29 Southwest Highways & Fields
put out by park staff. Among the bird species feeding at this location, my favorite is the Green Jay. With their bright green and yellow feathers, accented with a blue face, they look like an exotic parrot you'd expect to find in the Amazon. The Green Jay is a South Texas specialty. I will see many more Chachalacas and Green Jays on my Rio Grande Valley Trip, but this was my first glimpse at the exotic bird life of the Texas tropics. My next stop is a resaca, a Rio Grande oxbow lake. A look through my binoculars rewards me with the view of an Anhinga perched on a tree stump with its wings open to dry. Then, with a soft warm breeze comes a large bird of prey. A look in my binoculars proved it to be an Osprey, a large fish-eating raptor. It glides in circles over the resaca as I gaze at it in awe. The Osprey spiraled down towards the water, folded in his wings, and dove in for a fish. He did it once more, before gliding away into the horizon, maybe heading for another resaca with bigger fish.
You can watch a video I took of the osprey fishing here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAWfoXz5qfQ
My next birding stop was Anzalduas Dam County Park. The park is located right on the Rio Grande, with mexico just on the other side. I saw a grebe, and a few egrets, but not much else as far as birding goes. Back at Bentsen, I decide to go up to the hawk tower. After climbing the long ramp, I walk out on the platform raised high above the ground and brush.
Plain Chachalaca
-Eamon Decker
Below:
Green Jay
-Eamon Decker