Hotspots Along the Birders Highway

Where is the Birders Highway? Many states highlight their birding hotspots but until now, no one has documented those hotspots along one highway that cuts through the United States from Mexico to Canada. Historic US-281 transports birders from Texas’ subtropical Lower Rio Grande Valley to the forested Turtle Mountains at the Canadian border. Crossing great rivers and winding through the Great Plains, it bisects the Central Flyway, where millions of birds migrate annually and hundreds of bird species may be viewed as you traverse the Birders Highway.

If you take a road trip that cuts east and west through any of the Great Plains states, it is impossible to miss the Birders Highway. I discovered this interesting fact while I was planning numerous birding vacations with my husband Scott, and US-281 kept recurring in the Dakotas, through the heart of the Great Plains, and into Texas. I thought my memory was getting faulty: Here we are in North Dakota, and didn’t I see this same highway in southern Texas?

I should have asked the millions of migrating birds, who surely could have told me that this was the route to follow if you had wintered in the warmer climes and were now headed north to your summer nesting grounds. The Birders Highway slices through the Central Flyway where some 400 North American bird species migrate every year. Some species, like the Black-capped Vireo, only migrate as far as Oklahoma while others, like the American Avocet, migrate from central Mexico into southern Canada! Many species, such as the Whooping Crane, migrate much farther north and nest in the Taiga (the Boreal Forest) of Canada and Alaska.

The Central Flyway is generally flanked by the Rocky Mountains on the west and the Mississippi River on the east. (The Mississippi Flyway also begins along the Gulf Coast but generally lies east of the Central Flyway and merges with the Central Flyway again in northeastern North Dakota.) By following the Great Plains, the Central Flyway provides birds with reliable sources of food, cover, and water for its entire length. Along the way, the various habitats near the Birders Highway provide a plethora of exciting birding opportunities, and migration times only augment the possibility of seeing a species far from its nesting grounds or wintering grounds.

I have tried to limit the scope of this book to birding hotspots within a reasonable range from the Birders Highway. Most chapters are devoted to one state but Texas, which includes 645 miles of the Birders Highway, needed three chapters. The final three chapters are “bonus chapters” in the northwestern corner of the Mississippi Flyway that I hope you will enjoy.

In the beginning of each chapter, I have featured a bird that can be found in that region. I’ve also listed what I think are interesting species for that area and places where they may be found. (Note the word may: Finding a specific bird is never a certainty.) I’ve also listed some additional species for each hotspot; you will find Estero Llano Grande as my sample hotspot.

Even the most avid birders cannot bird for every hour of every day. Perhaps your travel partner is not totally immersed in birding, or you have a day of inclement weather, or you want to learn more about the area you are visiting. The Beyond Birding section at the end of each chapter offers a few attractions and distractions – mostly history or nature-oriented – that might interest you.

I hope you will enjoy your journey whether you travel the entire length of the amazing Birders Highway, or only one small portion of it, or you just want to read and dream about what awaits you.

Nan Wisherd