TEXAS MIGRATION HOUSE PARTY 2026

Following our successful house parties in Scotland, Isles of Scilly and Cyprus, we have booked a large 5 bedroom private house occupying an idyllic location not too far from the mega migration hotspot of High Island (s short 90 minute drive from Houston Airport). From here we will drive short distances to the migration sites and spend all day out in the field searching for and twitching reported migrants. All meals are included on this trip and we have our very own cook to cater for us and we'll be looking forward to dinner each evening as beer and wine are complimentary. Most days will involve a packed lunch so we can keep on birding, although our fantastic house isn't too far away so we may well return there for lunch on one or two occasions. But as the house is in such a great location we can still keep on birding! This will be a totally different experience to any other North American tour you've ever done, with the emphasis on great birding combined with our own unique House Party atmosphere! There's simply nothing else like it.

The classic Texan hotspot of High Island is home to some of the most exciting migration watching that you will ever experience. The famous Boy Scouts Wood and nearby Smith Oaks Sanctuary comprise what we refer to as High Island and these two locations are well known to birders all over the world. We will undoubtedly spend the majority of our time between these two migrant hotspots, both of which are justly famous for enticing a huge variety of migrant passerines to shelter and rest following their extraordinarily long flights from Central and South America. Of particular interest will be some of the more southerly warblers such as Worm-eating, Swainson's, Kemtucky & Hooded Warblers and Louisiana Waterthrush. But you could literally get any of the east coast passerines arrive here, species such as Common Nighthawk, Yellow-billed & Black-billed Cuckoos, Chimney Swift, Rose-breasted & Blue Grosbeak, Eastern Wood Pewee, Eastern Phoebe, Willow, Least & Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Grey-cheeked, Wood, Swainson's & Hermit Thrushes, Grey Catbird, Red-eyed, Blue-headed, Warbling or Philadelphia Vireo, Scarlet & Summer Tanagers, Baltimore & Orchard Orioles, and of course those spectacular American wood warblers. What exactly turns up each year and when, depends on the weather but you can expect 25+ species of warbler with such delights as Northern Waterthrush, Golden-winged & Blue-winged Warblers, Black-and-white Warbler, Tennessee & Orange-crowned Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Nashville, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Yellow, Bay-breasted, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue and Wilson's Warbler. Wow!

This Upper Texas Coast area has a number of other excellent locations all a short drive away. The wetlands of Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge has a drive loop giving access to large areas of the reserve and we're sure to make repeated visits here for species such as American Purple Gallinule, Virgina, King & Clapper Rails, American Bittern, Least Bittern, Yellow-crowned Night-heron, Northern Harrier, American Black Tern, Swamp & Seaside Sparrows and others. If the fields are flooded they could host an amazing aray of shorebirds that could well include the much-wanted Hudsonian Godwit, as well as Least and Stilt Sandpipers - all of which should be in fine breeding plumage. Along the coast at Bolivar Flats Audubon Sanctuary we should see an amazing variety of birds with species such as Reddish Egret, American Avocet, Eastern Willet, Wilson's, Piping & Snowy Plovers, Semipalmated, Least & Western Sandpipers, Long-billed Curlew, Marbled Godwit, Royal, Least & Forster's Terns, Black Skimmers & more! Between here and Yacht Basin Road we will look for Nelson's Sparrow and as it is migration time anything is possible. A little further afield is Sabine Woods, another great site for falls of kingbirds, flycatchers, warblers, thrushes, vireos, tanagers, orioles and sparrows. Raptor migration is also fun and we will keep our eyes to the skies for White-tailed Kite, Mississippi Kite, Swallow-tailed Kite, Broad-winged Hawk and others. 

We will also pay a visit to the pine forest further inland for species such as Pileated, Red-cockaded & Red-headed Woodpeckers, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Pine & Prairie Warblers and Bachman's Sparrow. Other species we will make a concerted effort to find include Bald Eagle, Chuck-will's-widow, Barred Owl, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Fish Crow and others.

And at the end of each day we will return to our amazing house for an evening of eating, drinking and being merry - with the odd surprise thrown in for good measure!  So why not join us and let's go birding!