Steve's Sightings

There no place like the Laguna Madre for birding, but that's certainly no secret. No birding trip to the Rio Grande Valley would be complete without a visit to the world's longest lagoon.
The Laguna Madre separates the 110-mile long Padre Island and the South Texas mainland. Its 20,000 acres and surrounding land masses attract more than 380 species, nearly half the birds found in the United States. That list includes 13 listed on the endangered or threatened species lists.
No wonder Padre Island has been designated as a Globally Important Bird Area by the American Bird Conservancy and a Site of International Importance by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network.
There are several reasons why the birds are there, among them climate, habitat and food. But the Laguna Madre is also on the Central Flyway, one of the nation's most important migratory bird routes.
Each spring, thousands of migratory birds such as warblers, tanagers, buntings, flycatchers, hummingbirds, orioles and grosbeaks stop over on Padre Island or the coastal mainland to rest, fatten up and prepare for their ultimate destination, breeding grounds in other parts of the United States and Canada.
Padre Island offers several habitats, including marshes, dunes, meadows, tidal flats and beaches. The Island also offers protection. Most of North Padre Island is part of the Padre Island National Seashore and much of South Padre Island is owned and administered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and is part of Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. North and South Padre Island are separated by the manmade Mansfield Cut.
The Laguna Madre is also home to thousands of migratory shorebirds, some of them year-around residents and some permanent residents.
It's possible to see two dozen or more species in just a few hours, such as the great blue heron, great egret, black skimmer, roseate spoonbill, snowy egret, black-necked stilt, laughing gull, tri-colored heron, white ibis, long-billed curlew, marbled godwit, royal tern, killdeer, brown pelican, American coot, etc.
During the winter, ducks dominate, such as the blue-winged teal, redhead, American wigeon and northern pintail. It's been estimated as many as 800,000 redheads winter in the Laguna Madre, about 80 percent of the duck's population. Also, the Laguna Madre may just be the best place in America to see both forms of the reddish egret, the dark and white morphs.
It is also a reliable place to view the endangered piping plovers during the cooler months. And if you're really lucky, you might see a peregrine falcon or even the much more rare Aplomado falcon.
Birding the Laguna Madre shouldn't be taken for granted, however. According to the National Park Service, threats include "habitat loss, disappearance of nesting grounds, marine debris, depletion of food sources, windmills impeding flight, and light pollution affecting migratory patterns."
Next week: Migration and the Laguna Madre.