Bird migration season begins in the Rio Grande Valley

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas ( ValleyCentral ) — The migratory bird season has begun in the Rio Grande Valley.

Birdcast , a partnership between the National Audobon Society , Cornell Lab of Ornithology , and others, reports hundreds of millions of birds are now migrating across the U.S.

“This is going to be my third migratory season with the center, and it’s gotten bigger every year,” said William Farley, a naturalist at the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands and World Birding Center .

Farley explained the Valley is perfectly situated to receive birds from all over North America. He said there are four main routes birds travel to get to the area.

“We get both the Mississippi flyway, and the Rocky Mountain flyway”, Farley said, “So we have those two major flyways for the birds and they funnel along the coast, directly into the Valley.”

Farley said the four counties of the Valley see more birds than most other states.

“In North America, there’s over 900 species of birds, but throughout migration, we get to see over fifty percent of those birds coming through here,” said Becky Reyes, Lead Interpreter at Estero Llano Grande State Park .

The migratory birds also bring in visitors from far and wide.

Reyes said ecotourism is a billion-dollar business throughout the four Valley counties.

“Visitors from other states, other countries coming down here to look at birds,” Reyes continued.

Farley says the success of the migratory season greatly depends on conservation efforts in the northern United States and Canada.

“So, they go up north to breed and make their babies. And then when those babies are able to fly and fledge on their own, they’ll follow the parents down here. So success up north in conservation means more birds for us in the wintertime,” Farley continued.

If Valley residents are interested in helping out the migratory bird population, Farley recommends setting up bird feeders with high protein, high energy foods like sunflower seeds or suet in the wintertime.

The high energy food can help increase their survival rate, so more birds can visit the Valley again in the springtime.

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