Brownsville, TX (2/11/2020)

Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Pat and John picked us up for breakfast at the Grapevine Café, then drove to Brownsville through the flatlands of mesquite, prickly pear cactus, and cordgrass. To the west one can see cargo ships sailing through the desert (actually on the Brownsville Ship Channel). Thanks to federal dollars, the highway was built with wildlife underpasses, which are important for extending territory for the endangered Leopardus pardalis albescens species of ocelots, which inhabit Texas and neighboring northeast Mexico.
First stop: Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park, the site of the first major battle of the Mexican-American War, in 1846.

Nilgai antelope scat is larger than deer scat (KSS)

Boselaphus tragocamelus/Nilgai Antelopes were brought to Texas in the 1920s and 1930s by ranchers for game hunting, and the moose-size beasts have become feral.

Opuntia engelmannii var. lindheimeri/Texas Prickly Pear cactus,
which is the State Plant of Texas

A Mexican cannon and the barely visible pennants along
the battle line of the army of General Mariano Arista,
which had "invaded" territory that was Mexico,
but past where the US had set up Fort Texas along the Rio Grande

US cannon that could fire more destructive cannonballs farther
than the Mexican cannon, and were more maneuverable,
enabling General Zachary Taylor to win the battle at Palo Alto and
to push the Mexicans back to Resaca de la Palma

After defeating the Mexicans at Resaca de la Palma, the US army was able to retake Fort Texas, later to be named Fort Brown, and the eventual nucleus of the city of Brownsville.
When the United States annexed the Republic of Texas in 1845, the western border was at the Nueces River. However, when it became a state later in the year, Texans claimed the border to be the Rio Grande. Mexico had never recognized the independence of Texas, but when their army crossed the Rio Grande, the United States considered it an invasion and excuse for war. The war ended with the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, where Mexico ceded about one-third of their country (which became the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas. The Gadsden Purchase of 1853 took more land from Mexico (southern portions of Arizona and New Mexico), reducing it to less than half of its original territory.

Yucca treculeana/Spanish Dagger,
one with its flower

Borrichia frutescens/Ox-eye Daisy

Maytenus phyllanthoides/Leatherleaf or Mangle

Viguira stenoloba/Golden Bush Daisy

Birds seen included: Plenty of Mimus polyglottos/Northern Mockingbirds, Parabuteo unicinctus/Harris's Hawk, a possible Leucopternis albicollis/White Hawk, and vultures.

Next stop: Sabal Palm Sanctuary, a former sugarcane plantation on the Rio Grande, then property of the National Audubon Society, and managed since 2010 by the Gorgas Science Foundation.

Rabb Plantation House (1891-1892, in Queen Anne style, with
"New Orleans-esque qualities", i.e., wrap-around porches) (KSS)

The restored Rabb House is the visitor center
for the Sabal Palm Sanctuary

Double corner fireplaces (KSS)

The closed former visitor center of the Audubon Society

A pair of Cyanocorax yncas/Green Jays with distinctive coloring (KSS)

There were also Cardinalis cardinalis/Northern Cardinals, Leptotila verreauxi/White-tipped Doves, Arremonops rufivirgatus/Olive Sparrows, Baeolophus atricristatus/Black-crested Titmouse, and a Toxostoma longirostre/Long-billed Thrasher at the feeder, as well as a couple Anolis sagrei/Brown Anoles on the deck. Saw a Caracara cheriway/Northern Crested Caracara in flight.

Thasus neocalifornicus/Giant Mesquite Bug
on Tamaulipa azurea/Blue Boneset (KSS)

The Rio Grande; the brush was cut down on the United States side

No wandering along the river was allowed

Sabal mexicana/Texas Sabal Palm grove; this is
one of the few areas of naturally-growing sabal palms

This sabal palm is unique in that the petiole/stem
extends into the leaflets resulting in a twist

Kent, Pat and John; note the Tillandsia usneoides/
Spanish Moss, an epiphyte and not a parasite

A polypore/bracket fungus

Acanthocereus pentagonus/Night-Blooming Cereus or Barbed-wire Cactus

Erythrina herbacea/Coral Bean seed pods (KSS)

View from a blind on a former resaca; a resaca is a type of ox-bow lake,
former channels of the Rio Grande which over time have been cut off
from the river as new channels are carved through the delta (KSS)

Pitangus sulphuratus/Great Kiskadee

There were also Tachybaptus dominicus/Least Grebes, numerous Fulica americana/American Coots, Mareca americana/American Wigeons, Spatula discors/Blue-winged Teals, Sayornis phoebe/Eastern Phoebes, and the movement of a Setophaga dominica/Yellow-throated Warbler.

Ebenopsis ebano/Texas Ebony

Texas Ebony seed pods

Tillandsia recurvata/Small Ballmoss

Okay, the "border wall" is a fence here in south Texas and it runs rather arbitrarily in more of a straightish line along the twists and turns of the Rio Grande (there was an agreement that the fence be outside the river's flood plain). Thus, the fence can be a mile from the actual border running down the center of the river. It cuts through property and farmland, and the Sabal Palm Sanctuary is located between the border fence and the Rio Grande.

The border fence in Cameron County was built
about 2009 and has gaps, which are supposed
to have gates installed in the near future

We drove through gaps in the fence on Calle Milpa Verde and Monsees Road, then to enter the Sabal Palm Sanctuary.

In this area, the fence runs along an earthen levee,
meant to protect from flooding of the Rio Grande

Kent next to the 18-foot steel bollards of the fence

Next stop: Brownsville city center.

Reynaldo G Garza & Filemon B Vela Courthouse (1999)
with Texas limestone Cordova shell cladding on the seven columns

Mr Amigo Association Walk of Fame, site of a 1964 project that would
promote relations between the United States and Mexico by recognizing
a Mexican citizen who had contributed to the friendship of the
United States and Mexico, to be designated as "Mr Amigo" 

One of the Mr Amigo stars, one per year since 1964

El Charro statue (2016, by Enrique Cepeda),
depicting a Mexican cowboy, is the center of
the Charro Days Fiesta, first held in 1937, a
cooperative cultural event between Brownsville
and Matamoros in Mexico across the border

The Charro Days Fiesta is greatly reduced since free crossing of the border between the cities has been halted.

The start of the Brownsville Historic
Battlefield Trail that connects Brownsville to the
Resaca de la Palma Battlefield and the
Palo Alto Battlefield Historic Park (KSS)

Bauhinia variegata var. 'Candida'/White Orchid Tree

Former Southern Pacific Railroad Passenger Depot (1928,
in Spanish Colonial Revival style) is now home
of the Historic Brownsville Museum

We had an early dinner at 1848 Barbecue, trying Texas smoked brisket (lean, as the moist was sold out) and a firm corn pudding. It has to be one of the best barbecue places in Brownsville.
Next: Sea Turtle Inc.