Welcome

The Blue Bunting Lodge is located smack in the middle of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, between the towns of Mercedes and La Feria.  The site was chosen to offer a single home base from which to explore the birding and butterflying hotspots spread across the valley.  When you stay with us, you are only 53 miles upriver from the beaches and birds of South Padre Island, and 77 miles from the desert scrub of Falcon State Park, at the far western edge of the valley birder's universe.  This means that all the other famed valley sites between those two extremes are close to home. The fantastic Estero Llano Grande SP, where you can tick 100 bird species on a winter's day, is less than a fifteen-minute drive.  Santa Ana, the crown jewel of the National Wildlife Refuge system, only ten minutes more.   

For a (nearly complete) list of bird species found in the LRGV, click here:  https://hampshirebirdclub.org/wp-content/uploads/LRGV-bird-checklist-2021.pdf

The list is constantly growing.  The first Bat Falcon recorded in the US settled at nearby Santa Ana NWR, from December 2021-March 2022.  More recently, Texas' first Smooth-billed Ani appeared on South Padre Island, offering side-by-side comparisons with its Groove-billed cousin.  The crazy, rarity-studded winter of 2023/24 brought the Valley our first  Gray-collared Becard and Fan-tailed Warbler!

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For a reasonably complete list of valley butterflies, click here:

https://www.nationalbutterflycenter.org/9-national-butterfly-center/102-checklist-of-butterflies-seen-at-the-national-butterfly-center

Tailor-made birding and butterflying tours are available to the choicest hotspots, whether downriver to Brownsville for Blue Metalmark or Social Flycatcher, upriver for desert specialties like Coyote Cloudywing or Red-billed Pigeon, or maybe a full day at the Butterfly Center in Mission, where anything is possible!

Alternately, just relax by one of the Blue Bunting's feeding stations, perhaps picking up a lifer while you sip a cool drink on a shady bench.

 Since we acquired the land in November of 2022, Jeff has been regularly censusing the birds and butterflies present.  Our land is mainly regenerating farmland, with a strip of mature woodland, surrounded by weedy citrus groves and agricultural land.  Even before construction and landscaping has really gotten started, a diverse array of wildlife has been spotted. Check out our running totals of bird and butterfly species!

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Fulvous Whistling-Duck

Snow Goose

Greater White-fronted Goose

Wood Duck

Mottled Duck

Northern Shoveler

Blue-winged Teal

Green-winged Teal

Northern Pintail

Plain Chachalaca

Northern Bobwhite

Rock Pigeon

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Common Ground Dove

White-tipped Dove

White-winged Dove

Mourning Dove

Inca Dove

Groove-billed Ani

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Common Nighthawk

Lesser Nighthawk

Common Pauraque

Chuck-Will's-Widow

Eastern Whip-Poor-Will

Chimney Swift

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Sandhill Crane

American Coot

Black-necked Stilt

American Golden-Plover

Killdeer

Semipalmated Plover

Upland Sandpiper

Long-billed Curlew

Long-billed Dowitcher

Wilson's Snipe

Solitary Sandpiper

Lesser Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

Stilt Sandpiper

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Laughing Gull

Franklin's Gull

Gull-billed Tern

Forster's Tern

Caspian Tern

Anhinga

Neotropic Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

American White Pelican

Great Egret

Great Blue Heron

Little Blue Heron

Snowy Egret

Tricolored Heron

Cattle Egret

Green Heron

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

White-faced Ibis

White Ibis

Roseate Spoonbill

Wood Stork

Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

White-tailed Kite

Swallow-tailed Kite

Mississippi Kite

Northern Harrier

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Harris' Hawk

Gray Hawk

White-tailed Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

Broad-winged Hawk

Swainson's Hawk

Zone-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Barn Owl

Great Horned Owl

Eastern (McCall's) Screech-Owl

Ringed Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Crested Caracara

American Kestrel

Merlin

Peregrine Falcon

Red-crowned Parrot

Monk Parakeet

Green Parakeet

Vermilion Flycatcher

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

Acadian Flycatcher

Alder Flycatcher

Willow Flycatcher

Least Flycatcher

Eastern Phoebe

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Brown-crested Flycatcher

Great Crested Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

Tropical Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird

Western Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

White-eyed Vireo

Bell's Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo

Philadelphia Vireo

Warbling Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Loggerhead Shrike

Green Jay

Black-crested Titmouse

Verdin

Horned Lark

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Purple Martin

Tree Swallow

Bank Swallow

Barn Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Cave Swallow

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Marsh Wren

House Wren

Carolina Wren

Bewick's Wren

European Starling

Gray Catbird

Curve-billed Thrasher

Long-billed Thrasher

Northern Mockingbird

Veery

Gray-cheeked Thrush

Swainson's Thrush

Clay-colored Thrush

Cedar Waxwing

House Sparrow

American Pipit

Sprague's Pipit

House Finch

Pine Siskin

Lesser Goldfinch

American Goldfinch

Green-tailed Towhee

Grasshopper Sparrow

Olive Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Clay-colored Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Lark Sparrow

Vesper Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Yellow-breasted Chat

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Eastern Meadowlark

Orchard Oriole

Hooded Oriole

Altamira Oriole

Baltimore Oriole

Bullock's Oriole

Red-winged Blackbird

Bronzed Cowbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Ovenbird

Worm-eating Warbler

Northern Waterthrush

Golden-winged Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler

Black-and-White Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Mourning Warbler

MacGillivray's Warbler

Hooded Warbler

Kentucky Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

American Redstart

Northern Parula

Magnolia Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Black-throated Gray Warbler

Palm Warbler

Pine Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Canada Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Scarlet Tanager

Summer Tanager

Northern Cardinal

Pyrrhuloxia

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Blue Grosbeak

Indigo Bunting

Painted Bunting

Dickcissel

Pipevine Swallowtail

Polydamas Swallowtail

Black Swallowtail

Western Giant Swallowtail

Ornythion Swallowtail

Florida White

 Checkered White

Great Southern White

Giant White

Orange Sulphur

Southern Dogface

Yellow Angled-Sulphur

Cloudless (Marcellina) Sulphur

Orange-barred Sulphur

Large Orange Sulphur

Statira Sulphur

Lyside Sulphur

Boisduval's Yellow

Mexican Yellow

Tailed Orange

Little Yellow

Mimosa Yellow

Sleepy Orange

Dainty Sulphur

Silver-banded Hairstreak

Gray Hairstreak

Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak

Dusky-blue Groundstreak

Clytie Ministreak

Western Pygmy-Blue

Marine Blue

Ceraunus Blue 

Reakirt's Blue

Fatal Metalmark

Rounded Metalmark

Red-bordered Metalmark

Red-bordered Pixie

Gulf Fritillary

Julia Longwing

Zebra Longwing

Variegated Fritillary

Mexican Fritillary

American Snout

Theona Checkerspot

Bordered Patch

Elada Checkerspot

Texan Crescent

Pale-banded Crescent

Vesta Crescent

Phaon Crescent

Pearl Crescent

Question Mark

American Lady

Painted Lady

Red Admiral

Common Buckeye

Mangrove Buckeye

Twintip Buckeye

White Peacock

Malachite

Viceroy

Mexican Bluewing

Dingy Purplewing

Common Mestra

Northern Red Rim

Gray Cracker

Ruddy Daggerwing

Goatweed Leafwing

Tropical Leafwing

Pale-spotted Leafwing

Hackberry Emperor

Empress Leilia

Tawny Emperor

South Texas Satyr

Monarch

Queen

Soldier

Guava Skipper

White-striped Longtail

Zilpa Longtail

Long-tailed Skipper

Dorantes Longtail

Brown Longtail

Mimosa Skipper

Mazans Scallopwing

Sickle-winged Skipper

Hermit Skipper

Brown-banded Skipper

White-patched Skipper

Mournful Duskywing

Funereal Duskywing

White Checkered-Skipper

Tropical Checkered-Skipper

Desert Checkered-Skipper

Laviana White-Skipper

Turk's-cap White-Skipper

Common Sootywing

Julia's Skipper

Fawn-spotted Skipper

Clouded (Ocherous) Skipper

Double-dotted Skipper

Southern Skipperling

Fiery Skipper

Whirlabout

Southern Broken-Dash

Huron Sachem

Common Mellana

Nysa Roadside-Skipper

Celia's Roadside-Skipper

Eufala Skipper

Olive-clouded Skipper

Brazilian Skipper

Ocola Skipper

Purple-washed Skipper

Violet-banded Skipper