Friends and family,

We are spending Thanksgiving week in the Rio Grande Valley. “The Valley” is the area where Texas, Mexico, the Rio Grande River and the Gulf of Mexico all converge. It is a wonderful mixing of cultures, habitats and wildlife. There are wintering birds here from all over North America. “The Valley” is the northern range of birds from Central and South America.

We went to the flea market in Brownsville looking for Mexican ceramics and instead found amazing “gorditas” and “taquitos” (Mexican food). We went to the Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge hoping to see an ocelot and instead discovered an enormous alligator, about 12 feet long. We went to the South Padre Island Birding Center to observe shore birds and instead discovered two more alligators, as well as an amazing assortment of shore birds.

We hope that you enjoy the photos.

Happy Thanksgiving from Dennis and Michael

The following pictures were taken by Dennis

And the following pictures were taken by Mike