Birding the Lower Rio Grande
Over Christmas break, I spent a week in Texas birding the Lower Rio Grande Valley with Evan. Here is a quick recap from the trip!
Day 1
After arriving in Brownsville, Evan and I made our way toward South Padre Island. We stopped at the Aplomado Viewing Area at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge and saw our lifer aplomado falcons.
Sunrise along Port of Brownsville
Day 2
The next morning, we left before sunrise and birded along Bahia Grande and the Brownsville channel area. I got two more lifers: golden-fronted woodpecker and stilt sandpiper. We continued on to South Padre Island and Laguna Madre Trail, where I saw my lifer curve-billed thrasher.
Boardwalk near South Padre Island Convention Center. The mangroves made a great windbreak!
Next we went to Laguna Vista Nature Trail, hoping to find groove-billed anis. We didn’t find any anis, but we did find plain chachalacas, buff-bellied hummingbirds, olive sparrows, and a hooded oriole. We also went to the South Texas Ecotourism Center in Laguna Vista. I could have spent the entire day there learning about native plants and watching vermillion flycatchers.
Aloe plants at the South Texas Ecotourism Center
We continued westward to “Sparrow Road,” a local hotspot among the eBird community. We saw three white-tailed hawks thermalling in the distance near a smoke cloud. White-tailed hawks are known to use fires to their advantage when hunting prey.
Evening at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. We could hear great horned owls calling to each other from across the oxbow lake.
This evening we went to Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. We arrived just in time to catch the last trolley ride of the day. We saw long-billed thrashers, ladder-backed woodpeckers, and Inca dove.
Day 3
We spent the night in McAllen and arrived at Margarita Ranch before dawn for a birding tour along the Rio Grande. There was constant bird activity along the river!
American white pelicans flying along the Rio Grande
I saw so many lifers, including Audubon’s oriole, pyrrhuloxia, ringed kingfisher, and my favorite—green kingfisher. Simon, our guide, took us to see brown jays later that day on a different part of the ranch.
brown jay
After the tour, Evan and I spent a few hours birding in Roma. Jalapeño cheddar bagels with avocado made a great mid-afternoon snack. On the way back to the ranch, we came across a Texas indigo snake.
Me holding a non-venomous Texas indigo snake (Drymarchon melanurus erebennus)
Evan caught the indigo snake and let me hold it before safely releasing it back into its habitat. These non-venomous snakes prey on rattlesnakes and are considered beneficial to ranchers.
Day 4
This morning we went to Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. I loved this place! The trails took us through so many habitats. We watched ducks, orioles, roadrunners, swallows, and hawks. I saw my first least grebe!
Watching gray hawks from an observation tower at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge
The rope bridges were fun!
Me on a rope bridge bridge at Santa Ana NWR
This afternoon we went to the National Butterfly Center in Mission, TX. It was magical!
Butterfly habitat
Despite the cloudy skies, the butterflies were quite active. The most notable butterfly we saw was the red rim, a rarely-seen species of brush-footed butterfly native to the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Pictured below is a queen, which is in the same genus as the monarch.
queen (Danaus gilippus)
We stopped for while to watch birds at the feeder, like this lovely green jay.
green jay
It was refreshing to spend time among so many adamant lepidopterists.
