Fall Shorebirds on the Upper Texas Coast

Yes I know its hot, but August can hot for shorebirds. The breeding season for shorebirds is short and we are seeing the first southbound migrants on the Upper Texas Coast and many birds actually peak in fall migration in August. Most of the plovers peak or begin to show up in numbers, This is when we start to expect numbers of Piping Plovers and Snowy Plovers on the beaches.

Thirty-six species of shorebirds have been recorded on the Upper Texas Coast during the month of August. In addition August is a great month in Texas to find such mega rarities like Curlew Sandpiper and Collared Plover. Texas's only record of Bar-tailed Godwit is from August 2015.

If you can find freshwater shorebird habitat is definitely worth checking, but since the rice fields we all love to bird in the spring are still in rice there isn't much freshwater habitat, so the beaches are where its at. The numbers of birds particularly in the evenings at the Bolivar Flats can be nothing shore of spectacular.

So if you haven't been birding in the early fall, its time to hit the beaches!