A Bird Watcher's Paradise

Today, Chris, Doug, and I visited Bentsen State Park.  Bentsen State Park is unlike any other Texas State Park I've visited.  The park is full of elderly people, likely due to the numerous retirement villages located outside the park's entrance.  More significantly, the park is dedicated to birding.  Birding is the hobby of bird watching.  As it turns out, the Valley is a popular destination for bird-watching eco-tourists, admittedly a very narrowly defined niche of people.  Besides consumerism-crazed tourists from Mexico, I think bird-watching eco-tourists are the only tourists flocking to the Valley (no pun intended!).

Because Bentsen State Park's primary purpose is birding, vehicles are not permitted to enter.  Instead, the park's nicely paved paths are full of elderly people on bikes.  Along the paved paths are small clearings designed for bird watching.  All of the clearings have a number of bird feeders with different types of food.  Some of the clearings have comfy swings a safe distance from the feeders.  Other clearings have bird blinders, which are man made partitions designed to camouflage humans as they approach the bird feeders and allow humans to observe birds up close and with the naked eye.

Upon entering Bentsen State Park, Chris and I sat down under a tree near some bird feeders to eat a picnic lunch.  Immediately thereafter, all of the elderly people sitting quietly in some nearby swings stood up and walked away.  I think we violated an unspoken rule about quietness and proximity to the bird feeders.  Later, we stepped behind some bird blinders to pose with our dog, which I am almost certain was a violation of birding rules.

The climax of our visit was the hawk observation tower, which is actually a very long handicap accessible ramp gradually inclining to a two-story, open air observation deck. It was actually very cool, and I am certain that we did not violate any bird watching rules while we were up there.  Phew!