A red-winged blackbird and a green jay eye each other at the National Butterfly Center. Photo credit Barbara Redding
Adventures, Family, Nature

A Road Trip Through South Texas: Birds, Butterflies and Beaches

by Barbara Redding

For years, I drove through South Texas on my way from Austin to the sandy beaches of South Padre Island. The Lower Rio Grande Valley was just a place to stop for gas.

 

Then a trip to Mexico changed everything. Watching millions of monarch butterflies clinging to oyamel fir trees in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve made me wonder what natural wonders I’m missing in my own state.

 

A lot, actually. My South Texas nature road trip took me from the wild reaches of the King Ranch to bird and butterfly sanctuaries along the Rio Grande. I wound up on South Padre Island, visiting a sea turtle rescue center and a nature reserve for birds and alligators.

 

To learn more about the wildlife, birds, butterflies, turtles, and alligators I saw, please read my South Texas road trip story on SheBuysTravel.com.

 

More of my stories about Texas:

 

Inside Hotel Swexan: Cowboy Hata, Afternoon Tea and Samurai Armor

 

World Cup 2026 Dallas: A Luxury Private Jet Escape from Austin

 

Austin’s Commodore Perry Estate

 

  • Education supervisor Taylor Dunham stands next to a Sea Turtle Inc. display of the five different sea turtles found on South Padre Island in Texas.
    Taylor Dunham, an education supervisor at Sea Turtle Inc., introduces children to the five species of sea turtles found on South Padre Island. Top photo, a red-winged blackbird eyes a green jay at the National Butterfly Center in Mission. Photos by Barbara Redding

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