Aplomado Falcon
Gulf Coast at Mexican Border
12/07/2006

When I visited southern Texas in December of 2006, I recalled that previous visits had yielded nice views of raptors on power lines. On my way from Harlingen to my first day’s targets—Bentsen- Rio Grande Valley State Park and the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, I found plenty of raptors, but none where I could stop safely in the dense, high-speed traffic. I resolved to find a quiet road somewhere, where I would be able to cruise slowly and stop to photograph birds alongside the road.

On the map, Texas Farm Road 4 looked promising. In the southernmost tip of the State, it’s the road closest to the Mexican border, which it parallels for many miles before ending at the Gulf. As I expected it would, Farm Road 4 yielded abundant, close views of birds and almost no traffic. This raptor was stationed just west of the Border Patrol station, and sat patiently as I took photograph after photograph. It was still there when I returned from the end of the road, an hour or two later.

Another treat along Farm Road 4 was an A-B comparison of tropical kingbird and Couch’s kingbird. Photographs of the beaks in profile are helpful in that regard. So are good shots of the folded primaries from behind. The digital camera of the 21st century replaces the scattergun of the 19th and early 20th.

Being either released birds or descendents of released birds, members of the current population of Aplomado falcons in southern Texas may not produce ticks on the lists of serious birders, but they are fun to see. Thank you, Peregrine Fund!