HARLINGEN — Five more days and it’s on!
People clad in camouflage, carrying huge cameras and binoculars will soon descend upon the Rio Grande Valley in search of winged creatures.
Don’t be alarmed, they are just birders who are here for the 23rd Annual Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival.
The festival this year begins next week, Nov. 2, and runs for five days, through Sunday.
The festival draws birders from across the world, a testament to the ridiculously rich avian fauna found in the Rio Grande Valley.
Each year, hundreds of birders register with the festival, but many more attend seminars, talks and participate in professionally-led field trips.
This year, about 541 birders are registered for some 88 field trips.
But birder and festival staffer Tammy Buelow expects there to be more when registration opens back up Tuesday.
“It will be a good-sized festival this year,” she said.
The annual economic impact of the festival for the Valley is around $300,000.
“We had 590 last year that pre-registered, but thousands more come for the festival,” said Sue Griffin, chair of the festival.
“What they do is, there are so many guides here, like we have over 80 guides locally and from other parts of the country, and the guides will take so many people out … we find birds that may not be typically sighted.
“So people come for the festival, and then they go out on their own,” she said.
This year’s festival offers about 88 field trips ranging from right here in Harlingen to the Upper Valley and to the Gulf of Mexico.
Special trips will take birders up to Rockport for whooping crane observations, and another trip will travel to Laredo to spot the relatively-rare white-collared seedeater, among other birds.
Some trips consist of boat rides on rivers and nature walks on old homesteads.
Some of the trips and seminars are free, but others, which include photography lessons, can run up to $250. Most of the field trips run between $60 and $95 and that cost is in addition to the registration fee.
