Extravaganza Scheduled Events
Important Note: Your Extravaganza schedule should
meet your family's needs. Do not try to do every
scheduled event though you are welcome to try
(especially if you are blessed with a household of
birders). We hope you find a number of birding
activities which you and your children will enjoy, but be
sure to choose other family fun activities as well. Take
some time with your family alone at the beach or
exploring some other outdoor locations and join us for
the rest of this fun-filled Extravaganza.
December 28: Registration and Birding All Day: Weslaco, Texas
- From 8 AM to 4 PM, stop by Frontera Audubon in Weslaco (1101
South Texas Blvd.) and pick up your registration packet.
Hopefully, your schedule will allow at least an hour to check out
their feeders and trails with the whole family. Their 12 acre
thicket of native plants, birds, reptiles, butterflies, other insects
and other wildlife is designed to be an outdoor classroom. A
number of United States rare birds have been reported at this site
over the years. The thicket and feeders provide unlimited
possibilities for exposing children to the sub-tropics of south
Texas. The access fee at this location has been waved for
registered Extravaganza participants.
- From 1:00 PM until 4:30 PM, we will offer a guided family bird walk
at Quinta Mazatlan. Professional local bird guide, Roy Rodriquez,
will help find all the area specialties. With Outdoor Exploration
Leader, Wayne Bartholomew, along, the trip will allow for children
and adults to bird successfully together. Wayne will take more
time to point out birds, other wildlife and other aspects of the
natural area to the children at a different pace suited to the
children’s interest. Depending on the productivity of the birding,
at some point the trip will head towards Frontera Audubon.
- At 4:30 PM, Wayne Bartholomew, the Executive Director of
Frontera Audubon, will lead a short walk through their 12 acre
thicket. This trip will be at no cost to Family Extravaganza
registered families.
- Some families will want to break out for dinner at a nearby
restaurant. Those families, who are well prepared, can have a
picnic supper at Frontera Audubon.
- At 6:30 PM, all participants should plan to attend the Extravaganza
Orientation at Frontera Audubon.
- Self-guided trips are a possibility all day (or a few days before) at
nearby World Bird Centers.
- Note: We may add a trip to the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands if there
is enough demand for this trip.
December 29: Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park
- Though worth at least 3 days of birding, we will offer one really
good day of guided birding trips at this location. Remember that
you can always come back for more.
- A guided family bird trip will be offered in the morning (9 AM until
noon) with Roy as the Bird Guide and Wayne in the role of the
Outdoor Exploration Leader. This team will assure everyone gets
an opportunity to see many of the local specialty bird species and
offers different paces of wildlife watching for children (as
needed). Roy will be available before 9 AM for anyone registering
for an earlier start.
- In the afternoon (starting at 1 PM), we will offer a nice alternative
for kids and parents. We will offer some kid-only activities with
our Outdoor Exploration Leader in the afternoon. This will provide
an opportunity for parents to bird without their children on a
separate guided bird trip with Roy. The last tram leaves the park
at 4:30 PM, ending our terrific day of birding.
- Note: Lunch is available at the state park café, or you can bring a
picnic lunch.
- Given all the available activities at Bentsen and in the surrounding
area, some families may choose to spend half the day by
themselves.
- Register early for these activities, as they will fill up.
December 30: Sabal Palm Audubon Center, Resaca de la Palma and
other Brownsville Highlights
- We will start the day at Sabal Palms, starting with guided bird trips
for parents alone in the morning with Roy. We will also offer a
"kids-only" nature exploration trip with Wayne Bartholomew for
about 3 to 4 hours. We will start at this location at 9 AM, but early
birding is possible for those who pre-register.
- After Sabal Palms, the guided trips will go to other Brownsville
birding locations including the famous Tamaulipas Crow Reserve
(the dump) and Resaca de la Palma State Park.
- Some families may choose to only participate in 1 of our guided
trips, and spend the afternoon enjoying the beaches at South
Padre Island.
- By 2:00 in the afternoon, the families who have signed up for the
trip to Gomez, Mexico will leave for Victoria, Mexico. Allowng an
hour for the border crossing and 2.5 hours for driving, we should
have a little time for some birding stops before arriving in Victoria
and the Holiday Inn.
- For those not heading to Mexico, Wayne Bartholomew will
lead a family birding trip at Estero Llano State Park. Note:
This trip will not have the services of a Outdoor Exploration
Leader, as Wayne will be acting as the trip leader and bird
guide.
December 31 to January 3 in South Texas:
- We will offer additional guided bird trips for families and parents
at several other locations over this 4 day period, based upon
demand. We do expect most participants will head towards
Gomez, Mexico. We may be able to offer other kids only activities,
as well (again based upon demand).
- We also encourage every family to spend at least one day at the
beaches at South Padre Island (which also has a World Birding
Center).
- In addition, the World Bird Centers (nine locations in all) offer
great opportunities to explore nature with your family during the
rest of the days of the trip with or without our bird guides.
December 31 in Northern Mexico:
- Note: The day before (December 30, we will arrive in Victoria after
making our border crossing into Mexico).
- By 8 AM, we will leave Victoria and drive the rest of the way to
Gomez (arriving by 10:30 AM allowing some additional time for
some short birding stops and bathroom breaks).
- In Gomez, we will offer a number of guided trips along the walking
trails leading out of Gomez. We will be looking for Barred
Antshrike, Elegant Trogan, and Blue-crowned Motmot (to name a
few species). Stennie will make arrangements with a number of
local guides to meet our needs here.
- Boat trips from Bocatoma Park offer up to 7 people the opportunity
to see Boat billed Heron, Sungrebes and other wildlife. As the
trips take about 45 minutes, we will offer several throughout the
day.
- Stennie Meadours, past president of the Houston Audubon, will
just be wrapping up the Christmas Bird Count, and she will likely
find a few persons willing to help us find some of the rarities from
the Count. Last year, they found a Double-striped Thick-knee.
- We will join the Christmas Count wrap up so we can learn more
about some of the birds we will find in the days ahead. Children
are welcome at this casual event, but some children may choose
an alternative child activity with mom or dad at the hotel.
Tuesday, January 1: Sabinas River Road
- Stennie and local bird guides will take us along the road along
the Sabinas River, enjoying a series of short walks and checking
out several access points along the river. We should find Green
Kingfisher, Amazon Kingfisher, Bat Falcon, Green Parakeet, White-
crowned Parrot, Red-crowned Parrot, Red-lored Parrot, Tufted
Flycatcher, Blue-crowned Motmot, Elegant Trogan, Squirrel
Cuckoo, and other jewels found on the Christmas Count.
- If we have time, we may go up a nearby mountain road to find
several higher elevation species.
- Families can choose to participate for a half or full day on this trip.
- That afternoon or evening, some families may choose to have
supper at Juanitas, enjoy the hotel, book a boat trip or enjoy some
of the walking trails from Gomez.
Tuesday, January 2: Altacima
- We will drive to nearby Altacima and into the cloud forest for a full
day of birding, including a search for Military Macaws.
- This will be a day of driving between a series of birding location,
including birding along the mountain road, a few short hikes, and
a number of pull offs to search for target species.
- Again, some families may choose for a half day of birding while
spending the rest of the day in Gomez.
Wednesday, January 3: Return to Texas and/or Start Heading Home
- After a morning bird trip, we will start heading back to Texas and
home by about 10 AM.
- We will likely enjoy lunch in Victoria on our way back to
Brownsville, Texas.
- From Brownsville, some families may choose to rest another day
in South Texas or start heading further along towards home.
Note: Events do have minimum registration requirements to assure we
at least break even.
Note: We plan to add additional trips and events as registration
increases.
Register now or request more information.
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