Welcome to Our Birders’ Paradise

Discover One of Life’s Simple Pleasures

The gratifying success of the 22nd annual Rio Grande Birding Festival in Harlingen underscores the fact that the Valley has become one of the events that serious birders from all-over are duty-bound to attend. It has become a world renowned show.
Susan Griffin has been the chair of the annual event for two years and an active supporter for seventeen years before that. She said the Festival headquarters registered over 900 birders from 40 of the United States, 5 Canadian Provinces, 7 foreign countries–notably: Honduras, Canada, Panama, Uganda, England, Great Britain, Mexico, and Portugal.

“It was a tremendous response,” she said. Griffin was involved from the very beginning of the Birding Festival, and has watched it grow to what it is today.

Liz Deluna Gordon was also one of the original founders. She graduated from Harlingen High School in 1982.

“I had lots of friends in La Feria High school during my school years,” she said. Liz and Sue Griffin pointed out that Patrick Bauer, who comes from a well-known La Feria Farming family, catered the whole event. That included the Welcome reception at Harlingen Heritage Museum and the “Survivor’s party for vendors, guides and volunteers at the conclusion.

The hugely successful annual event really got started in 1992 according to Janice Wyrick, president of the Chamber of Commerce. Wyrick has been a bird lover for all her life. She said there 33 varieties of rare birds seen only here in the Valley, with l00s more beautiful resident birds and others just stopping in for a brief respite during their migration.. She realized nobody knew about the wealth of birds in our backyard.

“Well,” she thought, “why not tell the world about it with a Birding Festival?” She then presented the idea to the Chamber. It was immediately taken on as a project for the civic group.

“We had about a thousand people attend the first year,” she said, adding, “now we have thousands show up with over 70 vendors on the floor. From those small beginnings, it has now become a major event for serious birders.”

Now, to us locals: For bird watchers living in the Valley, we are in the best of all possible worlds. The Valley is situated at the juncture points of main migratory flyways used by an incredible number of rare, highly sought-after, rare birds–an estimated 500 distinct species.

That happy coincidence is why birding has become a big-time industry and tourist magnet attracting people from all parts of the globe. If you are not careful, you might get bitten by the contagious “birding bug” yourself.. Sue Griffin said that local people don’t realize the birding treasure we have in our own backyard. She urged our Valley people to take advantage of the paradise that others spend thousands of dollar to see. And, it is in our own backyard, and it’s free! All you need is just a good set of binoculars, a good floppy hat and lots of patience.

It’s not hard to become a real birder: Just join a local bird club or call on the Harlingen Chamber of Commerce or the Texas Travel Information Center in Harlingen