Saturday, March 28 Rio Grande Valley

 Saturday, March 28

64 degrees this morning, so we had breakfast outside and headed to the bird feeding station.  Waited 45 minutes past 8:00 and the went to the office to inquire.  Apparently they have some volunteers that fill the feeders and they have until 9:00, but we opt to skip it.  (There were quite a few grackles, blackbirds and doves waiting also.)

We were disappointed but decided to go ahead and move down the highway to Roma Bluffs World Birding Center.  We are 0 for 2, as the Roma birding center was recently taken over by the city and they don't have the personnel or funding to open on weekends.  There is an overlook that is open so we drive through a rather sketchy area and find the overlook.  It looks out on the Rio Grande river and into Mexico on the other side. Another international bridge here.  Pretty unremarkable and not a bird in sight.  Oh well.

We continue on to the National Butterfly Center in Mission.  It is OPEN! This is not the time of year for butterflies, so we see few, but they also claim 500 bird species and we do see quite a few.  There are several walking trails, so we wander around.  The bird song is lovely though we don't always see the birds in the surrounding trees and bushes. We have an app on Beth's phone called "Merlin" and it is great for identifying birds by their sound or picture.  I flip on the sound feature and it identifies over 10 birds in the first few minutes.

The retama trees with willowy foliage and bright yellow flowers are very pretty, along with the Mexican olive.

 We soon come to a feeding area and that is where the action is,  beginning with this grackle and a chachalaca. 

The chachalaca (also called Mexican chicken) is quite large, like a pheasant, and noisy. Of course the grackles are also.

Green jays

Greater kiskadee.  Pretty yellow with black mask. These are supposedly quite common but I have a hard time getting a decent photo. 

This squirrel wanted in on the action too. The birds seemed scared of it and gave it wide berth.

Red-winged blackbird and cardinal

Pretty Inca Dove

long billed thrush

They have quite a few bat boxes and this one box with a screech owl peering out.

Pretty mural on back of the building.

We are close to the Quinta Mazatlan World Birding Center, so decide to check it out too.  The house here is a large adobe home built in 1935 by Jason and Marcia Mathews. It had a pool, a cottage and a greenhouse - very notable at the time. The property was eventually purchased by the city and opened as an urban sanctuary meant to educate people about birds, plants and environmental stewardship.

The draught has taken a toll here, as two of the trails that used to go by ponds are closed because there are no ponds.  We saw a few birds and rabbits but that was about it.  The grounds are nice, but screaming for water.

huge blue agave plant

Quite a lot of statuary throughout the park.

A new sign for our collection.

The day has gotten very hot again and we decide to splurge and stay at a hotel tonight.  We often use Hampton Inns and find one in nearby Weslacoe where we do a little laundry and relax.  Very nice and friendly.  We go to Arturo's Bar and Grill for dinner and enjoy some good Mexican food.