KEN CROSS IN TEXAS 2017: Day 6 Texas

Today we went to another Texas State Park. This one in the Mission area of the Rio Grande Valley; its name Bentsen - Rio Grande Valley State Park.

As part of the World Birding Center, Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park is a world-class destination for bird-watching. The Rio Grande Valley hosts one of the most spectacular convergences of birds on earth with more than 525 species documented in this unique place. Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park alone has an impressive list of 358 species recorded within the park’s boundaries. Birders have a chance to see migratory birds during their yearly migrations over the valley including flocks of thousands of hawks from the park’s Hawk Tower in the spring and fall. Some birders travel to the Bentsen to see bird species they can’t find anyplace else in the country--from the Green Jay and the Buff-bellied Hummingbird to the Great Kiskadee and the Altamira Oriole.

Great Kiskadee

The visitor center has a bilingual (English/Spanish) exhibit hall, gift shop, meeting room and administrative offices--all surrounded by butterfly gardens and hummingbird feeders. Visitors can take our tram shuttle, ride bikes or walk through the park. A two-story high Hawk Observation Tower with a 210-foot-long wheelchair-accessible ramp gives visitors a bird’s-eye view of the canopy as well as a peek into Mexico. Two enclosed bird blinds and a birding wall allow visitors to see birds up close and watch their behaviors. Over eight miles of trails with bird feeding stations and water features offer a variety of opportunities to encounter wildlife inside the park.

Hide interior - showing excellent design features; gaps for ventilation and a variety of viewing windows that suit folks of a variety of heights.

Excellent sign that could / should be adapted in Australia. Good opportunity for Birdlife Australia to seek co-operation with local councils, State governments and others to promote birding and birds and Birdlife Australia through such signage!

The Land: Constructed layer on layer by centuries of Rio Grande floods, the land at Bentsen-RGV State Park is rich and fertile, shaded by cedar elm, sugar hackberry, Rio Grande ash, Texas ebony and Anaqua. As a remnant of the once heavily wooded Lower Rio Grande Valley, Bentsen is especially valuable. Re-creating the periodic flooding that built and nourished this land in past centuries is a major goal of the World Birding Center.

Plain Chachalaca

The area along the Rio Grande is rich with history as it was first settled by Spaniards in the 1740s. During the Spanish settlement, large tracts of land, called porciones, were granted to certain individuals in 1767. The area of this park was once part of Porcion 50 granted to Jose Antonio Zamora.

Over time, land grants were divided and small towns eventually formed along the Rio Grande. A small settlement known as Las Nuevas was abandoned in the late 1930s when the Bentsen family purchased over 3,000 acres of what used to be Porcion 50. The Bentsens developed over 2,000 acres north of the area where the park is today. The Bentsen family preserved the area that is now Bentsen–Rio Grande Valley State Park because of its beautiful ebony trees.

White -tipped Dove - a new bird for many and a trip bird for all!

White - tipped Dove displaying the white tips on the tail from whence it gets its name

The Bentsens eventually signed over 586.9 acres of Porcion 50 to the Texas Parks Board for $1 in 1944. The contract stipulated that the land be used “solely for Public Park Purposes and shall be maintained, operated, known and designated as Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park.” The park did not open immediately. It wasn’t until 1962 that the park was opened as a state park.

Since its opening, Bentsen has been known for the wide variety of birds and insects it attracts. Wildlife watchers from around the country flock to Bentsen every year to see some of the tropical birds, butterflies and dragonflies that inhabit the Rio Grande Valley.

Bentsen-Rio Grande Val. SP WBC (Mission) (LTC 069), Hidalgo, Texas, US
11-Apr-2017 8:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
5.0 kilometer(s)
50 species

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 3
Blue-winged Teal 2
Northern Shoveler 1
Plain Chachalaca 25
Neotropic Cormorant 1
Anhinga 2
Snowy Egret 2
Green Heron 1
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 25
White-tailed Kite 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Harris's Hawk 3
Gray Hawk 1
Broad-winged Hawk 5
Swainson's Hawk 4
American Coot 12
Laughing Gull 6
White-tipped Dove 1
White-winged Dove 4
Mourning Dove 25
Greater Roadrunner 3
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Chimney Swift 1
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
Crested Caracara 2
Ash-throated Flycatcher 2 heard first and then seen, photos available from others in th group
Great Kiskadee 4
Couch's Kingbird 4
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 3
Green Jay 10
Horned Lark 6
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
Purple Martin 2
Cave Swallow 25
House Wren 1
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Curve-billed Thrasher 1
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Northern Mockingbird 20
Common Yellowthroat 1
Olive Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 4
Red-winged Blackbird 15
Great-tailed Grackle 20
Bronzed Cowbird 1

Altamira Oriole 4