Stephen Ingraham (who?)

the unofficial site for birders and digiscopers using Zeiss equipment.

Texas Tropics Nature Festival

This year was the 11th annual Texas Tropics Nature Festival in McAllen, Texas, and the first to be held in its entirety at the new Quinta Mazatlan World Birding Center. As you will see from the images below, Quinta Mazatlan is one of the most beautiful settings for a birding festival you can imagine. It is, however, a bit cramped and out of the way for the vendors involved in the Marketplace and I'd guess that, while workshops and events may take place at the WBC every year, the vendor Marketplace will have to move to another location in the future.

Quinta Mazatlan is more than a building, of course, and the extensive grounds offer some excellent south Texas birding. A resident Screech Owl was among this year's attractions, and, of course, the corus of Chachalacas greeted visitors every morning.

The other Texas hot-spots, all within an easy drive of McAllen, always make for excellent fieldtrips...though the timing of the festival is more critical in the spring. This year the warblers were just beginning to come through in numbers. Texas specialties were abundant, of course.

Quinta Mazatlan from the front.	Elegant in a uniquely southwestern style
The Patio and pool area.	Vendors in splendor.
Eastern Screech Owl on the grounds: look closely and you can see it on the LCD	And here it is full sized.
World Birding Center at Estero Llano Grande St. Park in Weslaco	Little Blue Heron at ELG WBC.
Black-necked Stilt at ELG WBC	The dragonfly pond at Edinburg Wetlands WBC, another of my favorite digiscoping spots.
Green Kingfisher at the dragonfly pond	At the pond across the road from the WBC building
Early: Harris Hawk	By Willow Lake at Santa Ana NWR: another favorite.
Golden-fronted Woodpecker by Pintail Lake	Ringed Kingfisher by Pintail Lake