Birding Tours Texas - Who I Am

Bryan Cotter (Founder)

Professional Birding Tour Guide · Professional Fisherman · Marine Coordinator for TV, Movies & Film · Web Developer

Howdy! I'm Bryan Cotter, a professional birding guide based in the Austin, Texas area. I started on ebird in 2021 and have been hard core birding on it ever since, breaking records along the way. I started this service soon after when a fishing client mentioned I should offer birding tours from my boat. I'm mainly a photographer so I like venturing out to get the best shots I can of every bird in the state of Texas. Last year, in 2025, I finally hit my goal of 500 species in Texas, being only the 10th person in history to accomplish this feat. In 2022 and 2023, I came in 2nd in the state and came close to 500 in those years. Lots of traveling and fun for sure.

In 2023, I accidentally had a Birding Big Year in Travis County. I say this because I didn't set out to do this, but when a friend made a dare with me to out-bird everyone in the county, I obliged by hitting it hard and getting a new record of 330 species for the year. That was really fun.

Birding Tours

Taking birders and other wildlife enthusiasts to some of the best places in Texas to give them great opportunities at seeing some of the birds and wildlife you may not normally see in Texas. Whether it's a rare sighting of a species or just a hard to get viewing of a more common species, we'll get you on a location to see it.

Getting you to great birding locations. Once we get to the location, we will get you to the best sightings location and help find those birds on your list.
Tour and travel. We will meet up at the starting location agreed upon, go over the agenda, and then venture off by land or water. We'll use whatever means needed — car, boat, or offroad vehicle — to get you there.
We appreciate every client. We always try our hardest to get you on the best locations for a great viewing of the birds and wildlife you're after, and we really enjoy getting folks on some great experiences.

Let's go birding!

Thank you for choosing us! Feel free to contact us with any questions about your trip.

Beyond Birding

Bass Fishing Guided Tours

I've been getting clients on bass for over 26 years now. I mainly fish all over central and south Texas and get clients on their personal best biggest bass at a rate of about 85%. Let me know if you want a combination tour with birding and fishing.

Visit Texas Hawgs →

Movies & Television

I've been on movie sets since 1988. That was my first year helping out behind the scenes on the set of Night Game, starring Roy Scheider. You may have heard of him — the sheriff from our favorite movie, Jaws! I've been on many sets since, on both sides of the camera, for movies, television ads and documentaries. Look me up on the IMDB movie database to see some of the things I helped on.

Web Development

I've been working on websites since the internet came out, and even ran a BBS before the internet with a lot of users on it. It's like your own website on your home computer that people dialed into using a modem over their phone line. I grew up teaching myself how to program and have written many programs, from painting packages to video games, mostly in assembly early on. Crazy!

Visit Cotter Designs →

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Birding Tours Texas

Let's Go Birding!

If you would like to donate, please do so by using Venmo @texashawgs