A New Mexican Ventures to South Texas

Posted by Linda Rockwell 

Although I grew up in New Mexico, our family traveled to South Texas on a regular basis. My mom's sister Ann lived in San Benito, a small town south of Harlingen. We vacationed there for a couple of weeks every other summer until I went away to undergraduate school. In 2010 I became aware of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival that is held in Harlingen every November, and I began to make plans to attend in 2011. I made my reservations in June, and I began to get excited about my first trip to South Texas in more than 30 years. 

I arrived in Harlingen a couple of days prior to the start of the RGVBF. Fortunately a Twitter and Facebook friend, Marsha Kraus Fulton, offered to take me to Estero Llano Grande State Park, one of the World Birding Center sites in South Texas. Estero Llano Grande in Weslaco, Texas attracts a wide array of South Texas wildlife with its landscape of a shallow lake, woodlands and thorn forest. I met Marsha in the parking lot, and we set off to look for birds. 

As we crossed a bridge at the beginning of our walk, we saw a Great Kiskadee. 

Great Kiskadee

I would hear the distinctive call of the Great Kiskadee frequently during my visit.

We saw a group of birders and walked over to see what they were viewing. Common Pauraque were sleeping on the ground under the trees. Their beautiful plumage camouflaged them so well that they were very difficult to see.

Common Pauraque

Can you see the bird?

In the Tropical Area I had my first look at a Golden-fronted Woodpecker at a feeder.

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

A highlight of the day was seeing a rare Blomfild's Beauty butterfly.

Blomfild's Beauty

We spent a wonderful day birding at Estero Llano Grande. I would recommend it to anyone as an excellent introduction to birding in South Texas. 

The next day I drove my rental car to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, which is on the most southern tip of Texas, along the shores of Laguna Madre. Laguna Atascosa is a unique habitat containing dense patches of thorny brush, freshwater wetlands, coastal grasslands, mudflats and beaches.

Plain Chachalaca seemed to be everywhere…

Plain Chacalaca

  … as well as pretty White-tipped Doves.

White-tipped Doves

I very excited to see many Green Jays, which I had hoped to see during the trip.

Green Jays

Here is a video of Green Jays feeding:

I saw a coyote watching me from the shadows. It was very small compared to the coyotes that I am accustomed to seeing in New Mexico.

Coyote

A Harris Hawk watched as I left Laguna Atascosa.

Harris Hawk

As I began the drive back to Harlingen from Laguna Atascosa, I saw two birds approaching rapidly. As they flew nearer I saw that they were Crested Caracara. I braked sharply and grabbed my camera. I took this photo through the passenger window without ever taking my rental car out of gear. It pays to keep your camera close at hand!

Crested Caracara

The next morning I made a quick trip to Frontera Audubon. This is a beautiful urban nature preserve in downtown Weslaco. A highlight of the visit was seeing a beautiful Buff-bellied Hummingbird.

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Afterward I met several online friends--Amy Hooper, Catherine Hamilton, Beverly Robertson, Scott Fraser, Christoper Ciccone and his lovely wife Pamela Griswold Ciccone and Nate Swick--at Alicia's, one of the many excellent Mexican restaurants in Harlingen. One of the best things about attending birding festivals is meeting online friends in person!

The following day was my first official event of the festival, Better Birding with Jon Dunn. We were joined by local birding legend Dan Jones. It was an excellent day, as we saw 115 species on our trip, which included several birding areas on South Padre Island.

Jon Dunn points out a warbler to interested birders on South Padre Island

 We saw lovely songbirds …

Wilson's Warbler

… and beautiful butterflies.

Monarch Butterfly

We then traveled to Sabal Palm Audubon Sanctuary, which is a beautiful and unique ecosystem located in a bend in the Rio Grande along the border between the US and Mexico. My favorite sighting there was a Least Grebe enjoying a dragonfly lunch.

Least Grebe

That evening we went in search of the Green Parakeets and Red-crowned Parrots that are found in the area. These are wild populations that have probably migrated in from Mexico.

Led by intrepid New Mexicans Cole Wolf and Michael Hilchey we drove around in the birding van, dodging traffic and being thoroughly entertained by our leaders, until we found the Green Parakeets hanging out at the local Wal-Mart.

Green Parakeets

A little later we found a huge flock of perhaps 150 parrots, mostly Red-crowned but also a few Red-lored and Yellow-crowned, invading a neighborhood.

Red-crowned Parrots

The following morning would bring my favorite trip of the festival. We boarded a pontoon boat with Scarlet Colley of the South Padre Island Dolphin Research and Nature Center. We saw amazing numbers of shore birds:

Brown Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Black Skimmer

Little Blue Heron

Roseate Spoonbills

Roseate Spoonbills fly overhead.

While we were out on Laguna Madre Bay, we were delighted to find our boat surrounded by Bottlenose Dolphins.

Bottlenose Dolphins

The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival is an extremely well-organized, first class event with outstanding trips and exceptional trip leaders. It was a marvelous opportunity to meet people whom I've only met online. I enjoyed meeting Kenny Salazar, Marci Madsen Fuller (the festival organizer) Kay of the Arroyo Colorado Riverblog and Liz Deluna Gordon. The birding was spectacular, the weather was wonderful, the Harlingen birders were friendly and hospitable and the local cuisine was delicious. It was a wonderful experience, and I plan to return next year.

All photos ©Linda Rockwell. Contact for permission.