The Laguna Madre stretches along the coasts of southeastern Texas and northeastern Mexico. A variety of ducks—pintail, teal, gadwalls, wigeon—spend winters here, and it’s estimated that 35 percent of the redhead population in North America spends the cold months South of the Border in the Mother Lagoon’s hypersaline waters. The extra-salty water precludes many coastal plants from growing here, but shoalgrass proliferates.
And redheads love shoalgrass. You’ll learn to appreciate it too—as soon as you hear, after rising in the dark of night and making a short ride to the coast and in the dim light of morning, your guide whisper cabeza roja. You’ll look toward the horizon and see squadrons of ducks, and they just keep coming. When shooting ends, you’ll likely have a limit of redheads and a smattering of other species. Leaving Mexico, you’ll think about migrating there again.
Gary Kramer hunted ducks out of La Finca Lodge in San Fernando in the state of Tamaulipas, just south of Brownsville, Texas. Few wildlife photographers match Gary’s experience with waterfowl and other game birds. See more of his work at garykramer.net.
Credits:
Photography by Gary Kramer