I've had a week in McAllen, Texas, and the opportunity to take in a few Texan Gulf Coast specialities. First stop was the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, which is part of the 'World Birding Center' chain of sites down here. The place was really well run, with a great visitor center, plenty of birding trails and hides, and a number of feeding stations which, in winter, would be absolutely brimming with birds.
Although summer is arguably the worst time of year to visit here, we still came across a number of excellent birds. Around the visitor center, for example, there were a number of parties of feeding
Plain Chachalacas...
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| Plain Chachalaca |
Surprisingly in the trees, we also saw many of the odd Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. This one was only too happy to pose for a photo.
Sharing the trees with the ducks were birds such as Northern Cardinals, countless Golden-fronted Woodpeckers and Northern Mockingbirds, Green Jays, Olive Sparrows and Groove-billed Anis,
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| Northern Cardinal |
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| Green Jay |
In the undergrowth, we encountered
Curve-billed and
Long-billed Thrashers,
Mourning, White-tipped, White-winged and
Inca Doves,
Ladderback Woodpeckers, an
Altamira Oriole, and an interesting case of a
Hooded Oriole (below) feeding a young
Bronzed Cowbird. The Cowbirds are notorious nest parasites, and in this instance, the Oriole believed the Cowbird was from its own brood.
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| Hooded Oriole |
Under a bridge on the reserve, there were
Cave Swallows,
Purple Martins,
Red-winged Blackbirds and a
Black Phoebe, whilst on the wires were some more Gulf Coast Specialities -
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and
Couch's Kingbirds. On the visitor center feeding stations were
Buff-bellied Hummingbirds.
Oh, hold on. There's one more character that I've missed out....
Yep, that's right, Wily Coyote was in town. Watch out Roadrunner.
