I logged 9.5 miles walking the four great trails and the roads at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, a World Birding Center site of almost 800 acres contiguous with 1,200 acres of Fish and Wildlife Refuge. I set off from the Visitor’s Center on this chilly, calm, partly cloudy January 6, 2024, morning.
I crossed a levee and passed the incongruous border fence during the first several hundred feet before reaching the gate. There, I entered the park and walked on the asphalt road past La Famila Nature Center. Trees cast shade over the road from the scattered sunlight.
I continued for a quarter mile on Bentsen State Park Road 43 to the Resaca Vieja Trail. I followed the dirt trail and went southwest to Old Resaca Observation Deck, a worn, wood structure at a dry resaca. The air smelled of mesquite and mulch. I then hiked back to the road, about a mile and a half round-trip. I scanned the trees, brush and ground for birds, mammals and snakes but saw none.
Back on the asphalt a pair of cyclists passed. Bikes must stay on the pavement in the park. After about 600 feet, at a fork, I went to the left, south, and stopped at the primitive camping area to look at a male Northern Cardinal singing from its perch on a bare twig at the highest point of a tree.
The primitive camping area consists of several sites beneath the canopy of trees, each with a picnic table and a fire pit.
I continued southward on the road, now named Nopal Road, that cut through mesquite and tall, invasive Guinea grass for three quarters of a mile to Rio Grande Trail, an almost two-mile loop. I passed a side trail to the two-story Hawk Tower. I padded around the loop and saw no other person. I enjoyed the solitude and quiet of the woods, yet I heard the rumble of distant vehicles and machinery.
As I completed the loop, I took the short trail to the Hawk Tower and walked the ramp to the observation deck. There I sat alone and looked for birds. I heard voices from the tram passing on the nearby road. (The tram runs daily on the hour this time of year). I descended from the Hawk Tower and returned to the asphalt.
On the asphalt I walked west and then northward three quarters of a mile on the road that became Mesquite Road to Roadrunner Crossing, which I took to the south for a quarter mile. There I entered the shaded, gravel Kiskadee Trail, through dense brush and trees and followed it to the northeast.
Kiskadee Trail took me across Acacia Loop to Kiskadee Blind, a wood structure facing a dry water feature and empty feeders. On other visits they were full and there was water. I saw no birds there. I crossed Acacia Loop again before reaching Hackberry Road and spotted a pair of Javelinas beside the trail.
Hackberry Road is the same loop road that is also named Nopal Road and Mesquite Road.
At Hackberry Road I walked northeast past a covered picnic area and bathrooms, past an open area except for large mesquite trees, to Green Jay Trail where I stopped at Green Jay Blind. Like Kiskadee Blind, I saw no activity. I kept to Green Jay along the bank of the resaca, La Parida Banco, about a quarter mile to Kingfisher Overlook with a view of the resaca surrounded by palm trees, mesquite and Carrizo cane. Cormorants perched on snags by the water. Great Egrets waded by the bank and American Coots floated in the deeper water. The sound of a motor came from a building on the far bank.
From Kingfisher Overlook, I returned to the Visitor’s Center with its store and small restaurant to complete my 9.5-mile walk on the four great trails and the roads that traverse Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. I stopped once along the way to watch a few Kiskadees calling from treetops. Although I didn’t see much wildlife, simply being outside on such a fine winter day made the jaunt worthwhile.
