A Birder's Guide to the Rio Grande Valley

Texas birdlife is strongly influenced by the incredible diversity of habitats found within its borders. The Rio Grande corridor is a great example of this diversity. From El Paso to Brownsville, this once-majestic river forms the 1,569-mile southern and western borders of Texas. At El Paso, the average rainfall is only nine inches per year compared to the 26-inch annual rainfall ofthe subtropical Lower Rio Grande Valley. In between can be found the magnificent Chihuahuan Desert with its mountain islands, the Stockton and Edwards Plateaus, and the brush-covered plains of South Texas.

Mark Lockwood lives in Alpine with his wife, Cindy, and is a conservation biologist with the Natural Resource Program of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He has a Masters Degree in Biology from Sul Ross State University. He has actively birded Texas for over 30 years, is the secretary of the Texas Bird Records Committee of the Texas Ornithological Society (TOS), and is a member of the American Birding Association's Checklist Committee. He is also the regional editor of the quarterly Texas column that appears in North American Birds. Mark has over 50 publications in popular magazines and scientific journals, including Birding, The Wilson Bulletin, Cotinga, North American Birds, and The Southwestern Naturalist. He is also the author of five books, including Birds of the Texas Hill Country, The TOS Handbook of Texas Birds, and Basic Texas Birds.

William B. (Brad) McKinney has lived in the Lower Valley since 1972 and has actively birded the region for the past twenty years. He is a high-school administrator who has taught science at the high school and college levels for many years. Brad is a part-time tour guide for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours and currently serves on the Texas Bird Records committee. He is the author of A Checklist of Lower Rio Grande Birds and maintains a local checklist on the seabirds of the Lower Texas Coast. He especially enjoys birding the South Texas brushlands and cloudforests of neighboring Mexico. Brad lives in Ranco Biejo with his wife, Janette, and their son, Will.

James Paton has had a lifelong interest in birds and holds a Masters Degree in ecology from the University of Arizona. He is the Trans-Pecos compiler for North American Birds and is a member of the Texas Bird Records Committee. He's co-author of a checklist to birds of the El Paso area. Jim lives in El Paso with his wife and two sons, where he works as a high school science teacher.

Barry Zimmer has lived in El Paso for over thirty years and has birded extensively in Texas during that time. He has been a full-time guide for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours for the past twenty-three years. His travels have taken him throughout North America and to many parts of the world. He co-authored Birds of the TransPecos. Barry lives with his wife, Yvonne, and their daughter, Alex.