Rio Grande Valley Day 3: Salineno

The day started pretty foggy. I had plans to hit up Santa Ana NWR and Edinburg Scenic Wetlands. Santa Ana is considered the crown jewel of the National Wildlife Refuge system. Unfortunately I didn't have cash and they don't take credit cards. I had to call an audible, and I decided to switch my plans for the next 2 days. I was going to drive 80 miles west to Salineno. I wanted to get Morelet's Seedeater and it was the only place I could get my lifer Audubon's Oriole. I made the drive and it ended up being the perfect decision.

The weather was incredible. The sun burned off the clouds and the landscape became much more similar to the hill country. The preserve was not fully operational when I went, but one of the park hosts was in the process of setting everything up, but he did have the feeders up. This is one of the best places to bird. You can get up close to many RGV specialties like White-tipped Dove, Plain Chachalaca, and Olive Sparrow. I sat and chatted with the host about his adventures in the Chiricahuas while I waited on the Audubon's Oriole to show. Spolier: it didn't.

View from the Rio Grande. Mexico is on the other side.

I decided to try my luck with the seedeaters. You can walk along the Rio Grande to look for them in cane. This is one of a handful of places they can be found. Really they can only be seen in Del Rio and Salineno, but they have been found in Laredo and Eagle Pass. They used to be seen with Brown Jays at Salineno before supposedly leaving, but now they're being seen again. I've seen them once along the river, and I knew just where to look again.

The river is really scenic, and it's trippy seeing a foreign country 40 yards away. I couldn't find one to save my life. I saw small birds flying across the river, but I had no luck getting eyes on them. I did have Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Vermillion Flycatcher, and even a Gray Hawk! I had one last option, and with some minor bushwhacking and being really stealthy I got one! A small, brown female was skulking around 10 feet from me. Success!

Vermillion Flycatcher

I returned in the heat to the preserve to see if anything would show up. After just a few minutes not one, but 2 Audubon's Orioles appeared! I got incredible looks at them, and it was completely worth the driving I did. I made a stop to look for Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, but no dice. I didn't care, I got the 2 biggest birds of the trip!

Audubon's Oriole