Jeannette and I returned late Monday night from a fantastic trip to the birding mecca of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Here, a number of sub-tropical and predominantly Mexican species make their appearances in the United States – some as vagrants, some even locally common in certain habitats that just make it across the border.

Warm, dry weather (a few of the days we were there we melted in temperatures in the low to mid 80’s) further add to the region’s popularity for winter birding. Numerous parks, private “sanctuaries,” and a real, true, and sincere effort to cater to birding tourists – and therefore a plethora of facilities and information catering to us – make this a very “easy” way (verses international travel) to see lots of birds in a relatively small area.

Jeannette and I arrived in McAllen in the afternoon of the 24th, and headed to our home base for the week – our friend’s Sean and Nancy in Edinburg. We were greeted by Sean, and their miniature poodle Pip, but also by a life bird for each of us: a Buff-bellied Hummingbird for me in Sean’s backyard (along with a rare-in-winter Hooded Oriole) and a Curve-billed Thrasher for Jeannette in a small vacant lot just down the road. This vacant lot and the irrigation canal adjacent to it produced even more lifers for me: Green Kingfisher, Vermillion Flycatcher, Ringed Kingfisher, and Golden-fronted Woodpecker. Great Kiskadees as an “ABA area” bird for me, and a calling Tropical Kingbird was an ABA bird for both of us. When Jeannette and I picked out a Northern Flicker in flight among the numerous commuting Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, we returned the favor to Sean as the Flicker was a Rio Grande Valley first for him.

Our first full day began at Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park. Plain Chacalacas, Green Jays, Black-crested Titmouse, Olive Sparrow, Long-billed Thrasher, Altamira Oriole, and Couch’s Kingbird were all new to me, and White-tipped Doves and a Gray Hawk were my first outside of Trinidad and Tobago. Pyrrhuloxia – a long-time nemesis for Jeannette, Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Cinnamon Teal, and Inca Doves were among the many species we enjoyed as well. At the Hawk Tower, I spished up a male Lazuli Bunting - a very rare bird in the Rio Grande Valley; our rare bird discovery of the day.

THE non-birding highlight of the trip was the FOOD! We did our best to eat as many meals at as many hole-in-the-wall Mexican and Tex-Mex places as we could. Often, I relied on Jeannette to translate the menu and place the orders for me (I only speak English, and poorly at that, and “Joisey”). Despite walking almost all day, every day, I think I actually gained weight on this trip – the food was so good – and so cheap!

In the afternoon, we went to the nearby hotspot of Anzalduas County Park, but we struck out on everything we were looking for, but I did see my first Least Grebes there. The McAllen Sewage Ponds were not the most aesthetically or aromatically pleasing destination of the trip, but the 91 Black-necked Stilts there made the visit more than worthwhile.

On Day 2, we headed west to the village of Salineno. There, the DeWinds welcome birders from all over the world to sit in front of their feeding station. Grapefruits, oranges, dog food, marshmallows, sugar water, seed, and more is offered to an amazing diversity of exotic feeder visitors. Dozens of Green Jays, 10+ Altamira Orioles, 3+ Audubon’s Orioles, at least 6 Great Kiskadees, a Bewick’s Wren, an Audubon’s Yellow-rumped Warbler, Long-billed Thrashers, Lincoln’s Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, White-tipped Doves, Inca Doves, and Olive Sparrows were joined by a Clay-colored Robin. The stars of the show, however, were the 4 Brown Jays – their personality makes up for their lackluster plumage – this feeder is one of the few places in the U.S. that you can see a Brown Jay, it is thought only about a dozen of these Mexican corvids visit the U.S. in this area.

The next stop was also a feeding station well-known for it’s Brown Jay visitors, in nearby Chapeno. We only saw one Brown Jay here, but we picked up a Swamp Sparrow and, near a covey of Northern Bobwhite, I spotted 2 of the much sought after Scaled Quail.

Heading further west, into even more desert-like habitat, we began to see a more southwestern flavor to the bird life, such as Black-throated Sparrows, Cactus Wrens, and a Greater Roadrunner. 2 House Finches at Starr County Park were extremely rare Lower Rio Grande Valley sightings. Falcon State Park produced a single Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, and two rare-in-winter Barn Swallows.

On Friday, we headed east, and began the day at Sabal Palm Grove Sanctuary in Brownsville, where we struck out with the long-staying stray Gray-crowned Yellowthroat there, but enjoyed many other species, such as Carolina Wrens, all three Kingfishers, and a flyover flock of Green Parakeets.

Our next stop was the famous Brownsville Dump. While Tamaulipas Crows are no longer reliably found there (and we did not see any), we had a great time thanks to the sheer numbers of birds there: 10s of thousands of Laughing Gulls, thousands of Ring-billed Gulls and Great-tailed Grackles, hundreds of Herring Gulls, European Starlings, and Turkey Vultures, dozens of Black Vultures and Cattle Egrets, at least 4 White-tailed Hawks, 20 or so Chihuahuan Ravens – thanks the wind, the white bases of their neck feathers were readily visible, making for easy identification, and at least 50 Crested Caracaras! But, try as I might, I failed at teasing out any rare gulls from the throngs.

Boca Chica Beach was not too productive, but it was odd seeing a Northern Gannet while wearing shorts and a t-shirt! We drove some side roads, enjoying raptors (White-tailed Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, American Kestrels, and a couple of White-tailed Kites) and looking for sparrows, but the strong afternoon winds precluded our success at this endeavor. The highlight of the afternoon, however, was an Endangered Aplomado Falcon perched on a wire. Although this bird was banded, and therefore captive-raised and released - and therefore not “countable” – it was simply a beautiful bird, and a good sign of this species continuing slow, but steady recovery.

Part II tomorrow . . .