Monday, October 4, 2010
Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, Mission, TX - Feb 15-28
This 587-acre park ("Bentsen" for short), which was donated to the state in 1944 by Senator Lloyd Bentsen's parents, provides the best winter birding in South Texas. Overuse & an extended drought, however, have caused management to rethink land usage; current plans are to close the trailer loop, while expanding the park to over 1300 acres. The hope is to eventually have an unbroken chain of parks along the entire valley, which will benefit not only birds, but the two endangered wildcats of the area: fewer than 100 Ocelots now remain in the wild, & as few as 30 Jaguarundis may exist in small pockets along the Rio Grande, making inbreeding a major concern.
We mainly concentrated on Bentsen our 1st week, joining the morning & evening bird walks, walking the trailer loop & tenting area, and hiking the Nature Trail that extends to the Rio Grande (new species: Hook-billed Kite, Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Clay-colored Robin, Blue-headed Vireo, Bronzed Cowbird, & Hooded Oriole). The Hook-billed Kite's favorite food is a tree snail, which we saw many of, clinging to trees & even cacti.
The 2nd week we explored the wide range of facilities outside the park. Santa Ana NWR has 2000+ acres of excellent birding habitat, including resacas (ox-bow lakes) & Spanish-moss laden woods. Only 1 or 2 feet of elevation change is enough to change the habitat from desert scrub to subtropical. We arrived at 7:30 for the morning bird walk, which was quite enjoyable, seeing many "old friends" but, alas, no new species. We did hear Tropical Parulas but never actually saw one. After hiking further on our own, we joined the 2pm Tram Tour during the hottest part of the day. The Tour leader, a young Hispanic woman attending college nearby, was a wealth of information. Only 2% of the original habitat still remains in the valley, & the Rio Grande is just a shadow of its historical self, formerly flooding several miles inland every spring, fertilizing the riparian forests. We continued birding after the Tour (again failing to see the elusive Tropical Parula) & at dusk came upon a bobcat 20 yards down the trail, loping casually to within 15 ft of us before he ducked down a side trail. We then had dinner with a fulltimer couple that volunteers at Santa Ana who we had met earlier in the day. We enjoyed Santa Ana (pronounced "Santana" by the locals) so much that we went back later in the week.
We visited Anzalduas Park & Dam, a county park with a similar park right across the Rio Grande in Mexico (more than one person told us that much of the valley is more North Mexico than Texas). Rare birds occasionally stray into Anzalduas, & Sprague's Pipits are often seen near the entrance, but we saw none. It did offer another opportunity for a refreshing walk in pleasant surroundings.
Another "must see" was the Donna Flea Market, with just about anything trailer-related for sale, plus so much junk that looked like garage sale rejects. The flea market is kept alive by the 1000s of Winter Texans who descend on this area every year.In keeping with our supporting local arts groups, we attended a performance of the ballet "Giselle" by the South Texas Dance Theatre. The performance exceeded our expectations & then some! The 2 leads were especially fine, probably better than anyone we saw in Denver; the female lead in particular giving an overall impression of grace & weightlessness with her smooth, flowing arm motions & footwork. Our friends, Pat & Dennis, went with us & enjoyed it also. They will continue to travel with us until the 1st of April. Although our activities often diverge during the day (they are not into birding as much as we are), we enjoy evening games & other get-togethers.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 10:15 PM 
