Llano Grande Golf Course
Mercedes, TX
The Dilettante Birders spent April in Texas, enjoying the eclipse and birding in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. One birding adventure stands out as we searched for a bird on the Rare Bird List.
We left Brownsville headed for Corpus Christi. Since Mercedes, TX was not that far, we decided to make a short detour to find the Southern Lapwing that has been seen on the golf course.
Much like Gilligan, what should have been a short, easy 45 minute stop became a 3 hour, somewhat hair-raising, but ultimately satisfying adventure.
Leaving our hotel, we put the golf course into our GPS. No problem, it’s actually only about 20 minutes out of our way because we would have to take the same road to Corpus Christi. Great!
The bird has been spotted around the club house and from a levy, so when the GPS took us to the top of a levy from which we could see the course, we didn’t think too much about it at first. It seemed a bit strange that the entrance to a golf course was via a dirt road, but, hey, this is Texas.
Trekking down Levy Road (GPS named it) wasn’t too bad. Slightly bumpy, but we could see golfers in the distance so civilization was in view. It was when we came to the open gate with NO TRESPASSING GOVERNMENT PROPERTY that we had second thoughts. However, it was a narrow one lane road on top of a levy, so we forged ahead.
It wasn’t until GPS took us off the levy and onto “Florida Avenue” that things got hairy. The road was rutted with several holes that I wondered if we would even get out of. Scrub was on each side of the road and we could only go about 10 mph or less. No signs of civilization here.
We traveled about a mile toward our next turn. Oops, there is a locked gate at the end. Walter took a little spur road around the bushes on one side and cornfield on the other, only to find it blocked by broken slabs of concrete. By now, I am hoping Border Patrol will come after us so they can get us out.
The only thing to do was backup, turn around and go back the way we came, hoping all the while that we didn’t break down or meet another car. I wish I had taken pictures but, in my panicked state, it didn’t cross my mind.
When we finally got back to the starting place, we meet another birder backing down the levy because she realized it was the wrong place.
After a change of GPS (evidently Google was using outdated information), Apple Maps quickly brought us to the correct entrance, and we successfully found the sought after bird.
Southern Lapwing is a large, long legged wading bird common to South America. No idea how or why this one ended up in south Texas, as it doesn’t tend to migrate.
One thing is for certain, this was one rare bird we will remember!
Submitted by Jackie Brooks
Photos by Jackie Brooks
SIB 