estero llano grande state park

Fabulous birding, lovely visitors center, helpful park hosts and volunteers. What's not to love? If you are in the LRGV and want to do some quality birding - don't miss Estero Llano Grande!

Returned to the RGV for the third time in 10 years, and visited most of the well-known birding locations. Though Bentsen, Santa Ana, Laguna Atascosa, etc are all first class places, Estero Llano Grande is our favourite, and we've visited it 3 times during our month-long stay. What makes it stand out is the large variety of birds and habitats to be found in a relatively small, compact area. As with other Texas State Parks, ELG makes very good use of Volunteers, and the guided walks are well worth while. Keep up the good work.A true gem.

I recently visited this park on my trip to the Rio Grand Valley.The bird viewing is quickly accessible as a large pond is right in front of the visitor center.I was able to photograph many birds including the black-bellied whistling duck and belted kingfisher. The kingfisher was located out by the alligator pond in the back of the park. Expect to walk 1.5 to 2.0 miles to see most of the stations in the park.Additionally, this site has some good butterfly spots in the front. I was able to get several photos including a great purple hairstreak butterfly and fritillary shown in my photo.

We have been going each year for the past 9 years and we are never disappointed. From the very large alligators and many types of heron to the Bobcat we saw this last time we consider this one of our favorite birding spots in South Texas. I would recommend allowing yourself a few hours at least to enjoy all of the trails, lakes and marshes. Look closely and take your binoculars and you'll be surprised at how many types of birds there are.

This is our second visit to this park, and both times we arrived on the day that a guide was giving a birding tour. The guide and his helper pointed out many birds that we might have missed. Some of favorites were the Cinnamon Teal, Spotted Sandpiper, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons. We will be back for another visit in a different season!

We have been to this State Park on several occasions - and we always enjoy the peace and quiet, the tremendous variety of birds to see, and the alligators, butterflies and dragonflies. It is just a neat place to spend a couple of hours (or more), relaxing and walking.On certain days, there is a tram ride which takes you on a guided tour of the entire park. On other occasions, you can enjoy a walking tour with a guide that will point out birds that you will not see on your own.The staff has always been friendly and helpful.

The very many different habitats in this park make for a wonderful day's birding. We spent an entire day here exploring every corner where even in autumn we saw over 70 species of birds. Every aspect seemed to be well managed and cared for with some very good trails past ponds, through scrub and woodland and out to Llano Grande Lake. The visitor centre provided very useful information and the most stunning vista across the nearest pond with much wildlife evident to draw one further. Repeated visits through the seasons could be well worthwhile if one lived close enough.

Large park with marsh and woods. Many species. Huge area. Don't miss feeders in the old trailer park. Ask for location of paraque roost. Best butterflies in parking area.

Had a wonderful morning of birding here. So many interesting trails, boardwalks and water features. Not a place to go for children's play areas and grassy fields. This is a very natural setting with native plants. This park would also be great for walking for exercise or I understand there are a lot of great butterflies here too.

This park has many walking trails with a variety of wildlife, especially birds. There is a large pond to attract water loving birds and people can take a narrated tram ride. There are different programs such as breakfast with the birds.

Extremely helpful staff, a beautiful place to visit in the morning. They have a great deck over looking a small pond teeming with activity. Have cup of coffee and relax on the deck while taking in some beautiful birds.

A must for any birder on the Rio Grande. Even though there was a drought when I was there (April 2014) which made other nearby places a "washout", this place still had water and birds. Easy-to follow-paths, very nice visitor´s centre with a large covered deck for viewing over a pond, very helpful volunteer guides. One highlight when I was there was a Common Parauque nest with two nearly fledged young.Clay-colored Thrush easy to see, and I heard a Groove-billed Ani.

Excellent environment for birds. The wetlands are teeming with birds and the old RV park area produced several Pauraques at dusk.The staff were all very helpful. They knew the birds and where to find them.

This site is well laid out with lots of different habitat for birds. During different times of the year a different variety of birds would be found. We were there for the start of spring migration and it was a little quiet. I would like to see it in the winter as well.

We visited here in early December 2013. This is a premier birding site! The staff and volunteers go out of their way to be helpful and they are very versed about birding. If you like to watch birds one visit will not be enough.