The Book of Texas Bays

22. The King Ranch

225 We met our tour guide, Tom Langschied, in the parking lot of our motel in Kingsville at 6:00 A.M. in late March. Seven friends scurried to get gear together—John and Princie, Jack and Sue, Dale Cordray, Garland and I—none of us wanting to be the one keeping the others waiting. Tom runs the ecotour program for the King Ranch, and we were to visit the Norias Division, which stretches from Highway 77 to the Laguna Madre, to the south of the Kenedy Ranch. The Norias comprises about 240,000 acres, one of four divisions of a ranch that has a total of about 850,000 acres under single corporate ownership. Turning off Highway 77 to drive through the entrance gate at the Norias Division was a magical moment for me. As a boy growing up in the Rio Grande Valley, I made the drive north from Raymondville past the Norias Division many times, sixty miles without a service station or a fast food joint. On either side, the fences went to the horizon, punctuated every so often with a gate or an occasional check-in point. This was not public land. It was not a national park. This was Texas private property. 22 The King Ranch The King Ranch PORT MANSFIELD ARROYO COLORADO RIO GRANDE M E X I C O BROWNSVILLE HARLINGEN Chapter 22 : The King Ranch The Laguna Madre continues on the south side of the Land Cut to Brazos Santiago Pass, connecting it with the Gulf of Mexico. South Padre Island is divided from the Padre Island National Seashore by the dredged channel from Port Mansfield to the Gulf. The Norias Division of the King Ranch is at the top of the map, between Highway 77 and the Laguna Madre. 226 The Book of Texas Bays Those of us growing up in the Valley knew that there was natural abundance beyond belief behind those fences. And there were stories, some of them perhaps true, of the fate of those who trespassed beyond the fences to poach the wildlife. Today these private lands are open to the public, for a fee. Some people complain about paying for an ecological tour, but I am for it. The ranches have to make money to stay in existence, and ecotourism is one of several revenue sources they are exploring. The big ranches of South Texas have managed, so far, to remain a barrier of grass, mesquite, and oaks between the crystal clear water of the Laguna Madre and the encroaching wave of humanity. How long can this barrier be maintained? By paying to see these fabulous ecological preserves, we were not only paying for recreation but also supporting the protection of the Texas coast. After all of those years of being fenced out, of driving by and looking in, I was entering the legend, the mythical King Ranch. In birding circles, South Texas as a whole is legendary, and many of those birds were in evidence as we pulled into the living compound about half a mile inside the ranch. Our group included some fair birders as well as several novices, and we were delighted by every bird we saw. There were the hooded orioles— black and orange males fighting, twirling down to the ground in a headlock, the world wrestling federation, oriole style. There was a great kiskadee, a flycatcher with a bright yellow breast and black and white markings on its head. A vermilion flycatcher, green jays, color everywhere, and we had only just begun. I pulled out my new spotting scope and was impressed at how tricky it was to find the birds in the scope. Tom also had his scope, and he found bird after bird, pulling them into clear view. I was fiddling with the focus, trying to get the zoom right, generally exhibiting my lack of expertise with the scope, but I was as happy as I could be, fumbling with my gear, gaining proficiency and experience, beautiful birds literally all around me. At the King Ranch we needed a guide to gain access to the property, but even when that is not the case, the main reason to get a guide is for his or her expertise. Tom is a professional ornithologist, and it showed from the beginning. Besides being extremely quick with the spotting scope, he knew the birds, easily identifying the ash-throated flycatcher, Couch’s kingbird, and the kiskadee. These are not incredibly difficult...