Valley Trip: Part 1

.Our drive down to the Lower Rio Grande Valley went smoothly and we arrived at our motel in Edinburg in the late afternoon. Dee decided she wanted to have a rest before dinner but I headed over to the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands to do 90 minutes of birding around the ponds there.

The gardens around the visitor center had a Green Heron.

The plants were attracting several Buff-bellied Hummingbirds.

I checked out the main pond for a Green Kingfisher that had been seen recently but I didn't see anything except two adult Black-bellied Whistling Ducks escorting over 50 ducklings around on the far side of the water.

The trees nearby had several Golden-fronted Woodpeckers.

Crossing the parking lot to walk over to the second pond, I came across a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher having an early evening snack.

The first observation deck at the south pond overlooked a small inlet where a family of Whistling Ducks was resting. They zoomed away as soon as I approached.

The water had Great and Snowy Egrets, Neotropic Cormorants, American Coots, Black-necked Stilts and a Least Grebe but all were too distant for photos, as was a Couch's or Tropical Kingbird. A Great Kiskadee was much nearer.

Loudly protesting my presence, a Killdeer flew over my head.

My time for birding the site almost up, I did a quick walk around the pond, turning up a White-eyed Vireo, some House Sparrows and this Inca Dove.

The plan for Friday was to spend the morning at Quinta Mazatlan and Frontera Audubon. However, if I got up early, I could squeeze in another hour of birding at the Scenic Wetlands while Dee was getting ready for the day. So that was my plan.
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