Lower Rio Grande Valley

North America » United States » Texas » Mission
April 19th 2009

Published: April 20th 2009

We are coming to the end of a month spent in Mission, Texas, located in the Rio Grande Valley. The RV resort we are staying at is Bentsen Palm Village, next door to Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, and the nicest rv park we have encountered in our short history as world travelers. The park has very large sites with abundant native plantings throughout. Moxie has made many canine friends at th... Read Full Entry

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Lynn & Jon Glase

Wondering Naturalists

Jon and Lynn are two sixty-something, retired, PhD ecologists seeking the wisdom from the natural world that can only come from first-hand experience with things and events. Our current arrangement is to keep a house as a home-base near Ithaca New York, where we have lived for the past 35+ years, spend summers in our trailer around New England (where Lynn's extended family resides), return to Ithaca for the fall and early winter, and depart for warmer climes after the Christmas-New Years holidays. We travel with Moxie, a Bichon Frise, in an 28 ft. Airstream trailer pulled by a Ford F-250 dies... full info

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Estero Llano Grande State Park, Weslaco, TX

This WBC site has many shallow ponds and woodland habitats. It attracts over 250 species of birds including many Mexican rarities.

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks at Estero Llano Grande

In addition to the whistling ducks, do you see the Blue-winged Teal, Gadwall, and Black-necked Stilts?

Roma Bluffs, Roma, TX

World Birding Center Visitor Area and gift shop at Roma Bluffs.

Roma Bluffs, Roma, TX

Shortly after we arrived at Mission, we were visited by our good friends Kathy and Jerry Schwab from Austin, Texas. During our visit to Roma Bluffs, we stopped by the gift shop and Jerry decided that a souvenir hat would be appropriate.

Roma Bluffs, Roma, TX

Kathy and Lynn at the Roma Bluffs WBC.

Roma Bluffs, Roma, TX

A quiet courtyard (with bird feeders) is available to visitors at the WBC in Roma Bluffs.

28 Roma Bluffs, Roma, TX

View from the Roma bluffs overlooking the Rio Grande and Ciudad Aleman, Mexico. Good place to see kingfishers and U.S. Border Patrol boats and SUVs. âStep back just a few paces, Jerryâ

Salineno World Birding Center Site

This recent addition to the WBC is located on the Rio Grande and features a variety of exotic, tropical species and northern migrants attracted to bird feeders.

Feeders at Salineno

Feeders are maintained by WBC volunteers and include a variety of seed feeders, humming bird feeders, and oranges.

30 Salineno World Birding Center Site

Birding at Salineno consists of sitting in comfortable chairs and watching the birds visit the feeders.

Salineno World Birding Center Site

Orange-crown Warbler at an orange feeder.

Salineno World Birding Center Site

Green Jay at a suet feeder.

Cemetery in the village of Salineno

Decoration of graves (and visitation) is important in Hispanic culture.

Boca Chica

Not a WBC site, but a place we like to visit, Boca Chica is the mouth of the Rio Grande river where it enters the Gulf of Mexico, east of Brownsville, TX. This picture shows the end of route 4 as it emerges on the beach.

Laughing gull and the Gulf of Mexico.

The Rio Grande enters the Gulf about two miles to the south of this point. Except at high tide, one can drive on the beach to the Rio.

Boca Chica

Looking across South Bay towards South Padre Island with its many resort hotels.

So-called “Security” Fence

The dark line along the horizon is the newly constructed security fence. The fence is being actively installed from Brownsville west. Note also the huge cornfield in the foreground. The Rio Grande Valley is dominated by agriculture, much of which requires access to a cheap workforce that will do the many menial jobs most Americans are unwilling to do. “Illegals” have filled this niche in the past.

So-called “Security” Fence

This closer view shows that the fence consists of closely-spaced slats that allow air passage but not much else. Humans will need to go over, under, or around it, as they have demonstrated an ability to do in other areas where fences have been constructed, such as the West Bank and our southwest. The problem is that the fence also creates a lethal barrier to many other species of animals that need to be able to cross the border.

Welcome to the USA!

Typically, at each official port of entry that we have visited, huge shopping centers and used clothing stores (“Ropa usada”), are strategically placed so the “legal” Mexicans can shop in the U.S. for all the things not available in their country. Somehow we need to encourage this type of visitation while using some [b]reasonable[/b] means to discourage illegal entry.

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Lower Rio Grande Valley

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