Today was spent at The Nature Conservancy’s Southmost Preserve and on the road out to Boca Chica Beach including parts of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR. The original trip itinerary included Sabal Palm Audubon Center but that property is currently closed due to budgetary issues. Both Sabal Palm and Southmost are being threatened by the new border fence. I won’t get into the whole politics of the fence but as you can see from the picture below, this fence will completely cut off the property. This photo was taken from inside the Southmost Preserve right at the entrance road looking out. When the wall is complete, the preserve will be completely cut off. The ironic part is that the Border Patrol agents I spoke with said the fence will do little to curb immigration. It might slow immigrants down but the really determined will still get through.
Southmost Preserve is a property that is not normally open to the public but our group was given special access and a personal tour by Dave Benn. It is another one of those places that make the RGVBF a truly great event since you can get access not normally available to others.
The highlight birds of the day include White-tailed Hawks that soared directly overhead at quite a low altitude allowing for excellent viewing opportunities. We were also able to closely observe a rather cooperative Peregrine Falcon. The best bird was something that isn’t even a south Texas specialty. While in Southmost, our bus split into two groups. Our group spooked a Barn Owl that was roosting in a palm tree. Later, as the other half the group was searching for the owl, the spooked bird flew directly over our half of the group affording us excellent views at less than 15 feet. All told, more than 100 species were seen on this trip.
A big thanks to the days field trip leaders Chris, Richard, Mike and Jay. They did a great job making 40 birders feel like a small group.
Lang Elliott gave a program on the new CD Valley Bird Songs. If you use BirdJam or own the Stokes bird CD’s, you are familiar with Lang’s work. The program was enough to get this cheapskate to fork over $17 for a CD.
The final event of the evening was the Great South Texas Birding Quiz Show hosted by Jeff Gordon. Groups of birders, both amateur and professionals competed for prizes in and glory in a Jeopardy style quiz show. Please note that any resemblance to the actual TV program was purely a coincidence. The only question that comes to mind after the show is how I managed to avoid Luby's in 10 days?
Tomorrow is sadly my last day of birding down here but I'm heading to the King Ranch.
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