 Birders and lovers of wildlife have long flocked to the sub-tropics of South Texas to engage in their favorite sport, and each February marks ther perfect time to explore the natural wildlife of the region with fellow enthusiasts and expert guides.
The Brownsville International Birding Festival kicks off each winter season (in February) providing the perfect opportunity to explore nature in its natural habitat. Hailed as one of the most significant wildlife festivals in North America, participants can engage in a series of special lectures from leading naturalists and tour the abundant wildlife facilities that dot the region, including the El Cielo Biosphere across the border in Mexico.
 The sixth annual Brownsville International Birding Festival (Feb. 19-22) offers birders and other nature lovers a complete program of field trips, seminars and other fun events that will explore the biodiversity of South Texas and Northern Mexico . The festival is a great introduction to the semi-tropical paradise of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
 Running concurrently with the Brownsville Festival is the El Cielo Nature Festival in Cuidad Mante, a city in Mexico's State of Tamauilupas, a short 3-4 hour bus ride across the international border into the heart of an ecologically diverse region of cloud forests, well known for abundant bird and butterfly populations. The Reserve has replaced environmentally-damaging logging operations in the region, creating an economic hardship for the villages of the area. But cooperative efforts between groups in Mexico and Texas are helping communities of the region to adapt to the change. Festival tours are conducted by local guides, and support services, such as lodging, dining and recreation, are quickly replacing income lost as a result of the closing of logging operations.
In the cloud forest region of the Reserve, birders will experience some of the birds of the area that populate the reserve, including Bat Falcons, the Tamaulipas pygmy-owl, ornate hawk-eagle (seen at the last festival), social flycatcher, azure-crowned hummingbird, elegant and mountain trogon, boat-billed flycatchers, social flycatchers, melodious blackbirds and crimson-collared grosbeak, among many others.
The Brownsville Festival will give participants the opportunity to see wildlife at nearby Santa Ana National Wildlife Area and the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. In addition to abundant bird-viewing, other wildlife species can be seen, including the rare North American ocelot.
The south Texas landscape is a unique blending of temperate, subtropical, coastal, and desert habitats. Mexican plants and wildlife are at the northernmost edge of their range, while migrating waterfowl and sandhill cranes fly down for the mild winters. This combination makes the region world famous for its birds, and home to a mix of wildlife found nowhere else.
 On the Texas side of the event, Ocelot, Texas tortoise, green jays, chachalaca, and javelina, who prefer the dense thorny brushland areas, can be seen, while alligator, least grebe, and black-bellied whistling ducks choose the ponds and resacas of the Rio Grande Valley. Desert dwellers like roadrunner, verdin, and cactus wren inhabit the scrub areas, while species like roseate spoonbill, egrets, and herons join black-necked stilt, American avocet, and piping plover at the shore.
A major problem facing the endangered ocelot in South Texas is loss of habitat. You can help support habitat protection and continuing research for ocelots at the Laguna Atascosa NWR and in South Texas. An Adopt-an-Ocelot program is sponsored by the Friends of Laguna Atascosa NWR, a non-profit group. Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to:
Adopt-an-Ocelot
P.O. Box 942
Rio Hondo, TX 78583
Sponsoring an individual ocelot is $20 and a family may be sponsored for $30.
It's Back To Nature time in Texas! All abord!
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Rio Grande Valley
