Rio Grande Valley

March 10.
We woke up on an empty, windblown beach at Boca Chica State Park, and went for a morning swim in the Gulf. Saw lots of shorebirds (as well as a falcon hat-trick: kestrel, merlin, and peregrine) before heading back toward Brownsville. We encountered a customs checkpoint on the way back, but oddly enough the immigration officer didn’t question our alleged U.S. citizenship. Our only stop in Brownsville today was the dump, which did not in fact contain any Tamaulipas crow (or many birds at all). Apparently it’s dried up, crow-wise, in recent years. However, the employee at the entrance only had to take one look at our binoculars before giving us a map of the dump and telling us where the birding section was.
Our main destination was Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, a short drive north. We didn’t see any aplomado falcons as hoped, but on the highway near the refuge I glimpsed a scissortail flycatcher, an early one coming back north for the summer. It definitely felt like summer: the first actually hot day we’ve had. Saw our first altamira oriole near the visitor center, along with lots of other birds and a huge black snake. One of the trails we walked was called the Paisano Trail (paisano means “countryman,” and is also the Spanish name for the roadrunner). The first fellow-traveler we encountered was a roadrunner up ahead, striding purposefully down the path in the same direction as we were. A sudden rainstorm hastened our departure...we got back in the car and headed further north to Adolphe Thomae County Park. There we battled the wind in order to cook some mac and cheese (on the Coleman stove) and put up the tent.

March 11.
On the way to Weslaco this morning, we stopped at Hugh Ramsey Park, a nice little river-side place, improbably situated right near the Harlingen airport. Saw a buff-bellied hummingbird and talked with a strange local birder, dressed all in white, who tried to help us find some green kingfishers (no luck). Then continued on to Frontera Audubon Sanctuary in Weslaco. Highlights included a ringed kingfisher, a beautiful gray hawk calling from the top of a tall palm, and a kiskadee hunting and swallowing a frog.
This evening we drove to McAllen to meet Lee and Tex Ray, our gracious hosts for the next few days (my Grandpa had put me in contact with Lee, his second cousin, when he heard we’d be in the area). We ate fantastic Mexican food at a location that shall not be named for purposes of local privacy, and talked enthusiastically about the Civil War, parrot invasions, Top Chef, and other subjects.

March 12.
Started our day with an 8:30 bird walk at Estero Llano Grande State Park. As usual, the other birders (middle-aged at the youngest) treated us like beginners until a few minutes into the walk, when we pointed out that the so-called American goldfinches identified by the leader were actually lesser goldfinches. Tons of new birds today, including black-necked stilt, stilt sandpiper, green kingfisher, sora, cinnamon teal, and sparrows (lark sparrow, clay-colored, and Lincoln’s).

Following a suggestion from the Rays, we decided to cross the International Bridge in Progreso. The debate over whether to count birds seen in Mexico became moot, when we only saw grackles and blackbirds crossing the river beside us. Don did see a bronzed cowbird (via its red eye) on the American side. It’s strange: the Mexican landscape looks a lot like the Texas one whenever you see it across the river, but that city certainly felt like Mexico when we crossed into it. Though we were only there half an hour or so, it was an interesting interlude.
We stopped in another park, Anzalduas, before going on to Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park for a night walk. There had been only one free spot, but we both ended up being able to go when some other people didn’t show up. It was a quiet night for birding…heard a great horned owl, lots of pauraques, and a few eastern screech owls (of the Rio Grande Valley variety, soon to be a new species, maybe…or so we hear). My major coup of the night was when I heard the very first elf owl of the season, IDed by the guide after I pointed it out to him. Lots of javelina and armadillos prowling around too.

March 13.
Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge all day today. Though we showed up a little late to the bird walk this morning, we had no trouble catching up…this was the slowest bird walk ever (a very large group of middle-aged to elderly couples). The birding was a bit slow as well, because it was cool and overcast in the morning. Then, of course, the rest of the day was scalding as soon as the sun came out, and we ended up a bit short on water and sunblock. We did see a bobcat, along with both lesser and greater yellowlegs, a scissortail flycatcher, and various ducks, herons, and shorebirds. But we broke off early and forged ahead on our own. In fact, we ended up having two very exciting hawk encounters later on: a dark ferruginous showing an all-white tail overhead, and a juvenile zone-tailed on the ground right next to the trail (so close that we got a good picture by diginoculing through Don’s binoculars). The IDs were confirmed by the resident hawk guy, who was quite excited.
Back in McAllen I swam in the Rays’ pool with Emily the spaniel, who performed incredible leaps into the pool in pursuit of her ring toy. We had a delicious and prep-intensive dinner courtesy of Lee (and Tex, who cooked the steak).

--Abby