Lower Rio Grande River Valley
7-12 March 2026
I joined David Wilcove on a birding adventure to the Lower
Rio Grande Valley of south Texas. We flew into McAllen (via Houston) and birded
by car at a half-dozen well-known birding venues up and down the Valley. Accounts
for each of these are featured in the narrative below.
The Valley
The Lower Rio Grande (“the Valley”) stretches from the mouth
of the River at Boca Chica beach (site of Elon Musk’s Star Base) northwestward
up to Falcon Dam covering a road distance of about 150 miles.
The notable towns include (from southeast to northwest) Brownsville,
Harlingen, Weslaco, Edinburg, McAllen, Mission, Sullivan City, Rio Grande City,
and Roma. McAllen is central to the Valley and is generally agreed to be the
best place for birders to base themselves, unless they are camping. There are many
comfortable national chain motels here to choose from.
Because this is a strip along a national border, the Valley
is heavily developed. The area is distinctive for its abundance of highways and
strip malls. What was once Texas thorn scrub and crop agriculture has been
converted to urban sprawl. Luckily, some green spaces have been set aside in
the form of parks and reserves. These are where birders devote their time and
effort.
McAllen, Texas
McAllen has an airport with regular flights to and from
Houston and Dallas. The city is a network of highways and major roads offering
ready access to wherever one wishes to go. Also many restaurants, featuring
national chains (Chili’s, PF Chang’s, etc) and swarms of local Mexican and
Tex-Mex watering holes (and of course Whataburger). We stayed in the Holiday Inn Express (Medical Center) and found
it to be perfect for our needs, with a pool, a morning breakfast bar, and large
and comfy rooms.
National Butterfly Center
We visited the National Butterfly Center on three
occasions. It is a 15-minute drive from the motel and is set down on the River.
The NBC has a large visitor center, knowledgeable and helpful staff, and a big
trail network that gives access to gardens and woodland patches. The staff
actively plant and water in order to create the best butterfly habitat, but this
year it was very dry in mid-March and
neither the gardens nor the butterflies were at peak status. We saw few
butterflies, mainly sulphurs and Giant Swallowtails.
The back left corner of the NBC has a large bird feeding
station, which, while we were there, was the highlight of the campus. The Plain
Chachalacas appeared to be preparing to breed and were flocking in numbers with
some individuals cackling loudly every few minutes. The racket they made was
quite remarkable. Second in noise-making were the large flocks of Red-winged
Blackbirds, which filled the air with what sounded like a million cicadas going
off.
Bronze Cowbird male
All this bird noise seemed to attract other species of hungry
birds to the feeders—orioles, woodpeckers, sparrows, thrashers, cowbirds,
grackles, and more.
Bentson-Rio Grande Valley State Park
Bentson-Rio Grande is just a bit upstream from the NBS, and
one afternoon we drove over there to see what was up. A Hooked-billed Kite had
been reported there on a preceding day. By the time we arrived the sun and heat
and wind made birding there a bad bet, so we hung out in the Visitor Center and
the parking lot and basically bided our time, hoping the Kite would fly over.
It was not to be… I had camped in this
Park in 2017 and knew it offered good woodland walking and birding by the
River. A tram carries visitors to various corners of this large reserve, but we
were there too late for any tram travel.
Edinburg Scenic Wetlands
There was a single bird species in the Valley at this time
that had attracted David’s attention as an accomplished North American (ABA
area) birder. This was a solitary female Crimson-collared Grosbeak, which had
been vacationing from Mexico for several months at the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands.
The grosbeak was the only novelty that David could add to his list, and it was
this bird that started our conversation about visiting the Valley.
So on our first day in the field we drove 13 minutes to
this urban green space just a bit northeast of McAllen. The site is mainly lush
thorn-scrub and artificial ponds with an abundance of trails for birding. It,
too, has a nice visitor center and friendly and helpful staff. We were assured
the grosbeak was present and that it would call from time to time.
It took us about 45 minutes to get our first look at the
handsome bird, and we encountered it on 3-4 occasions during our morning stay
there. We watched it feeding on the globular green fruit of the Potato Tree (Solanum
erianthum). We did hear it calling several times—something that makes it possible
to locate.
Other birds we saw there included Least Grebe, Green
Kingfisher, Orange-crowned Warbler, and White-eyed Vireo.
Estero Llano Grande State Park
We twice visited Estero Llano Grande and walked its trails.
Here some young college-age super-birders showed us a Common Pauraque roosting
in the dry leaves near a trail-edge.
We spent considerable time examining roosting brown ducks to
determine whether they were female Mallards, Mottled Ducks, or Mexican Ducks.
A Tropical Parula had been reported on the Green Jay Trail
of the Park and we walked this trail a number of times in search of this tiny
sprite, but to no avail. Instead we saw a Nine-banded Armadillo, Black-capped
Titmice, and Wilson’s Warbler.
The wetlands featured a large aggregation of wading birds—White
Ibis, White-faced Ibis, Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Heron, and two Soras.
Couch’s Kingbirds were the most common flycatcher in the
Valley at this time, identified by voice.
Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge
We started one morning at Santa Ana. It, like Bentson-Rio
Grande offers lots of trail-walking down by the River, both through woodlands
and open wetlands. This morning, the woodlands were remarkably quiet but the
wetlands were more productive. Three highlights were memorable: A Gray Hawk by
the woodland edge, a Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs posed side by side to show
the size difference, and several Cinnamon Teal drakes showing off the red iris and
rich burnished plumage.
We bumped into a group of young naturalists in search of
spiders. The group was accompanied by a well-appointed guard with automatic weapon
and a cadaver dog at his side. Not sure why spider-hunters needed the chaperone…
Salineño Wildlife Reserve
On our last morning, we drove 90 minutes north and west to the
Salineño Reserve, just below Falcon Dam. Here there is nice access to the wooded
banks of the River and also a nice array of bird feeders within the tiny
reserve itself. Along the river we hunted for Morelet’s Seedeater and Northern
Beardless Tyrannulet, but no luck! No Muscovy ducks either. But we glimpsed a
single Red-billed Pigeon high overhead, racing over the River into Mexico. That was a lifer
for me. The feeders were rather ho-hum,
but did feature a hybrid Bullock’s-Baltimore Oriole.
Roma Bluffs
On our drive back from Salineño we stopped in Roma
for lunch and also visited Roma Bluffs to look out over the Rio Grande into Ciudad
Miguel Alemán.
Restaurants
One does not travel to south Texas for its restaurants.
Naturally, Mexican fare is the cuisine offered in greatest abundance, and we
sampled an array of Mexican eateries. All were adequate but few meals would
have earned more than a couple of stars. My favorite meal was a Tacos Reynosa
platter served at Poncho’s in McAllen. That restaurant would garner zero stars
for beauty or tidiness, but the food was good, especially when washed down with
a chilly Topo Chico!
Driving
South Texas is the land of highways and frontage roads. Posted
speeds of 65, 70, and 75 are not uncommon. Everybody is in a hurry to get
wherever they are going. Be prepared for some serious defensive driving…
Weather and Season
Warm or hot and dry, often windy, especially in the
afternoon. Not great birding weather. Best to start the day
before sunrise to take advantage of the cooler hours just after dawn. We
were lucky to be there just after the time change to Daylight Savings, when the
sun did not rise until 7:40AM. Seasonally, mid-March apparently is not the best
time to bird the Valley. For butterflies, October and November are best, and mid-winter
may be best for the birdlife as well.
The Wall
The border wall is in place in many places along the River,
but it poses no constraints on visiting naturalists. It is far from complete,
and these days the wall is being constructed both by the Feds as well as by the
Texas state government.
Both the National Butterfly Center and Salineño Reserve are
under current threat of habitat destruction from wall builders. The bare-earth clearing
created to make a corridor for the wall is excessive, often 200-300 meters
wide. And of course wildlife cannot pass through the wall, so this is another
problem for Nature in the LRGV.
Recommendations
Though we did see the Grosbeak, our visit to the Valley for
birding and butterfly hunting was a disappointment. We assume the combination
of season and weather weighed against us.
We suggest future visitors carefully plan the timing of
their visit to line up with the peak season for either butterflies or birds. Year-to-year
variation (such as El Niño La Niña) may have an impact that should be considered
as well. Happy travels!
