Birds and Nature North America

Blog #2. 25-28 April 2019. Lower Rio Grande Valley (part II)

Birding the Lower Rio Grande Valley means driving, driving, driving. Everything is spread out and far apart. To drive from my campsite to the store to get groceries is 25 miles each way…mainly through vast expanses of rowcrop agriculture. Luckily, it is all birdy, one way or another. Flat open spaces, with virtually no relief. The only hill in the area is the huge mound created by the Brownsville Dump, visible for miles…

The Black-bellied Tree-Duck is the common bird of the LRGV. They are everywhere and easily approached. It is the bird of the LRGV. No sign of the Fulvous Tree-Duck.

The Black-capped Titmouse, is common and vocal in the mesquite scrub.

Olive Sparrow is common in the scrub thickets of the LRGV... Hard to see but present...

The Black-tailed Jackrabbit is quite a strange-looking creature, when compared to the adorable little cottontails that are everywhere.

The Curve-billed Thrasher is confiding and seen in pairs foraging around the campsites. Easier to see than the Long-billed Thrasher, featured in the last blog.

One of the specialties of the LRGV is Botteri’s Sparrow, found hiding in Bunchgrass in remnant coastal prairie. There is a favorite spot of habitat just before the border check-point along Route 4 headed to Boca Chica beach. Easy to locate in the early morning.

Common Gallinules can be found in just about every wet spot along the road.

Harris’s Hawk is second only the Crested Caracara in terms of a commonplace raptor across the rural landscape.

Least Terns were gathering in numbers to breed in open wetlands of the LRGV.

Here is the Rabb Mansion, which serves as the welcome center for the Sabal Palm Audubon Center right on a bend of the Rio Grande. The entire reserve is now south of the Wall. Happily, this was done to avoid cutting the reserve in two with the obstruction. A decent solution!

Prickly Pear cactus is flowering now in the coastal prairie. The flowers are either bright yellow or orangey-red.

Future blogs will feature more about the shorebirds I am focused upon… The LRGV is not a hotspot for the shorebirds. They tend to be hidden in out of the way places… But next we will have a look at South Padre Island and its birdy features...

I spent a lot of time in the LRGV and most of the time so no evidence of the Wall. But it is there, one way or another. Here are some images of the structure. Easy to approach and one can move back and forth from one side to another at open gates.