Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge

The Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.

Here, on the international border between the United States and Mexico, a host of nature's borders converge - climate, community, land form and geography. Only 5% of the native landscape remains on the lower Rio Grande and its nearby reaches, yet the diversity within these fragments adds up to an astonishing 1,200 types of plants, 700 species of vertebrates (including nearly 500 bird species) and 300 kinds of butterflies. Eleven different biological communities exist on the refuge, from the Chihuahuan thorn forest to tidal wetlands.

Numbers alone cannot depict the true value. A rare Ocelot merges with the shadowy brush. A pair of Northern Caracaras glides above the river. A Mexican Bluewing Butterfly (Myscelia ethusa) flutters into view, while Great Kiskadees cry an insistent "kis-ka-dee, kis-ka-dee".

The refuge is designated as part of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, a network of wildlife viewing sites throughout the Texas coastal regions.^[1]

Notes

1. ^ "Lower Texas Coast Wildlife Trail (LTC): Los Ranchos de Tejas Loop map". Texas Parks and Wildlife Division. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/wildlife_trails/coastal/lower/losranchos/. Retrieved 22 Jan 2010.

References

• Refuge profile
• Refuge website

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Coordinates: 26°11′14″N 97°51′06″W / 26.18722°N 97.85167°W

Categories: National Wildlife Refuges in Texas | Zapata County, Texas | Starr County, Texas | Hidalgo County, Texas | Cameron County, Texas | Texas geography stubs | Southern United States protected area stubs