Harlingen, TX (12/12 thru 12/19/2017)

My time here in the Rio Grande Valley has been a mixed bag.  The purpose of coming here was strictly to photograph birds, many of which cannot be seen anywhere else in the US.  These birds are commonly seen in South America, Central America and Mexico, with just a slight carryover into this region of Texas.  A few of them can also be seen in the most southern part of Arizona.  In addition, Texas has numerous birds common to the rest of the lower 48 states.  It has the reputation for being a birding paradise, and I have wanted to experience this region for many years.

My first few days here, I easily saw at least seven or eight birds I had never seen before.  Some of these were featured in my last travelogue.  The pace has slowed considerably, mostly due to weather.  It has rained on several days, while others were heavily overcast.  If the sun did break through, it was later in the day, whereas bird activity is primarily in the morning hours.  As a result, I have not been able to visit all the parks on my list, and have been forced to take photographs in poor lighting.  It caused me to extend my stay for an extra week, and I am trying to take advantage of every opportunity afforded me.

My second morning here, I went out to the town's reservoir for sunrise and was very happy with what I saw.  Here are a few shots from that morning.

Later, I drove east toward South Padre Island, planning to visit the Laguna Vista Wildlife Refuge.  It turned out that a bridge was out for repair and the detour was much longer than I was willing to take.  So, I explored the town of Laguna Vista, then made a quick trip through Port Isabel, stopping for a photo of the lighthouse there. On my way back through Laguna Vista, I happened upon a rather large group of black-bellied whistling ducks, maybe as many as 150 of them, waddling around a town park.  Along the highway, there were several Harris' hawks and a white-tailed kite, both species of which I had never seen before in the wild.

The next day, I was on the road by 6 am, headed toward another national wildlife reserve, Laguna Atascosa, about 30 miles from my campsite.  My hope was to get there early enough to catch another good sunrise.  Once again, I was plagued by detours due to road construction, then led astray by Gertie (my GPS), falling behind schedule and watching a beautiful sunrise begin to develop.  I finally spotted some wind turbines in the nearby fields and decided to use them as foreground for my sunrise photos.

By the time I entered the reserve, it was daylight and there were hawks perched on many of the power poles.  Most were the Harris' hawks, but one was (I think) a Cooper's hawk, my first one.

Once at the Visitor Center, I hiked a few of their trails and saw a few more "lifers".  A great kiskadee and an Altamira oriole were the only ones I could photograph, and thy didn't make it easy.  A nighthawk was so well hidden in the leaves and brush, the ranger had to point him out to me.  It was just too dark in his hiding place to get a photo.

I took a tour that wasted several hours because we never got close enough to photograph anything.  The birders on the tour would see something through their powerful spotting scopes and get all excited, but my lens just couldn't match their range.  After the tour, I drove around and spotted a few more interesting birds, although none of them were new to me.  There was a tropical kingbird, a roadrunner, an American kestrel and the familiar red-tailed hawk.