Hurricane Alex, in July 2010, damaged most, if not all, birding sites along the Rio Grande. The river went from being 300 feet wide to 2 miles wide in places. The Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge’s tram and bicycle road is largely under water, along with a lot of their land. Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park has only recently reopened. It’s tram road is open, but many trails are closed. No javelina’s have been seen in the park since the hurricane and subsequent flooding, but javelina footprints have recently been spotted.

The Santa Ana Refuge will let nature take it’s course and let any water evaporate naturally. I like it with more water. There are newly created swamps that are at times full of birds. The cacophony of bird sounds in these areas must at times be like what is heard in Louisiana and Florida swamps.

Was thrilled to be able to get pictures of a green kingfisher in a new swamp area at the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge. Think the background noise of all the other birds made it possible for me to get the pictures of it fishing.

On a sad note, I had planned to visit La Sal del Rey, part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Wildlife Refuge system, but saw there was an advisory not to go there alone. A volunteer at the Santa Ana Refuge told me she went there with a group and heard gun shots. The Wildlife Refuge feels it’s not safe for individuals to go there alone. The Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge has a Border Patrol station connected to it. You sometimes see armed agents walking the grounds.

Saw the above large snake in the same swamp the kingfisher was in.

Have seen clay-colored thrushes at both the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge and Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park.

Curved-billed thrasher

See the bird in the above picture and how well it blends into the background? Estero Llano Grande State Park, one of the World Birding Center sites in South Texas, is the only place I’ve seen a common poorwill. One was pointed out to me when I was here a few years ago. On this visit I looked in the same area I had seen it before…and there it was. It is right next to a walking path. It doesn’t move or open it’s eyes when you walk near it. With my eyes, I will probably never see another one, unless it’s pointed out to me.

Common yellowthroat

Curved-billed thrasher

Golden-fronted woodpecker

Chachalaca

The rv park I’m staying at doesn’t do much to attract birds, but to my surprise, there are some black-bellied whistling ducks there and a loggerhead shrike perches right next to my rv. The ducks are often having disputes. Someone is putting out some birdseed and I think they are fighting over it.

The Salineño Bird Refuge (aka USFWS Kepler Tract) is next to the Rio Grande River a few miles from Falcon Dam. There is a caretaker on site who puts out food for the birds. It is a place where you can see three different orioles at the same site.

Above, an male altamira oriole on the left, and a female hooded oriole on the right. The altamira orioles are the largest of the orioles.

Male hooded oriole

Male, juvenile hooded oriole.

Audubon’s oriole with a mealworm.

The altamira oriole on the left kept hissing at the great kiskadee on the right, until the kiskadee responded.

One green jay try’s a mealworm, while the other one sticks to peanuts. Mealworms have to be a rare treat. The kiskadees were really going after them. They have never seemed interested in the regular bird food I put out.

Random musings: The central Rio Grande Valley between the towns of Weslaco and Mission seems like a unique mix of people. You have a large population of winter Texans, mostly older and white, and a large population of young hispanics. A lot of the winter Texans come from midwest farming states. Many of the rv parks offer a lot of social activities. I talked to a man when I took my truck in for an oil change who has been coming here for 20 years. He and his wife love to dance, and there are lots of dances here. He also has a mobile home in Maine. They spend summers in Maine and winters in Texas and fly between the two sites.

The rv park I stayed at in Alamo charges around $2,000 for 6 months occupancy and 6 months storage. If you put a mobile home on the site, you are kind of stuck, as it is not easy to move a mobile home. The man I talked to said he owned the land his home is on, but that is probably rare.

Heard a lot of sirens this visit, at least one every 2 or 3 hours. All I saw were ambulances, no police cars. This may reflect on the large number of older people here and some large hospitals in the area.

Below, an orange-crowned warbler and a singing black-crested titmouse at the Frontera Audubon site.

The bird above is a common poorwill. It may be common, but it’s the first one I’ve seen. A volunteer at Estero Llano Grande State Park pointed it out to me and several other people. It was not more than 5 feet away with 4 or 5 people standing around it, but it didn’t even open it’s eyes! Someone had tried to point one out to me last year, but it was 15 or 20 feet away and I couldn’t see it.

A little closer look.

I was afraid I was going to have to leave the area without getting a picture of a great kiskadee. They, and the green jays, are my two favorite birds in the area. The kiskadee isn’t great at posing, but finally got a picture on an overcast, rainy day at the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge.

Red cardinal at the Santa Ana Refuge on a sunny day.

Northern shovelers at Estero Llano Grande State Park.

Above, either a broad-tailed or a buff-bellied hummingbird. It, and the chachalacas below were seen at the Frontera Audubon site.

Below, chachalacas. There seem to be more of them this year. Not sure what predators they have.

Drove inland 60 miles from Arroyo City to Alamo, before a three-day cold spell hit. I’m staying at the same rv park I stayed at last year, right next to the expressway. It is hard to find a nice and affordable place to stay in this area. I arrived in about 4 layers of  clothes, because a cold wind had been blowing when I hooked up that morning. The clerk at the rv park asked me if I was cold. It was in the 60′s here, with no cold wind, so I was able to remove 3 of the extraneous layers. In Arroyo City there was very poor internet coverage, so I’m thrilled with the great coverage in a regular city like Alamo.

Was pleasantly surprised on visiting Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge to see a number of birds. There were a large variety of birds in a small lake and marsh. I don’t recall seeing such a variety of birds intermingle before. There were white pelicans, roseate spoonbills, black-necked stilts, egrets, both great and snowy, white-faced ibis’, sandpipers and others. Wonder if it was because of the expected cold spell or maybe strong winds near the ocean pushed them inland. One pelican had a green tag with number 398 on it. So far, no luck in finding its’ origin.

Although it had often been cold since I arrived in South Texas, the three-days of hard freezes at night here in Alamo were the first time it has gotten down to freezing. You can see it damaged some tender plants. Workers were busy in a lot of farm fields harvesting crops before the freeze arrived. It appears to back to the 60′s in the day and 40′s at night now. Texas came out better than Florida.

White-faced ibis’

There were a pair of Altamira orioles eating something in the bark of trees…sap?

Green-tailed towhee An olive sparrow

Long-billed thrasher

Below, picture taken on a rainy day, several days after the others.

Have spent most of  my time at Estero Llano Grande State Park as they have the most birds. Above: A lone roseate spoonbill has been roosting with some black-bellied whistling ducks the few days I’ve checked. Nearby are some white pelicans.

A tricolored heron eyeing a small fish.

Grebe

When I started hearing great kiskadees in Arroyo City, it took me a while to recall the kiskadee’s distinct calls. You often hear them but not see them and they are often heard in stereo, with one on each side of you.

great_kiskadeecalls

A sora, the first one I’ve seen. A volunteer heading a bird walk mentioned you could often see one at this spot, and he was right. The park has some very knowledgeable birders.

There are a lot of moss covered trees at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, especially along the land near the Rio Grande River. I rode my bike on on their 7 mile paved road (cars are not allowed in the winter, just a tram) and walked most of their trails. Did not see a lot of birds. Saw scat left by small to medium sized animals, so there is a lot of wildlife there, just hidden in the woods.

A squirrel getting around a squirrel-proof bird feeder at Frontera Audubon Thicket.

Below, a malachite butterfly, also at Frontera.

Queen butterfly, Mexican blue-wing butterfly and a green kingfisher seen at Estero Llano Grande State Park. Finally got a half decent picture of a kingfisher, and a green one at that. Lots of beautiful butterflys here as well as butterfly enthusiasts.

Great kiskadee, altamira oriole, and two chachalacas seen at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. Really enjoyed riding my bike through the park. It is a easy ride with no hills.

I have moved around 50 miles up the Rio Grande Valley to Alamo, Texas. The rv park I’m staying at gives me  a view of a freeway, with three lanes going each way, and  “frontage roads”, with three lanes on each side of the freeway. That makes 12 lanes of traffic! There are lots of rv parks in south Texas, but all the ones I’ve seen charge a lot if you are staying less than a month. This current rv park had the best price…and now I see why. It is nice to have good internet coverage, which I really missed in the rural area of Arroyo City.

I wanted to stay in Alamo because it is close to the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge, which I didn”t get to visit last year. Also nearby, is Estero Llano Grande State Park, the Frontera Audubon Thicket, and the Valley Nature Center. Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, that I visited last year, is also not far.

The pictures above were taken at the Estero Llano Grande State Park. An anhinga (snake bird) caught a fish and tried all sorts of ways to swallow it, but it was just a little to big. It ended up getting away after about 3 or 4 minutes. Don’t know what shape it was in. This state park has the best variety of birds I’ve seen so far. Have never seen so many anhingas.

Grebe at Estero Llano Grande State Park.

A chacalaca at Frontera Audubon Thicket. This is a historic home surrounded by native trees and plants, a grove of grapefruit trees full of fruit, and water areas. There is a trail that goes through the “thicket”.

Also at the Frontera Thicket: Above, male and female rose-breasted grosbeaks—the first grosbeaks I have ever seen; Below, a woodpecker like I saw through my screen in Arroyo City.