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


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 FIVE—May 25, 1983

Bentsen State Park, Texas

Went to bed last nite about 11:30.  Did not set the alarm.  Very hot — Awoke at 7:30 A.M.  We circled the campground and then drove to the river trail.  We walked to the river, getting more lifers for Larry — Couch’s Kingbird, Olive Sparrow, and Groove-billed Ani.  The Couch’s Kingbird is my first lifer of the trip.  The Olive Sparrow has the same cadence as the Tennessee Warbler.  We then checked the resaca and found a Least Bittern.

While checking out the cattails at the resaca, we failed to catch a glimpse of a Coues’ Rice Rat (Oryzomys couesi), a semi-aquatic mammal that lives only in the Rio Grande Valley and areas south into Central America.  Instead we found an Eastern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger), a giant compared to the gray squirrels in Pennsylvania.  Things really are bigger in Texas.

Couch's Kingbird
This Couch’s Kingbird (Tyrannus couchii) was a “lifer” for both Russ and your editor; neither of us had ever seen one before.  (Vintage 35 mm image)

Back to our camp site for lunch, after paying for our stay at the office.  P.M. — Put out corn and sunflower seeds and loafed all P.M. trying to get pictures.  Larry had a lot of luck.  I did not do so good.

Plain Chachalacas, White-winged Doves, White-tipped Doves, Great-tailed Grackles, and a Bronzed Cowbird stopped by to sample the seed offerings.  The chachalacas and grackles created quite a racket.  It’s a good thing we didn’t have any neighbors close by!

Great-tailed Grackles
Great-tailed Grackles visit Russ’ makeshift feeding station.  These giants are 50% larger than the Common Grackles with which I was familiar.  Yes, even the blackbirds are bigger in Texas.  (Vintage 35 mm image)
Bronzed Cowbird
A Bronzed Cowbird picks up some seed morsels.  (Vintage 35 mm image)

In nearby areas of the campground there were many species—Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Anhinga, Great Egret, Common Gallinule, Turkey Vulture, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Eastern Kingbird, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Curve-billed Thrasher, Long-billed Thrasher (Toxostoma longirostre), Altamira Oriole, and Northern Cardinal.

Golden-fronted Woodpecker
A Golden-fronted Woodpecker peers from its nest cavity.  (Vintage 35 mm image)
Long-billed Thrasher
The two thrasher species found in the campground highlighted the mix of two unique habitats.  The Curve-billed Thrasher is a species of scrubland while this Long-billed Thrasher is more typically an inhabitant of bottomlands.  (Vintage 35 mm image)

Rain is rare here — The rainy season produced no rain.  Now a light rain is falling.  The temperature dropped to 90° in the camper.  One couple wanted to see anis.  Larry picked one out 50 ft. from their campsite.

Groove-billed Ani
The Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris) is a large-billed relative of the cuckoos.  Because it is totally black in color, it can be very difficult to spot among the dense foliage where it typically feeds.  It ranges north from Mexico only into south Texas.  (Vintage 35 mm image)

The rain cooled the air to make the evening tolerable, but we would pay for it tomorrow with an increase in the humidity.

Green Jay
A Green Jay during the evening rain.  (Vintage 35 mm image)

We paid for another nite and at dusk went to the Elf Owl tree where eventually 4 young came out and tried their wings and crawled around.  The two adults flew in and Larry was ecstatic taking pictures with his strobe light.  We met some people.  One couple never saw Eastern Bluebirds.  I gave him my card.  Another couple pinpointed the owl tree.

This evening was certainly highlighted by the emergence of the young Elf Owls (Micrathene whitneyi) from their nest cavity.  But in addition, we again heard the sounds of some of the other nocturnal birds found in the park—Common Nighthawk, Common Pauraque, and Eastern Screech Owl.

Elf Owls
The Elf Owl is a species of desert bottomlands and canyons throughout southwestern portions of the United States and northwestern Mexico.  Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park and the adjacent areas of Hidalgo County, Texas, are about as far east as they get.  Look closely and you may discern two juveniles emerging from their nest cavity in a large tree.  (Vintage 35 mm image)
Juvenile Elf Owls
Juvenile Elf Owls checking out the visitors.  (Vintage 35 mm image)
Juvenile Elf Owls
Juvenile Elf Owls having a look around.  (Vintage 35 mm image)
Elf Owl
One of the adult Elf Owls arrives.  In the desert, these tiny owls often nest and roost in a hollow portion of a standing cactus.  (Vintage 35 mm image)
Juvenile Elf Owl
One of four juvenile Elf Owls seen at the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park nest site.  (Vintage 35 mm image)