Forty Years Ago in the Lower Rio Grande Valley: Day Nine


Back in late May of 1983, four members of the Lancaster County Bird Club—Russ Markert, Harold Morrrin, Steve Santner, and your editor—embarked on an energetic trip to find, observe, and photograph birds in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.  What follows is a daily account of that two-week-long expedition.  Notes logged by Markert some four decades ago are quoted in italics.  The images are scans of 35 mm color slide photographs taken along the way by your editor.


DAY NINE—May 29, 1983

“Falcon Dam State Park, Texas”

“To the spillway area after breakfast and saw Ringed Kingfisher, Baird’s Sandpiper, and 2 Black-necked Stilts.  Stopped to photograph the Swainson’s Hawk which had flown in a tree.  Also saw a Blue Grosbeak.”

The Ringed Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata) was notably larger than the Belted Kingfishers with which we were so familiar, so it was easy to identify.  This was yet another tropical species found north only as far as the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.  Baird’s Sandpiper was a pretty good find for this location in late May.

Swainson's Hawk
The Swainson’s Hawk we discovered yesterday in a water-logged flightless condition had recovered.  Shortly after this photograph was taken and we had taken leave of the bird, we looked back and saw it flying away to the north.  Soon, it was out of sight.

“We drove to Santa Margarita Ranch to search for the elusive Brown Jay.”

While en route to Santa Margarita Ranch, we stopped twice to photograph birds we spotted along the way.

Plain Chachalacas
This family of Plain Chachalacas was spotted crossing the road near Falcon Dam.
Harris's Hawks
Harris’s Hawks are known to hunt in groups, hence their alternate common name “Wolf Hawk”.  We spotted these two and several others, presumably a mated pair and their recently fledged young, hunting an area of thornscrub not far from Santa Margarita Ranch near the town of Falcon Heights, Texas.

Beside the road just outside the entrance to the ranch, we observed a Verdin (Auriparus flaviceps), a tiny chickadee-like like bird with a yellow head and throat.  Verdins reside in both thornscrub and desert throughout the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

“Rancho Santa Margarita is a group of 8 houses.  Cattle roam at will.  We walked a long way along the river — No luck.  Had lunch in the camper and repeated the morning walk.  Cattle dung all over the place.  The dung rollers were as interesting to watch as the leaf-carrying ants.  Met a Mr. McQueary who had seen them 30 min. ago, so he led us to where he had seen them, but — No luck.”

Upon arriving at Santa Margarita Ranch intending to find Brown Jays (Psilorhinus morio), we drove over the in-ground cattle gate at the entrance and back the dirt driveway to the small cluster of houses where we parked.  We checked in with a resident there and slipped them a dollar or two a head for letting us spend the day on their land.  As we walked away from the houses, we noticed some intermittent movement in a pile of construction debris along the dirt road leading to the river.  Initially thinking we may have caught glimpses of some small rodents dashing around, we watched patiently until we saw at least two Blue Spiny Lizards (Sceloporus cyanogenys) among the lumber and tin.  The pair was obviously finding insects or other sources of prey there

To find Brown Jays, one of the five target species of the trip, Father Tom had advised us to follow the advice in James Lane’s A Birder’s Guide to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.  The recommendations contained therein brought us to Santa Margarita Ranch.  As was the case upriver near Falcon Dam, the Tamaulipan Saline Thornscrub that covers much of the property turns abruptly to subtropical riparian forest near the banks of the Rio Grande where wetter soils predominate.  The habitat was excellent, and we were certain the birds were there, but despite significant effort, we just couldn’t bump into Brown Jays at Santa Margarita Ranch.

We did however get good looks at another Hook-billed Kite sailing above the trees downriver.  During our second walk, Harold, Steve, and I waded down a short section of the Rio Grande in hopes of getting better looks into an area of shoreline forest too thick to enter by land.  Despite recent rains, the water was low, restricted by gates at Falcon Dam to little more than the flow needed to operate the turbines and generate electricity.  We saw orioles, Red-billed Pigeon, and Great Kiskadee—but no Brown Jays.

Bewick's Wren
We heard an Olive Sparrow and this Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) singing in some thornscrub along the edge of the riparian forest at Santa Margarita Ranch.  It took some effort to finally catch a glimpse of the wren.

“On the way out…found a nest of Pyrrhuloxia and saw a 6 ft. snake hanging from a bush with a rabbit in his mouth.  The snake caught the rabbit by the shoulder and it was working hard to get free.  Finally the snake dropped the rabbit, and they both went out of sight.” 

Pyrrhuloxia
A Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus) in the thornscrub along the dirt entrance/exit road to Santa Magarita Ranch.
Pyrrhuloxia
The pair of Pyrrhuloxia had their nest well-hidden.  We were lucky to have spotted it, but we dared not approach any closer for pictures for fear of frightening the nestlings and prompting premature fledging.

As we eased our way out the dirt road at Santa Magarita Ranch, we began hearing a blood-curdling series of squeals.  Russ stopped the van and as we peered into the thornscrub, we could catch glimpses of an Eastern Cottontail thrashing around.  At first we thought it had somehow become snagged in the quagmire of prickles on the dense vegetation.  Then we spotted the snake draped over the shrubs and attempting in vain to lift the cottontail off the ground.  The struggle, and the squealing, continued for several minutes as we labored to identify the snake.  As the snake attempted to reposition the cottontail so that it could swallow it head first, the rabbit broke free and escaped.  All was silent as the snake quickly fled as well.  As it slithered away we could see just how long it really was—5 to 6 feet or more.  You know, things really are bigger in Texas.  Based upon its large size, overall tan-brown color, and the rapid speed with which it left the scene, we determined it was a Western Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum testaceus).

“Back to the spillway at Falcon Dam — No luck.  Met Ron Huffman who is leading a trip for 3 women.  We will meet him at the spillway tomorrow AM early.  Back at our camp site for supper — shower and shave.  The Lesser Nighthawks were trilling late in the evening.”

During the evening, we found Black-throated Sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata) and Scaled Quail (Callipepla squamata) in the area of the campsite.  Then, as darkness settled in, the calls of Common Pauraque, Common Nighthawks, and Lesser Nighthawks (Chordeiles acutipennis) commenced.  We walked down the road to a spot where we could overlook a lower-lying area of thornscrub in hopes of catching a glimpse of some of these nightjars, particularly the latter species, as they patrolled for flying insects.  But under cloudy skies and being miles from any man-made sources of light, it was too dark to see anything flying around.

Scaled Quail
Just before sunset, this Scaled Quail appeared among the thornscrub near our campsite.

Forty Years Ago in the Lower Rio Grande Valley: Day Six


Back in late May of 1983, four members of the Lancaster County Bird Club—Russ Markert, Harold Morrrin, Steve Santner, and your editor—embarked on an energetic trip to find, observe, and photograph birds in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.  What follows is a daily account of that two-week-long expedition.  Notes logged by Markert some four decades ago are quoted in italics.  The images are scans of 35 mm color slide photographs taken along the way by your editor.


DAY SIX—May 26, 1983

“Bentsen State Park — Texas”

“Arose at 7:30.  Birded the park and watched for the reported Roadside Hawk.  No luck.  A Roadrunner and Kiskadee was a welcome addition to our list.”

The appearance of Roadside Hawk (Rupornis magnirostris) north of the Rio Grande in Hidalgo County, Texas, was hot news in 1983.  In the weeks leading up to our visit and while we were there, no sightings of this mega-rarity were confirmed.  The reports that were received were not accompanied by photographs or sufficient details to rule out the Hook-billed Kites (Chondrohierax unicinatus) and Cooper’s Hawks that were known to be present.  Roadside Hawk remains a very elusive tropical vagrant in the United States.  It was seen as recently as December of 2018 along the man-made flood control levee to the east of Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park near the Border Patrol Corral and the adjacent National Butterfly Center, neither of which were present in 1983.

Both the Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), a familiar member of the cuckoo family (Cuculidae), and the Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus), a flycatcher at the northern limit of its range in south Texas, were much anticipated finds at Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park.  We would get better looks at both when we moved to the west in a couple of days.

“Traveled to Brownsville and met Harold and Steve at the airport at 12:30 P.M.”

Back in 1983, the Brownsville Airport was the most frequently used destination for those wanting to fly into the Lower Rio Grande Valley.  Today, Valley International Airport in Harlingen is the busier of the two.  Both of these airports have an interesting history from the World War II years.  Brownsville Airport, renamed Brownsville Army Air Field for the duration of the war, was in use as a base for antisubmarine warfare flights, pilot training, aircraft engine overhauls, and the occasional servicing of B-29 bombers.  The airport in Harlingen was founded during the period as Harlingen Army Air Field and was home to the Harlingen Aerial Gunnery School.  A cheesy Hollywood propaganda movie called Aerial Gunner (1943) was shot there in late 1942 and starred Richard Arlen and a local actress, Amelita (Lita) Ward, who was discovered by the picture’s producers in Harlingen during the early stages of filming.  A young Robert Mitchum portrays one of the gunners.  It’s one of those typical B-movies of the period with a story line that is all mixed up with what happened years ago.  A climactic part of the film depicts students being taken aloft to fire machine guns at kite-like targets being towed behind other training aircraft flying over the nearby Gulf of Mexico.  You can find this classic and watch it for free on the internet.  Afterward, you can go join up if you want, but you can no longer get the war bonds they were selling.

“We tried for the Clay-colored Robin — No Luck.”

Now that Harold and Steve had joined us, we began putting in an earnest effort to find the five species we all needed for our life lists—those Lower Rio Grande Valley exclusives Father Tom had given us directions to find.  First up was Clay-colored Robin, known today as Clay-colored Thrush (Turdus grayi), a brown-colored bird similar to our American Robin.  Its native range in 1983 was from northern Colombia north to the Rio Grande River.  The only pair known to be reliably nesting north of the river in the United States, thus within the A.B.A. listing area, was in Brownsville in a park-like setting on the side of a small hill with a commercial radio station transmitter and antenna on its crest.  It was an easy place to find in the otherwise flat landscape, but we had no luck finding the birds.  Were we too late?  Was nesting season over?  Had the birds already dispersed?

“Visited Santa Ana again and added Ground Dove and White-tailed (Black-shouldered) Kite.”

Father Tom provided us with a tip that Hook-billed Kites had nested in the vicinity of Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.  We remained vigilant, but saw none.  The petite Common Ground Dove (Columbina passerina) was harder to locate than I expected, possibly because its small size makes it more prone to depredation than larger doves and pigeons, so it may be a little more secretive.  White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus) sightings were a highlight of the trip, so graceful and stunning in appearance, but very wary and distant—not a good photo opportunity.  Other sightings at Santa Ana included the first Harris’s Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) of the trip, White-tipped Dove, Groove-billed Ani, Barn Swallow, Black-crested Titmouse, Long-billed Thrasher, a lingering Solitary Vireo, Bronzed Cowbird, Olive Sparrow, and Northern Cardinal.  We heard a Dickcissel (Spiza americana) in a sunflower field by the refuge entrance, but failed to see it.

Harris's Hawk
A Harris’s Hawk at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.  This species is a year-round resident in much of the scrubland of the southwestern United States and Mexico.  (Vintage 35mm image)

Also at Santa Ana N.W.R. a Giant Toad and a Texas Tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri), a scrubland native of south Texas and northern Mexico.

Cane Toad
At Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, we stumbled upon this Giant Toad, known today as the Cane Toad, Marine Toad, or Giant Neotropical Toad (Rhinella marina).  It’s range extends from Amazonia north into the Lower Rio Grande Valley.  (Vintage 35 mm image)
Cane Toad
Just how giant is a Giant Toad?  Glad you asked.  That’s a Kennedy half dollar on the ground to its left.  It’s the largest species in the family Bufonidae, the true toads.  And you guessed it, things really are bigger in Texas.  (Vintage 35 mm image)

“We arrived back at Bentsen State Park and I got supper ready while the others birded.  At dusk we saw the Elf Owls again and toured the roads.  Saw two Pauraques.  To bed by 11:15 after a welcome shower.”

A White-eyed Vireo was found during our late afternoon walk.  On a tip from Father Tom, we checked the campground in the area of the east restrooms for nesting Tropical Parulas (Setophaga pitiayumi).  For each of us, it was another of the five target species for the trip.  We heard nothing that resembled this warbler’s song, which sounds very much like that of the Northern Parula with which we were each familiar.

Nightjars are more often seen than heard, so having the opportunity to finish the day watching two Common Pauraques sail across a break in the forest to grab airborne insects was a real treat.