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<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>In <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State>, Monarchs Flutter
And Admirals Alight <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>By ELAINE GLUSAC <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Published: January 12, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>MEXICAN
blue wing butterflies defy stereotype. They prefer shade to sunlight. They are
dark, not bright. They seek tree bark, rather than blooms. And they are one of
the reasons Mel and Maris Midgley traveled from <st1:City w:st="on">Gloucestershire</st1:City>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region>, to southern <st1:State
w:st="on">Texas</st1:State> and the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Lower</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Rio Grande</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>''You can
walk right up to them,'' said Ms. Midgley as she displayed a vivid image of the
blue wing on her digital camera. ''You can't do that with a bird.'' <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Indeed,
it is the kingfishers, green jays, kiskadees and other birds that thrive along
the Rio Grande that make this 275-mile stretch of the river a prime destination
for nature lovers. Some 500 bird species have been sighted in the four-county
region, making it the most concentrated area in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> for birds, according
to experts. To a growing number of eco-tourists, the region is also the center
of butterflying. Of the 700 varieties found in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>, 300 alight here. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>As rich
as the region is for birders and butterfliers, some naturalists say the area is
now threatened because of the border fence legislation signed in late October
by President Bush to help curb illegal immigration. The details on just what
such a fence would look like have not been made public yet, but
environmentalists and people who depend on nature tourism, which brings an
estimated $125 million to the area annually, are concerned. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>''A
physical fence on the river doesn't make sense because the river is so winding,
and it would eliminate the last remnant of the native riparian forest down
here,'' said Keith Hackland, a local naturalist, noting that in some places the
green corridor is only 50 to 100 feet wide. ''Even if birds and butterflies
could fly over, they would have nowhere to fly to.'' <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Possible
threats to the environment notwithstanding, the North American Butterfly
Association is continuing to expand its flagship butterfly park in the <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Lower</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Rio Grande</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType> town of <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Mission</st1:place></st1:City>. ''This is the only place they could
put a park like this,'' said Sue Sill, executive director of the park, which
opened in 2002. ''We have butterflies 12 months of the year and see more
butterflies than anywhere else.'' <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Monarchs
and the similar species known as queens, crepe-paperlike yellow sulfurs, large
black swallowtails and ornate red admirals swarm the five-foot-tall
purple-flowered crucita bushes that have been planted on five acres of
rehabilitated cotton and sorghum fields at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">NABA</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">International</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Butterfly</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Park</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
In the next two years, the organization expects to build a visitors' center designed
by architect Wendy Evans Joseph and to replant more of the 100 acres it has
acquired for the park. Already it's a destination for butterfliers like the
Midgleys, who are former birders. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>''Most
birders appreciate beautiful things. It's easy to turn them onto something like
this,'' Mr. Midgley said. ''And you don't have to get up as early.'' <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Whereas
birding is usually best at dawn and dusk, midday is prime time for viewing
heat-loving butterflies. Late fall and winter are high season in southern <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State> because butterfly
migration and greater rainfall help the flowers that provide food for many
species. Any butterfly safari here inevitably involves sharing the wild with
birders, as my 7-year-old son, Seth, and I discovered in November. We signed up
for a canoe trip on the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rio Grande</st1:place></st1:City>
along a stretch protected by the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge with Mr.
Hackland and Cheryl Longton, a park volunteer guide. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>''There
are so many butterflies now it's distracting,'' Ms. Longton said as we passed
the park's butterfly garden. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>''That
makes it hard to bird,'' said Allison Hilf, a birder from <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Denver</st1:place></st1:City> in the group. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>THE rio
might have once been grand, but dams upriver have narrowed it considerably, to
less than 200 feet wide in some places and as shallow as a foot in parts.
Still, as the river wound through native forest of old-growth oaks festooned in
Spanish moss and banks of tall riverside reeds, it seemed exotic beside the
fields of kale and cabbage that bordered the reserve. Herons -- great blue,
tricolored, green and night -- perched on downed limbs and flew away only when
we came too near. Green and ringed kingfishers crisscrossed our canoes. There
were periods of manic activity, when hundreds of dragonflies would patrol the
river or flocks of swallows would swoop at insect hatches. Where flowering
vines cascaded down from the trees, butterflies perched, warming their wings in
the morning sun. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Hot-orange
Julias and the cloisonné underwings of gulf fritillaries stood out boldly
against the foliage, while small, brown American snouts and pale white peacocks
hovered over the water. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>''Temperate
meets tropical here, both in terms of vegetation and climate,'' Mr. Hackland
said, noting that the Fish and Wildlife Service has identified 11 distinct
biological communities in the region. ''Butterflies are a good indicator of
that. You don't get great varieties without diverse vegetation. We have huge
diversity here, including semidesert, riparian tropical forest, freshwater and
saltwater. It's biologically one of the most diverse areas in the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.''
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>An
emerald green malachite butterfly, the kind of quarry butterfliers buzz about,
flew over our van as it crested the levee, towing the canoes back to the
visitors' center. ''This is what the rest of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State> looks like,'' Ms. Longton said,
indicating the flat fields opposite the levee. ''Only 5 percent of the natural
habitat is left.'' <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Santa Ana</st1:place></st1:City> refuge is part
of a larger plan by Fish and Wildlife to string together nature preserves along
the river to provide a wildlife corridor not only for birds and butterflies but
for the endangered ocelot and other native animals. So far, 40,000 acres of the
Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge are open to the public en
route to an envisioned 132,500 acres bordering the final 275 miles of the river
from Falcon Dam south to the <st1:place w:st="on">Gulf of Mexico</st1:place>.
But the entire project, critics say, is threatened by the proposed immigration
fence. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>''Most
people here are against it for social reasons. You don't want to put up a fence
to keep out the neighbors,'' said Martin Hagne, director of the <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Nature</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType> in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Weslaco</st1:place></st1:City>. ''It could wipe out all that habitat
it has taken 20 years to develop.'' <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>While
specific designs for the fence remain a mystery, the Secure Fence Act calls for
it to be completed by 2008 and for the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Lower</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Rio Grande</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType>
portion to run from <st1:City w:st="on">Laredo</st1:City> to <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Brownsville</st1:place></st1:City>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Jarrod
Agen, a spokesman in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State>
for the Department of Homeland Security, said yesterday that the agency would
consider the concerns of environmentalists in any decision about the form of
the wall, adding that cameras and sensors might prove more effective in a rural
area. ''We are looking at a mix of physical barriers as well as technology to
have have full surveillance of the border,'' he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Mr. Hagne
and some other environmentalists are hoping the barrier will indeed be some
type of virtual fence made up of electronic surveillance devices that would
preserve the habitat, rather than a solid wall or fence, which, if built on the
shore, might require clearing vegetation for patrol paths. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In one of
the nation's fastest growing regions, eco-advocates already fight developers
and agricultural interests for space. Butterflying and birding there require
hopscotching from one nature preserve to the next in a central core of
communities over 30 miles, from Mission in the west to Weslaco in the east,
with the busy McAllen at the center. Vast farm fields and RV parks buffer
sights that include the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands, the Valley Nature Center,
Quinta Mazatlan and Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, where we attended an
evening ''owl prowl'' in search of nocturnal black witch moths and foraging
javalina. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>We found
the navigating a do-it-yourselfers' dream, but the education was far greater when
joined by Mr. Hackland, who correctly identified the least grebes, which we
took for small ducks, differentiated the tawny emperor butterfly from the white
peacock and picked out a great barbecue joint, Willie's, near Santa Ana. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Meanwhile,
the local interest in wild things is expanding from birds to butterflies and,
lately, to dragonflies. ''People start out with birds,'' observed Shane
Mooneyham, a naturalist at <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Estero</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Llano</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Grande</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State Park</st1:PlaceType> in <st1:City w:st="on">Weslaco</st1:City>,
where we spot a bright red <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Needham</st1:place></st1:City>'s
skimmer dragonfly in addition to a swallowtail butterfly. ''When they've seen
all they can see, they go to butterflies. Then, dragonflies. It's the next
natural pretty insect.'' <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Correction:</span></font></b> January 19, 2007, Friday An
article last Friday about observing butterflies in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Lower</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Rio Grande</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> misstated the
trees that are hung with Spanish moss there. Many indigenous trees, including
species of elm and ash, have Spanish moss there, but oaks are not among them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9804E6DF1330F931A25752C0A9619C8B63">http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9804E6DF1330F931A25752C0A9619C8B63</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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