Alamo Inn B&B, Gear & Tours
801 Main St.
Alamo, TX 78516
956-782-9912
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True Tales of a Valley Birder is a column about bird watching in the Valley, about the birds, places, and birding people that make this the top birding hot spot
in Texas and in the United States, and one of the top thirty birding spots on earth. This is our Valley heritage. Birders represent 25% of Valley tourism, and
spend over $463 million here annually, including $67 million in local taxes, sustaining 6,600 good jobs in the Valley. Our wild birds are a valuable asset.
Look for more Bird Tales in this series written by Keith Hackland, proprietor of Alamo Inn B&B, Gear & Tours
Read these True Tales of a Valley Birder
The Lower Rio Grande Valley is famous for
its spring migration: during the peak times of
mid-April to mid-May ... Fall birding isn't quite
as predictable but it can still be exciting!
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Amazing to us living in North America, a
large continent, is the extensive information
the small island of Great Britain has about its
birds. We use rough estimates, but in Britain
they have much more detailed information,
and so the population of each bird species is
known.
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Does a wall keep migrants and smugglers out of the US, or
does it keep farmers and nature tourists inside the wall and
away from legitimately accessing lands along the Rio Grande?
Everyone has an opinion. If you want to stir up an argument,
just ask anyone for opinions on the border wall.
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Birders visit the Valley from mid-October to
mid-May. They seem to avoid summer months. My
theory is that they prefer to bird in the cold northern
latitudes when the big thaw is in place while it
is fun to be in the woods and on the water without
snow and ice.
Some folks do visit the Valley to bird the summer
months, but only a few smart people.
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Because May is such a prime
migration month in northern states, most folks think that "the
show is over" in the Valley by the end of April.
Not so! In fact, if you check John Arvin's excellent
Birds of the South Texas Brushlands, you'll see that the peak times for most of the warblers is mid-April through mid-May, and the flycatchers come through primarily during the entire month of May!
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I was going about the yard routine with our
chickens, goose, and vegetable garden on a
warm spring morning, when I felt as if I was
being watched, causing me to look up. There,
about ten yards from me was a pair of Black-bellied
Whistling-ducks.
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Some birds have a great affinity for water. They forage for aquatic life, they wade in it, and they live around it.
A friend, Neil Gunnar Berg, recently took some great photos of water birds, and wrote about his experience in his blog
"1410 Oakwood". With his permission we share his work here.
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The Lower Rio Grande Valley boasts many
specialty birds, and we are blessed with many
birders who come from all over the world to
see our special birds! But among the larger
group of "general" birders, there are those who
will make a special effort to come all the way
down to see a "mega-rarity" - an avian visitor
from Mexico that they desire to add to their
North American (aka "ABA") list!
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Not a bird, but a wild cat, larger than a house
cat, but generally smaller than a Bobcat. Ocelots
have long tails and rounded (Mickey
Mouse) ears. They play a valuable role in our
South Texas wild lands.
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What rare birds are around? Where can we
find them? Generally that is the first question
we hear from birders visiting the Valley. After
that subject has been exhausted the next subject
is "Any good restaurants in the area?"
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November is a big month in the Valley for
birders because it offers really great birding,
and that is why the 22 year old Rio Grande
Valley Birding Festival is held in early November
annually.
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It started at 9 am yesterday. Charlie, my daughter's
pseudonym, photographed a kettle of hawks
moving south east over Alamo. We counted 200
hawks in that kettle.
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The Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) isn't
just a hotbed of unique birds for the United
States, but for butterflies (and other critters) as
well! Just as birders flock to the Valley in hopes
of seeing lifers and rarities, the same holds true
for butterfly watchers who come in search of
Mexican butterflies that reach the northern
limits of their range here in south Texas, but
also in hopes of that rare stray that may wander
across the border!
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Some folks work in the fields, on roofs, in construction and garden in the summer here in the
Valley. Other folks drive or fly in to bird watch. I respect everyone who has to work outdoors in
the sun in three digit heat because they have to do that to earn a living. Birders do it for fun.
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There's great birding in the Lower Rio Grande
Valley any time of year, but there's no denying
that "summer vacation time" is slow, primarily
due to the oppressive heat and humidity!
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The lure of birding the Lower Rio Grande
Valley is strong. It amazes us, but really should
not, that birders from so many countries hear
about the Valley and make their way here, binoculars
and cameras in hand.
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After a great start to the tour, birding very full days, we
were up early next morning, following back roads from
Refugio to Rockport, stopping at wetlands to see Mottled
Duck, Black-necked Stilt and Teal. We stopped on
a busy road where the group wandered along peering
through binoculars and scopes, bird watching.
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It may have occurred before today, but if it did, I don't know
about it ... a birding tour of South Texas by a tour group from Germany.
We have the privilege of hosting this tour for a remarkable
group of birders who all speak German.
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How would I describe a typical bird-guiding day
in the Lower Rio Grande Valley? Fabulous! Client
birders ... everyone is different, and everyone has
a unique list of target birds, whether it's their first
time to the Valley and everything is new, or it's a
seasoned hard-core birder who hops a plane to see
that one bird that will put them over 700 species for
North America ABA list area!
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Texas leads the United States and Canada in birding. Our
state has some 640 species on record. That count is governed
by the Texas Bird Records Committee, a group of experts who
are very careful before recognizing a new species to add to the
state list.
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No doubt many Valley residents already
have heard of the top Valley birding hot spots,
twenty to thirty of them. At the head of the list
is Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, with
2,088 acres, just south of Alamo, along several
miles of the winding Rio Grande encircling
two sides of the refuge. It was the first National
Wildlife Refuge in the Valley, having been purchased
in 1943.
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Mary Beth Stowe works for Alamo Inn
B&B, Gear & Tours as a birding guide. She
gets out birding regularly, and last weekend
she and a birder friend visited these special
areas at Delta Lake, Hargill, and Brushline
Road.
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The 22nd annual birding festival (2015) will be held
in Harlingen, at the Harlingen Municipal Complex
at Fair Park, with events from Thursday,
November 5 through Sunday, November 8.
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My own favorite time is November and December.
For one thing it is cool and I feel the
call to go hiking. Better than that, the fall migrants
are moving through, and winter birds are
showing up for their stay in the Valley.
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The Valley has great native trees, which I call
money trees, that attract 540 species of wonderful
wild birds which in turn attract Birders
from across the U.S. and around the world.
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So where can we find money
trees and the fantastic Valley birds
they attract? Almost anywhere in
the Valley, including in our yards.
In addition, the Valley has a network
of great birding destinations,
woodland parks, sanctuaries, and
refuges, that include wetlands and
grasslands, and are set up for the
comfort of birds. They also attract
birders. We call these great places
"birding hot spots".
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If I had a money tree, unfurling green
dollars on each branch, would I nurture
it, and help it grow to produce more and
more green dollars?
You bet I would. Most folks would
be thrilled to have a green money tree
growing in their yard.
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Imagine digging clay out of the sticky Valley earth and fashioning
it into large bricks, laying these in the sun to dry, and then building
your dream home with them. Certainly the cost of materials would
be low, but what would it look like, and would it last? Could clay
mud like this withstand Valley wind, rain, and drought?
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Creeping up behind a reclining bright green spring mesquite, I raised binoculars and stared into the brown, scaly face of Big Mama, a huge alligator, reclined at the edge of the pond.
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Who could have predicted that the
Valley would have developed the way it
has done today? Probably only Francisco
Yturria, the patriarch of the Valley
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The Valley Spotlight gratefully acknowledges the support that Keith Hackland has shown through advertising and as a contributing writer since our beginnings in 2014. Thank You Keith!
