Top 5 Common Birds to Find in the Rio Grande Valley

The Rio Grande Valley of South Texas is a premier birding destination in the United States. One thing that makes it so special is that many bird species can be found there that don't live anywhere else in the country. Furthermore, not only are these species findable in the Rio Grande Valley, but some of them are even down right common. These are the top five common birds to find in the Rio Grande Valley.

Gear Links (As Amazon Associates we do earn from qualifying purchases)

Panasonic LUMIX FZ80 4K Digital Camera
Used for most bird videos) - check credits as we do source some photos/videos elsewhere which is noted in the description

Cayer FP2450 Fluid Head Tripod, 75 inches Aluminium Tripod
Derek's lighter tripod

Andoer Video Tripod Aluminum Alloy 67 Inch
Derek's heavier tripod

Nikon D5300
Derek's vlogging and macro camera

Rode VideoMicPro Compact Directional On-Camera Microphone
Derek's external microphone for Nikon D5300

Connect with us!

Thanks to Terry Sohl for allowing us to use his range maps

Cover image birds by Andy Morffew (CC by2.0, edited). Birds images on slides are credited on the slides.

All other photos and videos by Derek and Ryan Sallmann

#Birding #BirdWatching #BadgerlandBirding

[skyder]

I love The green jay, great video as always!

[Happywife]

All are pretty and each have its own unique features. Wish we have them here in Florida too.

[darylbernard]

Nice list. If doing a Top 10, I'd add Golden-fronted Woodpecker, White-tipped Dove, Clay-colored Thrush, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, and Ringed Kingfisher, though some of those have a bit wider range than the birds in your Top 5.

Can't wait to get back to The Valley! Have been there three times, but always in late fall/winter. Making my first spring trip in early May after hitting the Hill Country, Big Bend, and Davis Mountains.

[Chris_Wolfgram]

I SO love the Rio Grande Valley :) I was there a month ago, and saw ALL of these birds :) I really want to go back SO bad. I need some ringer shots of a Green Kingfisher. I got 'some' shots of one... but not "the" shot :) Oh BTW, it was the Green Jay, a year ago, that got me all fired up on the birds in South Texas. When I first saw photos of them, I thought, "Nice. But I'm sure they are from the Amazon jungle somewhere...." Then I was like, "Texas" ?!?! What 3 days later I was on a 2100 mile drive to South Texas :) I got the Green Jays alright, but also SO much more :) Great video :) Not that I didn't already want to go back there anyway. You guys just threw fuel on the fire :) lol

[barbaracole]

I love the great kiskadee’s yellow belly! The green jays are gorgeous, too. I have never been to that part of Texas, but now I want to!

[stefangoldensteinwildlife]

all 5 birds were really beautiful. Great footage and good infos. Greets Stefan

[nathanwebb]

There's also the Audubon's oriole which lives in the Rio Grande Valley.

[getoutdoors]

I loved this video so much. Almost makes me feel like I'm back there myself! The RGV has always been my favorite stomping grounds (In terms of birding) and I haven't been there in a good while. I miss it.

[MrTmiket]

Thanks for sharing such a wonderful video like always, beautiful birds, keep up with the awesome content 👌🐦❤️

[pauraque]

For anyone who is wondering. The top five most common birds in the Rio Grande Valley are:

1. Golden-fronted Woodpecker
2. Great Kiskadee
3. Northern Mockingbird
4. Orange-crowned Warbler
5. Northern Cardinal

[arielgonzalez]

Fantastic list! The clay-colored thrush should also get honorable mention...

[RoyceMarcus]

Always enjoy seeing the Kiskadee when I travel to central America.

[benslusher]

I enjoyed the Olive Sparrow, so secret!

[snowyowl]

All of these are dope but I'd agree GRJA at #1... although I do have a liking for olive sparrow

[Just_shush_now]

Had a great day birding too… after so much failure I got four new species of bird in one day.

Started of with a Siberian chiffchaff that was pointed out by someone while watching for the Pallas warbler.
Then a Pallas warbler that I had previously had pretty disappointing glimpses of and managed to get great views this time.

Then went looking for a ring necked duck and sadly it was looking bad as I had pretty much surveyed every lake but luckily a report came in and I ran to it- when there I realised I was the only one there and couldn’t find it on my first few attempts but soon managed to get it and pointed it out to some people who had come for it…
It was about 14: 00 hrs so I had a bit of the day left so I decided to go for a bird that had alluded me every single time I had attempted for it as one was reported a while back in an area that I pass to get home- got there and scanned the tufted groups for awhile until I saw an individual that resembled the female greater scaup. Managed to get great views of it and had enough to ID it properly… all in all about 4 new species and a bunch of firsts of the years.

[pataudalain]

Nice!. During a trip in Texas (April 2012), I got 5 out of 5 on this list. But my great disappointment was to miss the Aplomado Falcon

[rerolley]

Lots of cool birds down there. I enjoyed finding several Least Grebes.

[StellarLimpkin]

When I was in Texas, I heard so many Olive Sparrows but saw none of them. :)

[seasonalambience]

Great video guys, thank you for sharing the beautiful birds that are in the southern parts of the country.

[janeenpfeiffer]

That Green Jay is a gorgeous bird😍😍 I would love to see one in person!