The Photography Track at Birding the Border features 3 beautiful sites with a combination of blinds and walking trails, resulting in a wide variety of birds and photography opportunities!
Participants should know how to use the basic settings on their cameras; however, your guide will be able to help you advance your skills. Photography-focused trips will include more sitting and waiting at birding hot spots and in blinds while still incorporating the opportunity to explore and take pictures of birds throughout the landscape.
Schedule:
Friday, April 28 – McKenna Ranch (Departure time: 6:00 AM)
Saturday, April 29 – Kickapoo Cavern State Park (Departure time 6:00 AM)
Sunday, April 30 – Transition Ranch (Departure time: 5:45 AM)
Cost: $475 (includes Birding the Border Registration)
Guide: Laura Keene
Birding Buddy: Rose Cooper
McKenna Ranch:
The McKenna Ranch is full of history – many visitors have found arrowheads and other artifacts while walking the tributaries and paths along the Dry Devils River that provides an underground water source for many of the area ranches. The ranch has beautiful large oak trees that provide wonderful songbird habitat along with supplemental water managed by the landowner that make this site a birding oasis!
Bryan’s Birdy Bulletin
Ms. Mueller at the McKenna Ranch has done a fabulous job incorporating our management recommendations to make her land more bird- (and birder-) friendly. The supplemental water she has provided, in addition to great trails that meander along the wooded ravines on her property, make bird viewing easy. And what a great place to go see some great birds! Because the McKenna Ranch has worked to provide supplemental water sources for wildlife, birders will enjoy these spots to sit and watch the birds in hopes of getting a wonderful shot. Here at the far western edge of the hill country, you never know what you might see!
Kickapoo Cavern State Park:
Kickapoo Cavern State Park may be the hidden gem on this year’s photography-focused trip! The park may be known for its 20+ caves; but photographers should be excited to head out with Laura in hopes to capture images of even half of the 240 migrant and resident bird species that have been sighted in the park. Kickapoo Cavern has recently built a beautiful bird blind that will allow birders the unique opportunity to gets some great shots of a wide variety of species.
Bryan’s Birdy Bulletin
When I was in high school, I would occasionally skip my last period of the day to go birding at Kickapoo Cavern State Park with my two birding mentors, one who was the social studies and art teacher and the other who was the guidance counselor at the high school! Kickapoo Cavern was a great opportunity for me to escape the brush country and run for the hills. Just a 20-ish mile drive north of Brackettville, and the species mix of birds becomes completely different! The park itself has extensive trails to explore the rolling hills and dry creek beds. Rare birds seen here in the past include band-tailed pigeon, Cassin’s kingbird, evening grosbeak, and more!
Transition Ranch:
Transition Ranch, located just northeast of Brackettville, TX, offers a unique experience for the wildlife photography enthusiast. With perfectly designed blinds for birding photographers with various types of equipment, the Transition Ranch is a highlight on our photography track. Participants can expect to see a considerable variety of birds at Transition Ranch as it sits uniquely between the Edwards Plateau and South Texas Plains ecoregions!
Bryan’s Birdy Bulletin
Transition Ranch is named for its location, straddling the hill country and brush country transitional zone, so the birds you can see here are representative of both regions. The blinds we will utilize here are specifically designed by and for bird photographers, so you can be sure to get some amazing photos! The water and feeding stations set up here often attract not only the resident species but also passing migrants as well. Laura Keene will guide participants towards this goal, though participants should know how to use the basic settings on their camera. And while you will be spending most of your time on this trip in a blind, you will still have some opportunity to explore the rest of the ranch.
