IN SPITE OF ITS LOOKS, BROWNSVILLE IS A BIRDER'S PARADISE

By Juan Montoya

At first sight, the area around Brownsville can seem like a drab, dry, littered landscape-- an impression that is buttressed by the unsightly utility poles and electric wires crisscrossing the roads and alleys.
But suddenly, people here and across the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas have discovered that they have been sitting on a pot of gold-- green, red, white and multicolored gold that is.
Some of the things that locals took for granted – the resacas, wildlife and local plants – have become the draw for thousands of visitors from outside the area who come simply come to watch things that locals see every day.

“Brownsville and the rest of South Texas lies along a unique geographical and cultural route,” said Stan Hewitt, a visitor from Minnesota. “It lies along the migration routes of numerous species of birds. And the climate allows one to see some birds that can’t be seen anywhere else in the United States.

The movie The Big Year, starring Owen Wilson, Jack Black and Steve Martin as three birders on a quest to see the most birds, shows them looking for the Mexican crow on the now famous Brownsville landfill.
Hewitt, and his wife Sarah have been coming to the South Texas area ever since 1994 when they discovered that their birding network identified the area as one of the “hotspots” for birding in the entire country. In fact, between the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in northern Cameron County and the Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park in Hidalgo County, there have been more sightings of different birds than in most other areas.

At Laguna Atascosa, for example, Park Ranger Jody Mays says that 406 different kinds of birds have been sighted by park visitors.

Tamaulipas Crow

“As far as we know, that is the most of any other wildlife refuge in the entire country. We maintain a checklist for the different species sighted here.”

At the Bentsen-Rio Grande park, rangers have recorded more than 290 different bird species, including some rare visitors from Mexico, South and Central America.

Species like the Stygian owl, who ranges as far as South America, and the Aplomado Falcon, until recently endangered by habitat destruction in South Texas, have been sighted in the area.

With an avian species count of nearly 600 in the entire state, it is easy to see why visitors come to the region. And it forms the southern end of the Great Coastal Birding Trail.

That Trail has been called one of the most important birding habitat networks in North America. The 500-mile route that stretches from north of Beaumont to the Rio Grande Valley establishes viewing areas at feeding, roosting and nesting points. It is also the first of its kind in the United States.

As Hewitt observed, the geographical position of South Texas allows birders the opportunity to see both visitors from down south and seasonal visitors from the frigid north. It also lies smack in the middle of two major migration flyways. The abundance of water also attracts a dazzling array of species to this area.

In other words, birds consider this area stopover on their incredible migrations from one continent to the other along the waistline of America.

And currently, columnists have called the attention of birders to the fact that the northern migration of northern hemispheric birds has begun. As these travelers fly thousands of miles back to their natural habitats, the abundance of food and water are a natural lure for the weary creatures who have spent hours on the fly.

“We get all kinds of birds here,” said Jimmy Paz, the former manager of the Audubon Society’s Sabal Palm Sanctuary in southeast Brownsville. “The sanctuary’s natural appearance attracts species you wouldn’t see very often. And the fact that we’re by the Rio Grande just enhances the attraction.”

Brownsville, on the Trail’s southernmost extension, has gone one step further and adopted the red-crowned parrot – a tropical species– as its official city bird. A series of natural habitat areas have been preserved in the city where everything is left untouched and clearing of the land is prohibited.

The preservation of the natural flora is a turnabout to the days when economic development meant clear cutting the areas around the numerous resacas to build homes.

“After I cleared the land, I figured we shouldn’t have done it,” said Ralph Brooks, a farmer from La Feria. “I really missed the mesquites.”

The emphasis on preservation as a component of ecotourism instead of the destruction of habitat has spurred a reforestation movement that has seen the planting of traditional plant species throughout South Texas. Although some of these efforts have been on an individual basis, the state has fostered the move.

In 1993, Texas established the South Texas Private Land Initiative to help private landowners reforest the lands cleared during the 1960s building booms. So far, thousands of acres have participated in the reforestation projects initiated by the state.

No one thinks that the nature of the river delta will ever return to the pristine conditions that prevailed when the first Europeans landed on these shores. But they say that any effort to return some of the natural habitat to the area will only increase the number of feathered friends who will return.

“I like to come out to Boca Chica Beach to see things like they used to be,” said Bill Young, Brownsville’s Public Information officer. “Just think what it was like before the palm trees were cut down.”

In fact, early explorers report that the sabal palm groves spread as far as they eye could see in every direction on both sides of the Rio Grande. So thick was the lush growth that the river was first named the Rio de Las Palmas – or River of Palms.

Now, with the Sabal Palm Grove the only remaining tract of Texas Sabal Palm forest remaining in the United States, it is imperative, according to conservationists, that reforestation be undertaken on a serious basis.

A recent listing of one day at the sanctuary gives one a sampling of the variety and diversity of the birds that are seen at palm refuge.

In a month, recently, this list of sightings were reported at the different sites there:

Tropical Parula (where Resaca Loop Trail crosses resaca), Ovenbird, Altamira Orioles (visitor’s center), Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-throated Grey Warbler, Black and White Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Blue-grey Gnat catcher, White-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Eastern Phoebe, Ruby Crowned Kinglet, Cattle Egrets Cooper’s Hawk, Lesser Goldfinch.

Buff-bellied Hummingbirds, Green Jays, White-tipped Doves, Plain Chachalacas, Great Kiskadees, Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, Olive Sparrows, Long-billed Thrasher, Chihuahuan Ravens, Inca Doves, Common Ground Doves, Mourning Doves, Northern Mockingbirds, Black-crested Timouse, CarolinaWrens, House Wrens, Couch’s Kingbirds, Northern Cardinal, Northern Bobwhite.

At the Resaca:

Eared Grebe, Least Grebes, Pie-billed Grebes, Redhead Duck, Solitary Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Common Snipe, Ruddy Duck, Mottled Ducks, Northern Shovelers, American Widgeon, Gadwall, Blue-winged Teals, Little Blue Heron, Great Blue Heron, Common Moorhen, American Coot.

An added bonus for South Texas dwellers is the proximity of the seashore. There, a number of ducks and wading birds from pelicans to great egrets and oystercatchers can be seen feeding off the food-rich shallows of the Laguna Madre or along the beach.

Laguna Atascosa, because of its diverse habitats, offers a wide variety of wildlife. From alligators to Aplomado Falcon can be spotted in the thick shrubbery of the facility.

To get information of the different areas, call these numbers.