The Martin Refuge at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival

Every year I look forward to attending the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in Harlingen, Texas. The birds are spectacular, the people are wonderful, and the festival is truly a marvel of organization and excellence.

I must confess that although I am an enthusiastic birder, I am even more of an enthusiastic photographer, and so this year at the festival I treated myself to a photography excursion to the Martin Refuge in Edinburgh, Texas. I had seen wonderful photos from this private refuge, and I was anxious to take some of my own.

We arrived at the ranch very early on a cool, windy morning. We went to the photo blinds and began to set up our equipment. We did not have to wait very long until the Crested Caracaras began to arrive.

The birds sat in the trees, waiting.

Crested Caracaras are spectacular-looking birds, and I was really excited as they began to fly closer to the blind.

They began to land in trees near the blinds.

It was amazing to watch the mid-air encounters.

There were occasional disagreements when two birds wanted to occupy the same perch.

The Crested Caracaras were not the only raptors on the refuge. There were beautiful Harris Hawks as well, and the caracaras were intimidated by them.

The Harris Hawks were clearly in charge.

And what brought all these birds so conveniently close to the blind? A lovely ball of leftovers from a local taxidermy shop. It seemed pretty unappealing to me, but it was a caracara and hawk magnet!

Birds would grab pieces from the lure and take them up into the trees to eat.

As we finished up our morning photo session, I saw a bird that immediately made me think of my home in Corrales, New Mexico.

Greater Roadrunner

In the afternoon, we went to another area where blinds were set up. Our hosts put out food to attract the beautiful Green Jays that inhabit the area.

I enjoyed photographing this one, because he had raised his crest. I have not seen that very often in this particular species of jay.

It was interesting to watch the interplay between the birds as they landed near each other.

A Northern Cardinal stopped by to survey the scene.

A Golden-fronted Woodpecker dropped by as well.

We had a lovely day of birding and photography at the Martin Refuge. The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival is a wonderful birding festival, and the Martin Refuge was a highlight of that festival for me.