OCTOBER 25, 2023 www.wintertexantimes.com 20 WINTER TEXAN TIMES Call today to schedule a free consultation and let us show you how professionally designed marketing materials with clear and consistent messaging can elevate your brand. You Only Get One Chance To Make A First Impression Make It Count With Promos & Prints On Your Side Sales@promosandprints.com (956) 580-7800 1217 N Conway Ave, Mission, TX A Division of Nexus Publishing LLC sentations are also always a great treat. In addition to field trips, they will also have interesting keynote speakers, informative workshops, a giant tradeshow full of vendors, a silent auction, fun socials with local music and food, and of course all the birds. Come reunite with birders from across the country – seeing old friends and making new ones. Be sure to plan your trip to arrive on Tuesday to attend the Welcome Reception that evening with music, noshes, and sips. The Valley is always full of colorful birds, friendly people, and plenty of birders. During this time of year, many birds are migrating to warmer areas – just like you – and a few are going to cooler places too. The Lower Rio Grande Valley sits on the convergence of the Central Mississippi migratory flyways, meaning many millions of birds pass through our area every year on their way north and south. With environmental influences from the Gulf Coast to the east, Great Plains to the north, Chihuahuan desert to the west, and subtropical influence from the south, the LRGV is a melting pot for North American birds and easily one of the top birding locations in the entire ABA area. The festival is timed perfectly for birders to find lingering neotropical migrants still trickling through, wintering birds starting to wander south, and Mexican vagrants popping up from across the border with Mexico. Every year there are spectacular rarities found during the festival. Online registration for most events closes soon, so visit their website at www.rgvbf.org for those events. You can find their brochure, what speakers are coming, and what birds have been sighted. While everyone who participates pays a registration fee, visitors also have the option of purchasing a Kiskadee Pass – an all-event pass that gets you into the talks for a savings instead of buying tickets at the door. All field trips are priced according to entry fees/ vehicles used/number of guides allotted. Also look through the entire brochure that can be found online to see several pre and post event birding trips. One of the other highlighted events includes the Sky King Falconry and Wildlife Revealed shows, a non-profit that travels the US conducting education presentations with predatory birds and raptors that specialize in free flight presentations and take on roughly 20 percent rescue birds. Their birds consist of falcons, hawks, owls, vultures, ravens, and even Kookaburras. There will be several presentations during the festival at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. each day. BIRDING From pg. 1 Crested Caracara. Courtesy photo Green Jay. Courtesy photo
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