We started day 2 of our 5 park trip with a 30 minute drive from our hotel to the third and final World Birding Center state park. Meaning, like the others, it was a walk in style park and I was grateful to get an earlier start on it. This park also would be the closest we got on foot to the Mexico border.

We arrived a little before 10am and were greeted with the same lush landscaping and extravagant headquarter building as the previous parks, but were distracted by a rather large bird running around. It looked like cross of a chicken with a roadrunner!

After check-in, we set off across a bridge over an irrigation ditch and were surprised that we would be on the other side of the “the wall” in this park. Around the corner we came to the old headquarters building that is now being used as a nature center. We were told the tram was running today and starts at this location circling around every hour. But, no dogs allowed on it. Since the trailhead for the 2 mile loop hike for the Rio Grande would be an additional 3 mile roundtrip for us to get to, Nathan opted to hang out with Sally at the shaded pavilion while the kids and I zipped off to the trailhead on the tram.

On the way, the ranger driving the tram served as a tour guide and told us about his time in the park and a little about each trailhead we drove past. He also confirmed these parks get crazy packed in the winter months and we were definitely there in off season. He stopped at the Geological Survey Marker possibly placed in 1917 and then dropped us off at the trailhead for the loop that would take us as close as possible to the Rio Grande – aka the border of Mexico.

He also informed us that up until 5 years ago, you could take a cut off path down to a deck over the river, but a horrendous flood washed it all out and they felt it unsafe to rebuild anything if the river was capable of doing it once. Also, the area is not as serene now that it is covered in razor wire. But we enjoyed the well maintained pathway and acknowledged the turn in the trail when we were approximately 60 yards from the river. Not that we could really tell other than a little elevation change.

We finished our walk with about 10 minutes to spare before we were picked up and delivered back to Nathan and Sally who enjoyed their hour hanging out. Nathan spent the time researching the weird bird we saw all over the park and learned they are called Chachalacas and are hunted in Texas AND are supposed to be quite delectable. Sounds like we might have a Chachalaca meal in our future. Haha

That wrapped up our time at this park and we continued our trek Northwest towards Laredo that afternoon. Bentsen Rio-Grande was our most enjoyable visit of the 3 World Birding Centers with it’s historical and geographical features. It even made us do a little bird watching in the end!

-Lindsay