Texas is for Birds: Santa Ana NWR & National Butterfly Center

     With a baby on the way, the winter blues, and the need to use vacation time before I earn too much we had plenty of good excuses to go away. Tim was totally alright with going to Texas, a place we have yet to visit and to tag along for some birding.
     We flew in to Brownsville and first explored the Rio Grande Valley, then drove up near Corpus Cristi for a few days, and ended back down at South Padre Island for some beach time. We mostly did Airbnb's for most of the trip which allowed us to make breakfasts and pack up lunches most days. They also afforded us the comforts of home and the ability to forego checked luggage and do laundry as needed.
     On our first full day, and staying in Alamo, we visited Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, took a break back at our base, which was practically down the road, and then later headed to the National Butterfly Center. Both locations are on the boarder with access to the Rio Grande, and both locations with looming fears of the wall being built on their lands with costs to wildlife that specialize in the specific places, that you can see nowhere else in the United States.
     We had the pleasure of viewing Mexico unobstructed from both locations and despite the continuous winds, at speed, also managed to see some birds.

A specialty to the area, the Altimara Oriole, a tropical species that you can't find beyond the Rio Grande Valley (RGV).
This was the first bird I saw from the visitors center at Santa Ana and took this photo through the glass viewing a feeding station.
They are SO brilliant and ended up being Tim's favorite bird of the trip, I mean, can't blame him!
Also, life bird.

Great Kiskadees are like blue jays, in that they are the loud mouths. When tehy scream, everything else listens and responds. They will ALWAYS blow your cover.
They are also another specialty of the area.
Also, another life bird.

Everything at Santa Ana was exciting, it didn't matter that the wind probably impacted the number of birds we could have seen, in one day, it was full of life birds. These juvenile white-faced ibis, which are dang similar to glossy ibis we see in NYC in the summer, are also a life bird.

Not a life bird, but an exciting one none-the-less and one for the year list, black-necked stilts are always welcome in my binoculars!

Our first and only ladder-backed woodpecker. Life bird.
Thankfully, this bird had a call that I recognized as woodpecker and we were able to find it by following its calls.

The refuge had a few ponds which were chock full or waterfowl, like these blue-winged teal.
In addition we saw our lifer mottled ducks and least grebes. Also spotted a (lifer) white-tailed hawk haphazardly soaring in the high winds.

I LOVE Cinnamon Teal!
Oddly, I spotted the females before I noticed the males, seeing her differences from the N. Shovelers, mottled ducks, and blue and green-wing teal.

Life Bird: Vermillion Flycatcher.

He was busy acting like a flycatcher, flying out from its perch to catch insects and back again, making him very enjoyable and easy to observe.

Below the flycatcher's perch, rising out from a small island was a gathering of stilts at its base. Seeking refuge from the wind, the island provided a nice respite from the ongoing wind. The wind easily toppled me with its gusts, it is always impressive to me to see these light-weight birds stand strong and not get knocked over.

Just sitting in a tree, a group of plain chachalacas sat in silence. Tim nearly walked into them. They barely budged.

Another specialty to the RGV, you really won't see them elsewhere in the states.

Named for their calls that they make when gathering in small groups, the chachalacas are very chicken-like and if we saw one, there were always at least 4 others not too far away. They are very comedic, I really enjoyed seeing them and watching them run at some of the other locations to the feeders and then stuffing their beaks with food.

Also, life bird.

Soon to become the trash bird of the trip, orange-crowned warblers were everywhere.
I usually struggle to find them in NYC, but here you saw at least 5 a day as this is their winter home.

In the northeast we have the tufted titmouse, here there is the black-crested titmouse. Still, just as cute! At almost every feed station set up in our travels.
Also, life bird.

The only lizard we saw -- think this is a Texas Rose-bellied Lizard.

And then it was onto the National Butterfly center. Where we saw few butterflies (high winds and butterflies don't get on too well), but they had a great feeding station and we saw a few birds and touched the Rio Grande. Well, Tim did. I was not going to climb on the very precarious-looking pier.

The green jays, another life bird and RGV specialty were plentiful here.
Many feeding stations featured oranges which the birds really enjoy.
I also learned that Texas grows oranges, every yard has a tree, our Airbnb had an orange tree! We saw trucks full of oranges, and you could buy 8 for $1 at the grocery. So needless to say, they were plentiful, fresh, and easy to stock feed stations with!

The very first bird I saw in Texas, in the airport lot were great-tailed grackles.

These birds are big, beautiful, and LOUD.
They make crazy noises. Reminding me of old camera shutters, to tuning an old radio by hand. The sounds they make are robotic, metallic, and all around whacky.

And as their name suggests, their tail is great.
You see these birds everywhere in Texas strutting around on those long legs.

The feed station at the Butterfly Center has these lovely running streams of water that not only did the birds enjoy, but the fox squirrels also took advantage of.

One cannot get enough of green jays, they are out of this world gorgeous!

A great kiskadee when visiting the feed station did as great kiskadees do, they make loud.

A very handsome bird, and easy to ID with their black and white, bold on their faces and that flashy yellow belly. You usually hear them though before you see them. They woke us up each morning during our stay in Alamo.

And the loud, they don't ever seem to tire of it.

The local fox squirrels are very beautiful and do frequent the feeders, but some of the birds are nearly squirrel size, so unlike the eastern grays and them over taking the feeders at home, here they seem to share. Also, it doesn't seem saturated with squirrels the way home often does,

If the ground seems to be moving, it's because you are looking at Inca Doves.
These petite little birds are small and flighty. Can't blame them, they are probably prey for so many things.

But if you get a good look, you might be able to see those deep red eyes!

I was able to find some butterflies in the wooded areas, shielded from the wind.
We also got to see a white-tailed kite fly over head and when driving to the Rio Grande on their grounds, a ringed kingfisher (a Mexican/Central American bird that you can only see here, also, life bird) flew past the levee that runs along the river. It seemed so much bigger than the belted kingfisher-- which we also saw, in Santa Ana earlier.

An exciting day, and that was only the start!