Tweaking in La Feria - Harlingen, TX
Harlingen, TX
Where I stayed
VIP La Feria - East
What I did
Edinburg Scenic Wetlands
Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge Rio Hondo
Quinta Mazatlan McAllen
Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge Alamo
South San Padre Island
Las Polomas Wildlife Management Area
Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center
Old Hidalgo Pumphouse and World Birding Center
We find ourselves back in the Harlingen/Brownsville Texas area camped at the VIP La Feria RV Park in La Feria, Texas. We stayed at this park in late March last year and as fate would have it, we are in the exact same spot this year. This must have been our destiny since the RV that was in this very nice spot pulled out the day we pulled in. It is a good location with a great shade tree and a wonderful concrete patio with lots of parking for the truck. It is much more hospitable than when we were here last and the site was mushy with recent rains and they had to put down plywood and planks for our RV to park on the grass. This time, firm dry ground is good!
As I examine our location and our planned agenda for the upcoming week, the following contemplation strikes me - and hard…
You know how sometimes you start doing something with a low level of interest and then one day you realize it now consumes your life? Casey and I love to hike – through forests, up mountains, along streams and especially to waterfalls. While hiking, we would frequently run into folks who were enjoying their trek and also shared their knowlede about the birds in the surrounding habitat. This ultimately led to us becoming interested in birds and we added it as a component to our hikes. It became a side thing that Casey describes as an informal scavenger hunt. Then one day you wake up and realize that your destinations are now primarily driven by the birding opportunities in an area and the target outings are almost 100% bird-based - Ummm.
If you have never seen the movie "The Big Year", I suggest you try to find and watch it online or via any kind of inexpensive rental. One would think that a movie starring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson would be a rip-roaring comedy. I have now come to view this as a true-to-life birding documentary.
This movie depicts a “Big Year” which is an informal competition among birders to see who can identify by sight or sound the largest number of species of birds within a single calendar year and within a specific geographical area.
Allow me to drive this point home. During one of our professionally guided birding outings at the Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center, we walk past a “well used” trailer located on the grounds of the park. I note that the mailbox indicates that Ben Basham lives here. The guide informs us that Benton (Ben) Basham was the first birder to break the count of 700 species in a Big Year and is one of the original founding members of the American Birding Association. He goes on to explain that this accomplishment required the dedication of spending weeks in Attu, Alaska (the western-most island of the Aleutians in the Bering Sea near the International Date Line) so that migrating Asian bird species could be added to the count.
Sandy Komito beat Ben's record and still holds the record of 745 species set in 1998. The Big Year competitors of 1998 were the subject of a book, The Big Year, by Mark Obmascik where three birders chased the prior record of 721 birds and Sandy is the main character in the movie.
Gazing at the worn down trailer, dilapidated car port and antique van, I begin to question this newly found enthusiasm for birding. Luckily, we have not crossed the boundary into becoming “listers”. A lister is a compulsive bird-seeking list-maker. Often these are centered on the birds seen in a particular area. A lister may make a new list for each birding trip, or for a region, province, country, nature reserve, or even for their own garden. Some listers are quite inventive creating lists such as birds seen while driving over 2 hours from home, birds seen while lying down, birds seen through a specific pair of binoculars or spotting scope, etc.
There are some listers that I call “tweakers” in homage to the individuals that become hooked on Crystal Meth and who develop very “interesting” physical habits and laser focused obsessions – some of which were depicted in the TV show “Breaking Bad”. In the birding world, these folks are officially called Twitchers. A Twitcher is “an incredibly impassioned and committed birder who chases after rare birds and 'twitches’ with excitement when seeing a rare or highly desired bird species.”
All seriousness aside, we are here in the Rio Grande Valley region which is home to many tropical bird species found nowhere else in the United States. It is a major bird migration corridor; the convergence of two major flyways (the Central and Mississippi), and affords the birder an abundance of Northern species migrating to avoid the winter cold and Southern species from Mexico and Central America avoiding the winter warmth who take advantage of northern breeding habitats.
Off we go to the parks described below enjoying days that range in temperature from sunny and the low 70s to sunny in the high 80s - all this occurring while much of our family gets buried in snow and ice storms back east. Of the hundreds of pictures taken, I hope you enjoy the few that were selected from the following locations:
Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge
Established in 1943 for the protection of migratory birds, this refuge is positioned along an east-west and north-south juncture of two major migratory routes for many species of birds. It is also at the northern-most point for many species whose range extends south into Central and South America. The refuge is right in the middle of all this biological diversity, which is what makes this 2,088 acre parcel the : Jewel of the National Wildlife Refuge System.” Though small in size, Santa Ana offers visitors an opportunity to see birds, butterflies and many other species not found anywhere else in the United States beyond South Texas.
When we were here last year, we missed the last Tram Tour of the day and did not have the energy to explore the vastness of this park on foot. Today, we drive through an early morning fog and arrive early. As the sun is fracturing the dense fog, the tram ride provides a 90 minute overview of the history and habitat of the park. We then spend most of the rest of the day exploring the trails, climbing the towers and meeting all kinds of interesting folks. The most memorable of which was a skeleton-thin gentleman from Boston who befriended a fellow birder on a Birding Listserv and drove down from snow and ice covered Boston. The purpose of their trip was for this cancer victim to attempt to view two birds on his “life list”. When we met him he was in tears having seen one of the two. Kind of puts things in perspective doesn’t it?
Later, we speak with his companion who is a fellow avid birder and who did not previously know his companion. He took the time off work to drive him down to the farthest point in Texas on the Mexican border. If there was Make-A-Wish was for adults, it would likely look something like this.
We return to this park later in the week in order to take part in a free birding tour offered by outstanding park volunteers who we learn are extremely knowledgeable regarding a number of natural science topics. These volunteers park their RVs in the park for free during the winter seasons in exchange for helping out in the park. Casey’s smartphone app records that we walked over 5 miles on this birding-on-foot tour.
South San Padre Island
After a full day of hiking Santa Ana and with my legs pushed to their limits, I declared our next full day to be a “Beach Day”. We drove one hour to the amazing South San Padre Island. This location is a barrier island off the mainland of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico. It reminded me of the Outer Banks of North Carolina with its long bridge connecting the mainland to the outer island and the densely built up core tourist areas thinning out to vast deserted stretches of sand dunes and empty shores. I later learn that this is the “Longest Stretch of Undeveloped Barrier Island in The World.”
Here we enjoyed exploring the dunes and beaches, relaxing by the crashing waves of the Gulf of Mexico while reading a book, slurping down a cold cocktail and chowing on a good meal. We also visited the Sea Turtle Rescue Center – www.seaturtleinc.org.
The Rio Grande Valley region houses not just one, but nine unique locations designated as a “World Birding Center” site. Each has its own attractions for both the first time visitor and expert birder. We stopped by one of them called the “South Padre Island Nature and Birding Center”. This was reported to be a spectacular introduction to a world-class destination. A slender thread of land between the shallow Laguna Madre and the rolling Gulf of Mexico, anchors the World Birding Center. With not much time left in the day and our assessment that this location is more for first-timers and tourists, we hang on to our birding dollars and head back home.
Edinburg Scenic Wetlands and World Birding Center
This site is a 40-acre wetlands oasis in the midst of a lively urban landscape. It offers watchable wildlife year-round in a setting friendly to birds, butterflies and other water-loving creatures. Here we found two huge ponds with a connecting canal. There is an Interpretive Center, Butterfly Garden, Community Garden, Native plant nursery and lots of viewing blinds and docks. We enjoyed our brief stay which was highlighted by an up-close look at a Hawk.
Quinta Mazatlan and World Birding Center
This 1930’s country estate in the heart of McAllen, Quinta Mazatlan is an historic Spanish Revival adobe hacienda surrounded by lush tropical landscaping and native woodland. It is a grand old home and is one of the largest remaining adobe homes built in the state of Texas. This venue offers nature trails, a children’s Discovery Center and water features. Over 100 species of birds and over 100 species of tropical and native trees, flowers and plants have been identified here. We found it to be an urban oasis where quiet trails wind through more than 15 acres of birding habitat.
Las Polomas Wildlife Management Area - Longoria Unit
One afternoon we ventured to this site which is 373 acres of remnant high quality woodland. The entrance signs are easy to miss and there are no facilities, overlooks, signage or roads. Just wheel tracks through field after field that encircles ponds surrounded by thick and thorny brush. The wildlife here is clearly on their own and enjoying it. We did manage to find a few openings and were able to get close to the ponds and viewed a variety of birds enjoying their own private refuge which very, very few people ever visit.
Estero Llano Grande – State Park and World Birding Center
At the geographic center of the World Birding Center network, Estero Llano Grande attracts a spectacular array of South Texas wildlife with its varied landscape of shallow lake, woodlands and thorn forest. Beginning birders and nature lovers all enjoy exploring this 230 plus-acre refuge. This may be Casey’s favorite park in the area. There is an amazing network of trails and ponds, which in this region are often called a “Resaca” which is a dry river bed and a former channel of the Rio Grande.
Park officials have conveniently dubbed portions of the park with names like “Alligator Lake” where you will find at least one Alligator, Grebe Marsh – with many Grebes, Avocet Pond, Ibis Pond and Kiskadee Ponds – again each containing at least one of their namesakes. I’m not sure how the birds know where to report in each day, but it all seems to work. Likewise, in fact, I found many visitors at the “Visitors Center”.
Old Hidalgo Pumphouse and World Birding Center
Visitors to this museum on the Rio Grande can learn about the steam-driven irrigation pumps that transformed Hidalgo County into a year-round farming phenomenon. You can wander the museum’s grounds, where hummingbird gardens are planned, and where many of the Valley’s amazing bird species are reported to be regular visitors. However, unfortunately during our visit they were either in Mexico shopping or taking a siesta. In fact, I probably would not recommend this destination as either a birding or hiking spot. If you want to learn about pump houses, this is your place! Luckily, it is free. Nearby, we found some Monk Parakeets that had constructed a huge nest on a telephone/power pole.
Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge
This destination is three separate units totaling approximately 90,000 acres is the largest protected habitat in the Rio Grande Valley. There have been more recorded species of birds here than any other National Wildlife Refuge. Additionally, endangered species such as the Ocelot and Aplomado Falcon are provided with habitat by the caring full time and volunteer staff.
One major difference between a National Park and a National Wildlife Refuge is that the wildlife and habitats come before people at a Refuge. Recent Ocelot killings caused by careless drivers resulted in the shutdown of the major loop driving tour. We were able to take the last ranger-guided tour of this closed driving loop that will be offered for the next year via a Tram. For the next year, the park will be re-routing and improving the road to avoid Ocelot habitat while still allowing visitors to view the diverse environments including the shoreline and its birds.
While spending a full day at this location, we also took part in a van birding tour where eight of us were driven by park volunteers to remote sections of the park in order to stalk some birds. As fate would have it, one of the tourists in the van was a professor of ornithology and there were also a few very dedicated and learned birders. This made for a very interesting and educational journey for Casey and me. From the van, we were lucky enough to spot a Bobcat crossing one of the dirt roads that is open only to bikes, walkers and our van. We also saw some ****i Antelope which are exotic species brought here from India. Males (known as the Blue Bull) can get as large as 635 pounds.
It was at this park that Casey fulfilled a fervent desire to see a Bobwhite Quail. To me, it looked like the cast from River Dance running across stage.
Recent sightings of the rare and elusive Rose-breasted Grosbeak has brought many an avid birder to this location attempting to complete one list or another and spend the better part of the day camped out near the porta-potties waiting for this guy to stick his head out for a second. Based solely on the aromas arising from the porta-potties, I am assuming only Tweakers will be stalking the Grosbeak at this location.
“Hobbies of any kind are boring, except to people who have the same hobby”
~ Dave Barry
Best Wishes!
Jim