💲 Tour Pricing
- $1,199 — Double Occupancy
- $1,479 — Single Occupancy
🐦 Tour Overview
Premier Birding Tours invites you to experience the Galveston Spring Migration, widely regarded as one of the most intense and rewarding birding events in the United States — often called the “American Galapagos.”
Galveston Island and the Smith Oaks Rookery are world-famous landing areas for Trans-Gulf migrants. During peak conditions, weather can trigger a fallout — the Holy Grail of birding — when thousands of exhausted birds descend at once.
This tour delivers an unforgettable abundance of warblers, tanagers, thrushes, buntings, shorebirds, raptors, wading birds, and more. Expect sensory overload — you may need days to recover from the sheer number of birds seen!
We have secured top local Galveston birding guides, pre-scouting daily locations to ensure the best possible viewing and interpretation. Travel will be in a new 15-passenger van, and accommodations are at Hilton-brand hotels.
This is a non-strenuous tour — no rough trails or stairs — but the birding intensity is off the charts. Each morning and before meals, we will begin with prayer.
✨ This tour will fill quickly.
🏨 Accommodations
Hilton Hampton Inn – Galveston
(3 nights)
📍 Detailed Itinerary
Day 1 – Arrival & Island Birding
- Arrive at Houston Hobby Airport (HOU) by 1:00 PM
- Meet at baggage claim
- Drive to Galveston Island and drop luggage at Hampton Inn
- Guests driving themselves may drop luggage at the hotel at 2:00 PM
- Tour begins at 4:00 PM
- West End Island – ibises, stilts, terns, plovers, swallow-tailed kites, and other abundant coastal birds
- Welcome Dinner
Night 1: Hampton Inn Galveston
Day 2 – Shorebirds & Trans-Gulf Migrants
- Breakfast at hotel or grab-and-go provided
- Morning Birding:
- Lafitte’s Landing
- Galveston Island State Park
- Sportsman’s Cove
- Species include gulls, ducks, egrets, bitterns, herons, raptors, and more
- Lunch: Restaurant overlooking a backwater lagoon
- Afternoon Birding:
- Stevenson Woods
- 8-Mile Road
- Prime locations for warblers and songbirds
- Local guides will pre-scout for optimal conditions
- Dinner: All-you-can-eat, family-owned buffet
Night 2: Hampton Inn Galveston
Day 3 – High Island & Smith Oaks Rookery
- Breakfast at hotel
- Drive to Galveston Bay
- Ferry to Bolivar Peninsula
- Possible dolphin sightings
- Pelicans and cormorants
- En route stops at mudflats and migration hotspots
- High Island:
- Famous spring migration site
- Warblers, tanagers, thrushes, buntings
- High Island Audubon Society:
- Water drip, grandstand, and blinds
- Lunch: Texas BBQ at Audubon Society
- Smith Oaks Rookery – The American Galapagos
- Massive nesting rookery
- White Ibises, Tricolored Herons, Snowy & Great Egrets
- Roseate Spoonbills and alligators
- Farewell Dinner: Willie G’s
Night 3: Hampton Inn Galveston
Day 4 – Departure
- Breakfast at hotel
- Drive to Hobby Houston Airport (HOU)
- Final birding opportunities for raptors and pelicans
- Please schedule departure flights after 11:00 AM from Hobby Houston Airport (HOU)