are the various birding places we’ll visit during the tour and an expected species list:
4/15- Arrive at the Houston airport no later than 3pm. It’ll be a 1-hour drive to the city of Galveston. After our hotel check-in, we’ll have some Mexican dinner at the Napalera Grill.
4/16- We’ll begin our birding adventure at Kempner Park, a migration hot spot. This park is a great spot for Cerulean, Golden-winged, Black-throated Green, Bay-breasted, and Worm-eating Warblers, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Indigo Bunting, Dickcissel, and White-faced Ibis. We’ll grab a quick fast food type of lunch while we’re out birding and return to the hotel no later than 3pm. Dinner at the Mosquito Cafe.
4/17- Moody Gardens is a little atypical of your average birding location. Moody Gardens consists of a golf course, theme park, and aquarium. However, the property has proven to attract various bird species that may not otherwise be seen on the tour. We’ll expect to see species such as the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Whimbrel, Stilt Sandpiper, Least Tern, Eastern and Western Kingbirds, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Loggerhead Shrike, Eastern Meadowlark, Mottled Duck, Common Loon, Neotropic Cormorant, Veery, Long-billed Curlew, Monk Parakeet, Yellow, Black-and-White, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Blackburnian Warblers, Franklin’s Gull, Summer and Western Tanagers, Bronzed Cowbird, American Pipit, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Lesser Nighthawk, White-tailed Kite, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Upland Sandpiper and Eared Grebe. We’ll have lunch at the park and dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.
4/18- A visit to Latiffe’s Cove for Blue-winged Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, Great-horned Owl, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Couch’s Kingbird, Wilson’s Phalarope, and Black-billed Cuckoo. A quick lunch from Subway and then dinner at the Tipsy Turtle.
4/19- Get up early and check out of our hotel in Galveston. We’ll take the ferry across to the Bolivar peninsula for a day of birding on High Island/Smith Oaks Sanctuary. We should expect to see Roseate Spoonbills, Red-eyed Vireo, Ovenbird, Hooded, Magnolia, and Chestnut-sided Warblers, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Wood Thrush, Northern Waterthrush, Swainson’s Hawk, and Orchard Oriole. We’ll have lunch at Jose’s Cantina and dinner at the H2 BrewHouse & Scratch Kitchen.
Cost per person will be $1343. A singles supplement fee of $400 will be added to the price of the tour if you’re traveling alone. The price includes professional guide, lodging, transportation, park entry fees, and light snacks/water. A checklist of all birds and butterflies seen will be provided to each participant upon completion of the tour. Please contact us at archaeopteryxtours@gmail.com or call/text 609-553-0757 if you’re interested in more information or to book a space on this tour. Minimum 2 participants to run this tour.
April is a great time of the year to visit us here in Florida! We’ll be able to see and photograph our resident bird species, along with migrant species just passing through on their way to their breeding grounds in the north. The climate is comfortable this time of the year and temperatures are usually in the 80s (26.6c). There’s always the possibility for fallout, so we’ll be visiting some of our state’s known migration hotspots, as well as focusing our attention on our resident birds as well. April is also a great time of the year for butterflies, so we’ll stop to photograph and observe any butterfly species we come across.Day 1: Arrive in Orlando. Welcome to Central Florida!Day 2: Mead Botanical Gardens, Winter Park. The urban city park provides an oasis of green amid the noise, concrete, and subdivisions of the Greater Orlando area. Mead Gardens has been a migration hot spot for years. Expected species include Scarlet Tanager, Gray Catbird, Barred Owl, egrets & herons, Wood Duck, Cedar Waxwing, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Pileated Woodpecker, Red-shouldered Hawk, Orchard Oriole, American Redstart, Ovenbird, and Cape May Warbler. This park also has a population of Gopher Tortoises and there’s always the possibility for a rare warbler or other passerine species here. We’ll stop at Ethos Vegan Kitchen for lunch right down the road. Ethos has sandwiches, pizza, salads, a bakery and local beer/wine. Gluten-free options are available. *Alternate non-veg options available at The Ravenous Pig- a gastropub/brewery specializing in southern-style comfort food
Day 3: Three Lakes WMA/Joe Overstreet Landing, Kenansville. We’ll begin the day before sunrise at Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area in search of the federally endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker. These social woodpeckers are unique in that they exclusively nest in live trees. We should also be able to find Brown-headed Nuthatch and Bachman’s Sparrow as well. We’ll then drive a short distance down the road to Joe Overstreet Landing for Bald Eagle, our national bird, as well as Eastern Meadowlark, Sandhill Cranes, Loggerhead Shrike, Crested Caracara, Limpkin, Snail & Swallow-tailed Kite, Red-headed Woodpecker, American Kestrel and Purple Gallinule.
Day 4: Fort Desoto Park, St. Petersburg. Fort Desoto is another known migration hot spot and usually produces one or two fallout events per spring. Nanday Parakeets live and nest in the park as well as several species of coastal birds. We should be able to see Whimbrel, Short-billed Dowitcher, Black Skimmer, Least Tern, Red-breasted Merganser, Marbled Godwit, Western Sandpiper, Willet, American Oystercatcher, and Wilson’s, Black-bellied, and Semipalmated Plover. Passerines include Hooded Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Blue-winged
Hooded Warbler Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Great Horned Owl, Worm-eating Warbler, Swainson’s Thrush, Red-eyed Vireo, Indigo Bunting, Summer Tanager, Wood Thrush, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The Mangrove Skipper butterfly also lives in this park. We’ll stop for lunch mid-day right outside the park at a local restaurant called Philadeli. They specialize in Philly cheesesteaks and sandwiches with local beers on tap.
Day 5: Begin the day birding at the Oscar Scherer State Park where we should find our state’s only endemic bird species, the Florida Scrub-Jay. We may also see Blue Grosbeak or Northern Bobwhite. Next we’ll be stopping in the town of Cape Coral for great views and photographs of our Florida Burrowing Owls, an endangered subspecies of the Burrowing Owls of the Southwestern US. Monk Parakeets also live and nest in this area. After everyone has gotten the photos they’d like, we’ll explore Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel for Osprey, Roseate Spoonbill, Eastern Kingbird, Blue-winged Teal, Mottled Duck, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Reddish Egret, and Least and Solitary Sandpipers.
Day 6: Key Largo Bird & Butterfly Day! We’ll have great opportunities to find migratory birds plus many Caribbean breeding species such as Black-whiskered Vireo, “Golden” Yellow Warbler, and the elusive Mangrove Cuckoo. Butterfly species that include the critically endangered Shaus’ Swallowtail, Bartram’s Scrub and Silver-banded Hairstreak, Julia, Hammock Skipper, and Florida Purplewing. The day will include stops at the Purplewing Trail (restricted access, we will
Mangrove Cuckoo have a permit), Dangy Johnson State Botanical Park, Caryfort Circle, Card Sound Bridge, and Navy Wells Preserve. Lunch will be at Ballyhoo’s, home of award winning fresh local seafood, as well as an extensive vegan menu.
Day 7: Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, Key West. A visit to the historical island of Key West. This state park offers some of the finest migration birding in the state and the possibility for fallout is high depending on weather. We’ll see Magnolia Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Short-tailed Hawk, Dickcissel, Tennessee Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, as well as the Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak butterfly. Lunch at The Cafe in downtown Key West for vegetarian and vegan options including tacos, sandwiches, salads, and pizzas, plus a great selection of
Prothonotary Warbler wine/beer *alternate non-veg options available
Day 8: Downtown Miami exotic birding. We’ll spend the day chasing Yellow-chevroned, White-eyed, Scarlet-fronted, Green, Red-masked, Crimson-fronted, Mitred, and White-winged Parakeets, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Common Mynah, and Spot-breasted Oriole. Possibility for Lilac-crowned Parrots, Scaly-breasted Munia, and Blue-and-yellow Macaws. Break for lunch at the Titanic Brewery for some local British-influenced beers and food. We’ll begin the drive back to Orlando around 3pm for an evening of
Red-whiskered Bulbul rest before everyone’s flight home the following day.
*Alternative trip for those not interested in exotic birding- Pelagic morning birding trip with Robert Torres’ Pelagic Birding Adventures. Expected species include Royal, Sandwich, and Foster’s Terns, Common Loon, Northern Gannet, Magnificent Frigatebird, Brown Booby, plus the possibility for Masked Booby, Bridled Tern, White-tailed Tropicbird, shearwaters, jaegers, or storm-petrels. We’ll have lunch at the marina restaurant. Add $100 to the price of the tour if this option is selected.
Price for this tour will be $1,800 per person shared occupancy (singles supplement $500). The price includes pickup/dropoff at the airport, all transportation costs, entry fees to parks, all hotel stays, detailed ebird checklists, water/snacks, and professional guide service. The price does not include your flights, meals, or tips. Hotel lodging will be in the mid-range with access to amenities such as fitness center, pool, and continental breakfast wherever they’re available. We cater to any dietary restrictions and are familiar with several local restaurants around the state as well as wineries and breweries. Please contact archaeopteryxtours@gmail.com for more information or to sign up for this tour.
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